Co-curated by Johnny Ray Huston and Joel Shepard
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While sports in cinema goes back to Eadweard Muybridge's early studies of men and women in motion, there’s a surprising dearth of in-depth writing about sports in the movies. Beyond ESPN: An Offbeat Look at the Sports Film counters this with a varied assortment of films that don’t play by the rules when it comes to defining athleticism or the cinema of sports.
Rare Films from The Baseball Hall of Fame
Aug 6, 2009, 7:30 pm
Introduced by David Filipi, Curator of Film/Video at the Wexner Center for the Arts
As this year’s baseball season rounds third and heads for home, we’re celebrating the national pastime with cinematic treasures from the National Baseball Hall of Fame that will entertain baseball fans and cinephiles alike. Tonight’s program includes footage of Jackie Robinson’s secret tryout with the Dodgers, congressional testimony by Mickey Mantle and Casey Stengel, hilarious commercials featuring Humphrey Bogart and Pete Rose, home movies of the Women’s Professional League, and much more! (Approx. 120 min, digital video).
A Sunday in Hell
By Jorgen Leth
Aug 9, 2009, 2 pm
The best film ever made about professional cycling, this grueling documentary follows the 1976 Paris-Roubaix bike race, an intensive journey across the cobbled farm tracks of Northern France. The director uses 20 cameras and a helicopter to capture the drama of the race from every possible angle. The result captures every crucial moment from the hopeful fools in the breakaway to the grinding mass of the dense pack to the final, frantic, muscle-wrenching sprint. (1976, 110 min, digital video)
Towards Mathilde
By Claire Denis
Aug 13, 2009, 7:30 pm
Watch the trailer for Towards Mathilde »
Somehow this superb Claire Denis (Beau Travail) film has never been shown in San Francisco. Mathilde Monnier is France’s foremost contemporary choreographer. An explorer of postmodern theory, she has acquired a formidable reputation. More than just a documentary, the film is a diary of an intimate collaboration between a brilliant filmmaker and equally brilliant choreographer, as it explores the birth, formulation and performance of a radical new dance piece. (2005, 84 min, 35mm)
The French
By William Klein
Aug 16, 2009, 2 pm
USTA members receive $6 discount tickets. Call 415.978.2787 to purchase your tickets in advance, or you may buy them at the door on the day of show.
Lore has it that the acclaimed photographer William Klein passed up an opportunity to film the Rolling Stones in Africa so he could shoot this movie about the 1981 French Open. Working with three camera crews, Klein travels into the players’ locker rooms and hangouts as well as courtside, catching teen phenoms and old eccentrics including the cool Arthur Ashe, the cantankerous Jimmy Connors, the doll-like Chris Evert, the aggressive Martina Navratilova, the fiery John McEnroe and many others. (1982, 130 min, 16mm)
The French will also screen as part of the Pacific Film Archive’s retrospective of the films of William Klein, on Thu, Oct 1, 8:15 pm. Visit BAM/PFA.
Agua
By Veronica Chen
Aug 20, 2009, 7:30 pm
Disgraced as a doper, thirty-four-year-old Goyo returns to the world of competitive swimming to mentor Chino. Their partnership yields a strange result in this film by Veronica Chen, a young force in Argentine cinema who brings a sensual regard of male physicality. The film’s competitive sequences move from skin-caressing observation to gorgeous or violent abstraction, before the suspense and extreme interiority of a swimmer’s experience give way to a recognition of surroundings. (2006, 89 min, 35mm)
MiDNiTES FOR MANiACS presents
Winning Isn't Everything: A Tribute to 1970s Sports Film
Aug 23, 2-8 pm
Special admission: $10 general for all three films / $8 seniors, students, teachers & YBCA Members
Jesse Hawthorne Ficks hosts a triple-feature showcasing 1970s sports films where winning-the-game is less important than the process-of-scoring. This all-day event includes forgotten sports trailers, one of Robby Benson's finest performances and one of the sleaziest sports films ever made!
2 pm: Ice Castles by Donald Wrye
This ultimate teen tear-jerker showcases real-life ice skating champion Lynn-Holly Johnson and teen heartthrob Robby Benson. WARNING: Bring Kleenex. Preceded by heartbreaking sports trailers. (1978, 108 min, 35mm)
Special thanks to Rose Duelly.
4 pm: The Bad News Bears by Michael Ritchie
Walter Matthau whips a ragtag 'tween team of foul-mouthed outcasts into one of the tuffest brigades this side of Vietnam. This mid-70s time capsule will truly shock and surprise you at how true-to-life little league really can be. Preceded by tuff 'tween trailers. (1976, 102 min, 35mm)
- mini drink/dinner break-
7 pm: The Cheerleaders by Paul Glickler
DIRECTOR PAUL GLICKLER IN PERSON!
This quintessential cheerleader sleaze-fest not only proves that scoring is more important than winning. Don't miss this uncut 35mm print. Preceded by a slew of scintillating trailers. (1973, 84 min, 35mm)
Visions of Eight
By Milos Forman, Kon Ichikawa, Claude LeLouch, Juri Ozerov, Arthur Penn, Michael Pfleghar, John Schlesinger & Mai Zetterling
Aug 27, 2009, 7:30 pm
A fantastic, lost documentary of the '72 Olympic Games in Munich, as captured by eight different major directors, who filmed in his or her own completely different, personal style. (1973, 110 min, 16mm)
Football as Never Before
By Hellmuth Costard
Aug 30, 2009, 2 pm
Using eight cameras, this little-seen film follows every move of the mercurial George Best, by far the most famous soccer player of his time, to depict the progress of an entire match. Never before has the spectator had such a clear view of a player’s progress and his attempts to “read the game.” This is the film that many people think the idea for Zidane was borrowed from, which Spike Lee has borrowed again for a film on Kobe Bryant. (1971, 105 min, digital video)
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Read the SF Chronicle interview with Joel Shepard & Johnny Ray Huston about Beyond ESPN
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