TTT = Ticket Tout Tuesday
Orchestra Cube - Open Rehearsal (Wed 26th / 5pm-7pm / free / adv bookings only) FREE open rehearsal organised by Jesse from 'The Greatness' in conjunction with Peter Reynolds, leader of Scandinavian Circus Bizarre orchestras. This workshop is the first of several and aims toward creating an orchestra based at The Cube. Musicians of all standards are welcome and can expect to improvise towards composition. If that sounds scary then come anyway. If you haven't played your instrument for many years, rumage it out and come anyway. If you think this isn't for you, you're wrong, come anyway. Bring your instrument and any ideas you have for Orchestra Cube. It's going to be GREAT. ADVANCE BOOKINGS ONLY: jessemorning@blueyonder.co.uk / 0117 9513737
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Image by: fishus vid
TONY HANCOCK'S THE REBEL
at the Peer Critique launch
(Wed 26th / 8pm / £3)
To celebrate the launch of a new arts project Peer Critique this is a rare
screening, open to all, of Tony Hancock's classic comedy THE REBEL.
Hancock, the aspiring artist, finally breaks down under the lash of conformity
and attempts to throttle his boss. Determined to make it as an artist he decides
to head off for Paris and soon becomes the darling of the bohemian set. However,
the neurotic intellectualism of the art world tests his ambition to the limit.
Peer critique is a new Bristol based project for artists to meet and engage in
critical discourse about their practice. The group meets monthly in a variety of
venues across the city.
With live DJ set from Mr Hopkinson.
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ROLLING THROUGH THE DECADES (Thurs 27th / free) Conversegallery.com are hosting a free preview screening of new film 'Rollin' Through the Decades' before its general release in 05. The film features interviews with over 100 inspirational and legendary skateboarders, photographers and film-makers. It blends historic, rare and unseen footage, videos, and photos with nostalgic sounds of the 70s, 80s and 90s, and contemporary music made especially for the film. For your chance to win free tickets visit www.conversegallery.com. All tickets will be allocated two weeks prior to screenings.
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SHELDON KING - Extraordinary Guitar
(Fri 28th / 8pm / £4)
If you missed the launch of Sheldon's solo acoustic album 'Eko-Sticks' here is
another chance to see Sheldon's astonishing and original guitar style.
'Those who have seen him play live will understand that what often sounds like
two or three people playing together is achieved solely on a battered looking
acoustic guitar in real time with no effects pedals or sequencers. Fingering
with both hands on the fretboard and using the body of the instrument for
percussive interpolations, Sheldon uses open tunings and modal scales to create
a music that is technically demanding but at the same time totally approachable.'
- Leon Brabant, New Acoustic Directions
test
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MIDNIGHT MOVIE: DUCK SOUP (Leo McCarey / 1933 / USA / 68mins / certU) (Fri 28th / midnight / £4/3) The chaotic and carnivalesque world of the Marx Brothers is familiar to any connoisseur of 20th century culture - Groucho's legendary one-liners and fast wit, Harpo's clown like undermining of authority and order, Chico's gutsy East European blue collar humour, as well as the sometimes divine music performed without a trace of irony amongst the mayhem. Whilst clearly belying their roots as vaudevillian variety show performers, they nonetheless managed to blend all these sensibilities and - with the assistance of studio director Leo McCarey - fashioned some of the finest comedy films ever created. Despite McCarey commenting that working with the brothers was more like runnig a circus than a film set, DUCK SOUP manages to pack an abrupt and well aimed comic punch with a very lean running time of little over an hour. Not a second is wasted as the plot, such as it is, forms a very efficient scaffold for some of their best known set pieces and gags. And of the much debated political significance of the film, despite Grouch quipping that they were just 'four Jews trying to get laughs', they were reportedly ecstatic when they found the film had been banned by Mussolini as subversive. Subversive it is, and as fresh and funny now as the day it was made. Enjoy!
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A Bell-Jar making workshop / Saturday 29 January 11am - 1pm / Free / It is open to those who wish to turn their accumulated thrifty finds into objects worthy of wonder. Admission is free, bring along a clean jam jar, your chosen objects and glue.
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SJ ESAU (Sat 29th Jan / 6.30pm / £5) Following last year's 'Queezy Epiphany Coming Through The Wall', SJ ESAU brings you a new album comprising of 3 cds and probably some string. To hurl these cds out of his bedroom and into your ears, SJ ESAU has put together a special super fun evening of music, food and film featuring actual 3D people plus 2D films and ear fun. We start the evening off with a swift kick to the eyes with a mystery movie! (Noodlefood will then be made available for the hungry). There’ll be live sound in the bar area from the incredible RASHA SHAHEEN (Male / Mooz) in rare solo set shocker. And TWOCSINAK will be performing somewhere near the building. Perhaps even inside the building. Plus the grand finale: a special 3 part SJ ESAU set featuring, for the first time, an extra large band including members of Geisha, North Sea Navigator and Whalebone Polly and such artists as Max Milton, Mole Harness, Knowledge of Bugs and Team Brick. With DJs MAX WEBERTRON and DJ LOFT CONVERSION. Find more knowledge at www.sjesau.co.uk
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Image by: It kicked out hard
OLDBOY (Chanwook Park / 2004 / Korea (subtitled) / 120 mins / cert18) (Sun 30th / 8pm / £4/3) Beginning on a rainy night in Seoul in the late 1980s, businessman Dae-su (Choi Min-sik) is forcibly detained in a police station waiting room for being drunk and disorderly. On his subsequent release he is abducted and wakes up in a cell where he spends the next 15 years in solitary confinement at the pleasure of unidentified jailers. With only a TV for company he trains his mind and body in anticipation of revenging his captors. He is finally released without any explanation and with the help of a young woman he accidentally meets, he starts to seek them out in a growing spiral of violence. This brutal, brilliant follow up to 2002’s Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance touches on similar themes of burning revenge and doomed love, and like that earlier film piles tragedy upon tragedy. Winner of last years Grand Prix du Jury at Cannes OLDBOY is a tour-de-force of vibrant filmmaking from Tarantino darling Park Chanwook, manipulating the viewer like a master hypnotist before revealing its final, awful dilemma.
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JAMES YORKSTON + King Creosote (Tue 1st Feb / 8pm / £6) A double bill of homespun acoustic magic from two captivating performers. Back in October James Yorkston & the Athletes wowed the Cube with their seductive whisper of accordian, banjo and James’s hushed hangover tones. Now James returns for a stripped down solo set to launch the new single ‘Shipwreckers’, out now on Domino. Recalling the likes of Bert Jansch and John Martyn, his music remains his own and there’ll rarely be a better chance to enjoy his understated elegies. You’ll be able to hear a pin drop. James is touring with another member of the thriving Fence Collective: King Creosote, a bashful and embittered troubadour with ramshackle lo-fi folk to share.
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Image by: the bill
THE BATTLE OF ORGREAVE
Introduced by the artist Jeremy Deller
(Deller/Figgis / UK / 2001 / 60mins / uncert)
(Thurs 3rd Feb / 7.30pm / £4/3 from Arnolfini bookshop or 0117 9172300)
The story of the extraordinary re-enactment, conceived by Jeremy Deller, of the
violent confrontation between striking miners and police outside a coking plant
at Orgreave in 1984. Deller's collaboration with event organiser Howard Giles
includes interviews with some of the 800 re-enactors and local participants
involved in Deller's event as well as film of the recreation of the climactic
clash of the bitter miners' strike. Commissioned and produced by Artangel in
association with Channel 4.
Much of Deller's work involves collaboration with individuals and groups of
people. Acid Brass was a series of concerts and a recording by the Williams
Fairey Band playing Brass Band interpretations of classic acid house anthems,
and The Uses of Literacy was an exhibition of writing and artwork made by fans
of the rock band The Manic Street Preachers. In 2004 Deller was awarded the
Turner Prize.
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Desperately Seeking Susan DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN (Susan Seidelman/1985/USA/104 Minutes/35mm/Cert 15) (Fri 4th / midnight / £4/3) To tie in with Independent Heroines 2005, the Midnight Movie is proud to present this underrated classic of 80s cinema - a film which so often gets lumbered with the mantle of being a mere "star vehicle" for the young Madonna, rather than being acknowledged as a fun, yet reasonably sharp dissection of female identity in the modern world, and the effect on ordinary people of the ideals of feminist polemic which dominated the previous decade. Despite being drenched in period detail - heinous crimes of fashion and riotous use of expressionistic colour - the film is a masterpiece of mistaken identity comedy with a healthy dollop of social satire. And the soundtrack's not too bad either.
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Image by: internet scavenged
INDEPENDENT HEROINES LAUNCH NIGHT (Fri 4th / 7pm / £5) ++++"Get down ladies, you've got nothing to lose"++++ Music is what most of us can't live without, so it's what we start with. RISE ABOVE: THE TRIBE 8 DOCUMENTARY (Tracy Flannigan / USA / 2003 / 80 mins) Rise Above documents dyke punk rock band, Tribe 8. A ferocious, all female, all-queer punk band from San Francisco whose members bare their breasts onstage and whose lead singer likes to pull a straight boy from the audience and make him give a blow job to her strap-on dildo. Featuring live performances, candid moments and controversy at an all women's music festival. http://www.riseabovethetribe8documentary.com MALE - live music What is Male? Male is a four legged, four breasted, twin tonsilled, Teutonic/Arabic mix of post-punk guitar and post-rock rhythm experimentation. One Male is a quarter of Big Joan. The other was a quarter of Mooz. http://www.m-a-l-e.co.uk EDGEPLAY: A FILM ABOUT THE RUNAWAYS (Victory Tischler-Blue/USA/2004/110 mins/DVD) Edgeplay chronicles the rise and disintegration of the seminal `70's all teenage girl rock band The Runaways, whose members included future rock stars Lita Ford and Joan Jett. The film explores the effects of stardom on girls too young to drink, but old enough for sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. New interviews with members of the band combine with unseen footage and live performances and interviews. http://www.edgeplaythemovie.com http://www.therunaways.net
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Image by: internet scavenged
INDEPENDENT HEROINES: LET'S GET PHYSICAL (Sat 5th / 8pm / £4) ++++"Let's get physical physical!"++++ If you've got it use it, whether it's cheerleading against capitalism or shaking what you got. We reveal some of the many uses and strengths of the female body on film. DON'T LET THE SYSTEM GET YOU DOWN...CHEER UP! (Jennifer Nedbalsky / USA / 2004 / 13 min / DVD) CHEER UP! documents the vibrant movement of radical cheerleading at one of its most exciting moments during the April 2004 March for Women's Lives in Washington D.C. www.nycradicalcheerleaders.org THE VELVET HAMMER BURLESQUE (Augusta / USA / 2003 / 84 min / DVD) The Velvet Hammer wrote the Neo-Burlesque Bible: beautiful women of all shapes and sizes, glittering costumes, raunchy music and unadulterated glamour! Filmmaker Augusta faithfully followed the Velvet Hammer Burlesque troupe for three years documenting performances, auditions, and rehearsals. www.velvethammerburlesque.com And tonight we'll have our own private dancer as the very talented and very beautiful Mademoiselle Rosie Meres performing 1920's ooh la la musical burlesque (dream on Josephine Baker). Plus!!! Special £3 admission after the screening to Shake's 'Girls In The Garage' night at The Croft. Featuring The Priscillas and The Schla la las, with DJ Emma from Bang. www.thepriscillas.co.uk www.theschlalalas.com
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MASSIVE GARAGE SALE
(Sun 6th / 20pm / 2pm)
COME BUY COME BUY COME BUY
Cube Staff Selling:
RECORDS / TAPES / CLOTHES / SHOES / ART / THINGS
GADGETS / ART SUPPLIES / IT / TECHNICAL EQUIPMENT /
TOYS/ JEWELRY / HUSBANDS / THINGAMEBOBS / PLANTS /
with refreshments, music and fun.
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Image by: internet scavenged
INDEPENDENT HEROINES: B MOVIES (Sun 5th / 7.30pm / £4) +++++"Giant ants from space waste the human race"+++++ Horror, zombies and blood-spattered kitsch. We salute the B-movies of some of our favourite lo-fi female directors past and present. AMAZING GRAVES (Burnout Films / UK / 2005) Premier of this short in which Dandy Zombies and Rockabilly Werewolves battle through dance in the Glasgow necropolis! www.burnoutfilms.com I WAS A TEENAGE SERIAL KILLER (Sarah Jacobson / USA / 1993 / 27min) Mary was a good girl until she decided to kill all the "sexist pigs". She of course encounters many, and enjoys killing them in this lo-fi short. This screening is a tribute to Sarah Jacobson who died on February 13th 2004 after a battle with cancer. "One thing that really inspires me, is no one can really stop you - I mean, who's gonna stop you?" Sarah asked. http://www.nypress.com/17/7/nyc/ CHARM (Sadie Shaw & Sarah Reed / USA / 2001 / 60min) Charm is a full length underground feature film shot entirely on Super-8 with all the classic hallmarks of a horror film. It deals with elements of alienation, isolation and the destructive nature of relationships using imagery beautiful, brutal and surreal. With a soundtrack featuring tracks by The Need, Deerhoof, Aislers Set, Replikants, Sara Lund (Unwound) and many more. http://www.splendidezine.com/reviews/jun-4-01/charm.html
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Image by: internet scavenged
INDEPENDENT HEROINES: JANET FRAME (Mon 7th / 7pm / £4/3) +++++++"And I feel like some misplaced Joan of Arc"++++++ We pay tribute to the late great author Janet Frame who passed away last year. AN ANGEL AT MY TABLE (Jane Campion / UK,AUS,NZ / 1990 / 158min / cert15) AN ANGEL AT MY TABLE is an extraordinarily moving celebration of the life of Janet Frame, New Zealand's most distinguished author, based on her autobiographical trilogy. The film follows Janet through her poor childhood in the Depression and her growing fascination with literature; her painfully shy student days and subsequent treatment for misdiagnosed schizophrenia; and finally on her travels to Europe where she samples Bohemian life and achieves international success as a writer. With Very Special Guest speaker ANNE CAWLEY. Ann is the widow of Professor Robert Cawley, potrayed in the film, who was for many years the psychiatrist and friend of Janet Frame. Anne has kindly agreed to talk about her late husband's relationship with the esteemed author and some of the issues related.
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Image by: internet scavenged
INDEPENDENT HEROINES: Tues 8th / 7.30pm / £4) ++++"You're getting old, that's what they'll say, but don't give a damn I'm listening anyway"++++ Heroines; our foremothers, sisters, feminists from years gone by. We present some unique documents of political ladies from previous eras of action and activity. A WOMAN'S PLACE (Sue Crockford / UK / 1971 / 25min) A Woman's Place was the first film made about, by and for the UK Women's Movement. Footage includes the founding of the movement at Ruskin College and marchers in the snow. Sue Crockford will be here to talk about the film, the movement and the film co-op Liberation Films, a group which could well have been the UK's first activist distributor; making and exhibiting documentaries on the issues Thatcher didn't want you to see. YEAR OF THE WOMAN (Sandra Hochman / USA / 1973 / 87 mins / cert18) Since its original five-day sell-out run in NYC in 1973, this radical flick has been screened a handful of times. Screening tonight on VHS, the one film print of this 'lost feminist classic' has been withdrawn from public view once again, so catch it while you can! Shot on hand-held 16mm the film takes place at the 1972 Democratic Convention, following director Sandra Hochman as she provokes male politicians, delegates, and celebrities into sharing their views on women and the feminist movement. Featuring an extraordinary cross-section of American cultural icons, among them Warren Beatty, Shirley MacLaine, Norman Mailer, Gloria Steinem, Shirley Chisholm, and the electrifying black feminist activist Florynce Kennedy. www.guardian.co.uk/women/story/0,3604,1192919,00.html
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Orchestra Cube - Open Rehearsal (5pm-7pm / free / adv bookings only) FREE open rehearsal organised by Jesse from 'The Greatness' in conjunction with Peter Reynolds, leader of Scandinavian Circus Bizarre orchestras. This workshop aims toward creating an orchestra based at The Cube. Musicians of all standards are welcome and can expect to improvise towards composition. If that sounds scary then come anyway. If you haven't played your instrument for many years, rumage it out and come anyway. If you think this isn't for you, you're wrong, come anyway. Bring your instrument and any ideas you have for Orchestra Cube. It's going to be GREAT. ADVANCE BOOKINGS ONLY: jessemorning@blueyonder.co.uk / 0117 9513737
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Image by: internet scavenged
INDEPENDENT HEROINES: ART Wed 9th / 7.30pm / £4) +++++"It Ain't What You Do, It's The Way That You Do It."+++++ 'It ain't what you do...' is an arty night with arty guests who all do things in a collaborative way. What happens when artists become curators and organise their own art world? Inspiring and shining examples of how women socialise themselves to work together to make things happen. Discussing these topics with IH curators will be special guests Emma Hedditch (Cinenova women's film archive, Lux, Miranda July collaborator) Louise Short (Station Gallery, artist, curator) and Cathy Lomax and Alex Michon (Arty magazine). ICELANDIC LOVE CORPORATION SHORTS We are very honoured to screen shorts by the performance collective from Reykjavik who make work that makes you feel everything girly, other worldly and all the love you can feel. http://www.ilc.is ELUSIVE QUALITY (Various / USA / 2004/ 62min / DVD) Elusive Quality is a collection of short video works curated by Astria Suparak and Lauren Cornell for Explosion LTTR, a feminist queer art imprint from NYC and shown at the Liverpool Biennale. Elusive Quality explores the idea of failure in relation to fantasies of athletic, sexual, and political mastery. Consciously inglorious and imperfect, they reset the goalposts for success and then win at their own games. Nice jobs to all! www.astriasuparak.com/elusivequality.htm www.lttr.org
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INDEPENDENT HEROINES: SK8 CULTURE (Thurs 10th / 7.30pm / £5/4) +++++"I'm going to go down the car park and practise 'til I'm good"++++ A night about girl sk8 culture. There are zero real girl skate pros in the UK, else they would be here with us tonight talking about their brilliant careers on wheels (please prove us wrong). Plus Dutty Girl DJs in the bar. SAFETY FIRST (Lisa Brook / UK / 1998 /1 min 10) A kind of music video for a Frumpies' song, a rant on male attitudes to female skaters. DON'T DO TRICKS (Cube Skate Team / UK / 7mins / 2005) A trip down no tricks lane, with a skateboarder who doesn't do tricks. GETTING NOWHERE FASTER (Villa Villa Cola Squadron / 2004 / USA / 45 mins / DVD) The UK Premier of the new video by the notorious Villa Villa Cola Squadron. Bringing to light the mysterious underworld of female skateboarders and their craft and featuring peril & sass by such experts as Vanessa Torres and Amy Caron. It features a brand new recipe including: an invisible cosmetic predator, a cowboy, and a fantasy skatepark called Tiffanyland. http://villavillacola.com/ DEMON OF THE DERBY: The Ann Calvello Story (Sharon Rutter / USA / 2002 / 76min) A documentary portrait of Roller Derby legend Ann Calvello, labelled the 'Meanest Mama on Skates', From the time she joined the Roller Derby in the 1940s, she bucked every traditional notion of femininity and became a star because of it. Today, at 71, she is fighting to continue her career. www.demonofthederby.com
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TRUST (Hal Hartley/1990/USA/90 Mins/35mm/Cert15) (Fri 11th / midnight / £4/3) Whatever happened to Hal Hartley? One minute he was the crown prince of movie-cool, knocking out smart, off-kilter comedies which dealt with the big subjects of life, love and happiness; the next minute he is wandering the no man's land between indie wilderness and distribution hell. Perhaps the release later this year of his tenth feature film The Girl From Monday will once again see his star in the ascendancy. Until then, The Midnight Movie is proud to wave the flag for his underrated and sadly forgotten genius by presenting Trust - an absurdist tale of star-crossed lovers which stars Hartley regulars Martin Donovan and Adrienne Shelly. I'll trust Hal - it's about time you did too!
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Steal from Work Microclub (Fri 11th / 7.30pm / £2) Big party night with a difference as the Cube becomes an amphitheatre for your competitive gaming pleasure, complete with kickass 8 bit soundtrack! We'll be hooking a load of consoles up to the BIG SCREEN to enable larger than life multiplayer face offs featuring your favourite games. Dominic Diamond won't be there, but there WILL be a Gamesmaster to adjudicate proceedings, and of course DJs MR_HOPKINSON, PUNKSI & MAX WEBERTRON will be montaging the micromusic. Meanwhile in the bar it's cheap cocktails and robotic komputer funk from FLOAT and CLUB NEON DJs. Competition starts at 8pm sharp.
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Image by: internet scavenged
Free Event. Starting in the Cube Car Park. Route and timetable to be announced. Ride the streets of Bristol inside a camera obscura. Park up, draw and peer. -- Developed with Spike Island from the VANiSH commission initiated by Ashley McCormick, and as part of 'Spike in the City'
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Image by: the guys
SADZA MIX featuring Chartwell Dutiro (Sat 12th / 8pm / £5) SADZA MIX is a live showcase of unique sounds formed through a collaborative project involving internationally renowned Zimbabwean musician and singer Chartwell Dutiro, and UK based producers Ben and Sam Menter. Featuring traditional Zimbabwean Mbira and Western electronic music production, it invites the audience to experience a connection of contrasting cultures. SADZA MIX is Africa re-edited for the laptop generation – a melting pot of styles spiced up further as a full live band and MC add their influence. Hip hop, electronica, disco and reggae are all visited in this journey from rural Zimbabwe to urban Britain. Local VJ whizzkids UnReel Media will be providing a visual backdrop to the music, using a mix of live and pre-recorded footage featuring work by artist David Cox, whose strikingly unusual figures, masks and reliefs are influenced by hip hop and jazz, reggae and blues. DJs in the bar will be playing good grooves and laidback sounds before and after the performance…
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Image by: not bored
ORWELL ROLLS IN HIS GRAVE (Pappas / USA / 2003 / 103mins / digital / no cert) (Sun 13th / 7:30pm / £4/3) Writer/director/editor/narrator Robert Kane Pappas offers up a consummate critical examination of the Fourth Estate (the public press), once the bastion of American democracy. This documentary explores what the media doesn't like to talk about: itself. By focusing on the very filters through which news, and the history formed from accumulated reportage and research, are constructed. Has society entered an Orwellian world of doublespeak where outright lies can pass for truth? Are Americans being given the infomation a democracy needs to survive or have they been electronically lobotomised? Helping to answer these troubling questions are several former network producers, political documentary staples Micheal Moore and Tony Benn, several former network producers and lawyers, and other concerned parties. -Followed by a secret feature of the directors choosing! see www.buzzflash.com/interviews/04/07/int04035.html
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ROMANCING THE CUBE Mon 14th / 8pm / £4/3) It's that time of year again - Valentine's Day, the Jour D'amour. For some, the most romantic day of the year, and the opportunity to demonstrate to their beloveds the magnitude of their love in flowers and chocolate; to others, an almighty swizz designed to emotionally blackmail hard earned cash away in exchange for a dozen wilted roses and some flat champagne. To the latter, even the most self-respecting joint will stoop below its standards to cash in on the population's soft spot for a dose of the romantic wobblies, and to the untrained eye it may seem that the Cube has - also - gone this route. Not So. The Valentine Kaleidescope of romantic cine-treats presents a cynical view of love in the modern world (including a rare screening of the Hal Hartley classic Trust), the bar sells lethal (yet prettily coloured) cocktails that make no pretence to luxury and the DJs play the heart-breakers that show love up for the miserable game it really is. Welcome to love, Cube style - ideal for either a first or a last date!
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RIDING GIANTS (TTT) (Peralta / USA / 2004 / 35mm / 100mins / cert 12a) (Tue 15th / 8pm / £2ttt) This new jaw-dropping, hot-dogging documentary from Stacy (Dogtown and Z Boys) Peralta is a must see not only for surf enthusiasts but any one trying to understand why people would devote their lives to the pursuit of great danger. It starts with an historical primer of surfing's Polynesian beginnings, right through to revival in the 1950's. Then as the movie draws to the present, it concentrates our attention on the innovative likes of Greg Noll, Jeff Clark and Laird Hamilton, who amongst others, abandoned the more fun and social aspects of the sport and went looking for a challenge. The quest for bigger, more perfect waves in the ensuing years takes the documentary around Hawaii, then around the world. Along the way the film touches on the physics of wave formation, and the evolution of the equipment. With gritty (literally) archive footage and Peralta's trademark enthusiasm and cinematic acumen this is likely to get many beach-bums on seats.
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Orchestra Cube - Open Rehearsal (5pm-7pm / free / adv bookings only) FREE open rehearsal organised by Jesse from 'The Greatness' in conjunction with Peter Reynolds, leader of Scandinavian Circus Bizarre orchestras. This workshop aims toward creating an orchestra based at The Cube. Musicians of all standards are welcome and can expect to improvise towards composition. If that sounds scary then come anyway. If you haven't played your instrument for many years, rumage it out and come anyway. If you think this isn't for you, you're wrong, come anyway. Bring your instrument and any ideas you have for Orchestra Cube. It's going to be GREAT. ADVANCE BOOKINGS ONLY: jessemorning@blueyonder.co.uk / 0117 9513737
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Bill Hicks Deathaversary- Revolutions (Wed 16th / 8pm / £2.50) On the 10th anniversary of the death of Bill Hicks the Cube Microplex held a tribute event featuring choice live performances and films made in collaboration with the great man. Its seemed as though there's alot of love out there for Bill as the event, and a subsequent repeat of it, were sell-outs (seat wise not spiritually). One year on we offer another opportunity to gather and celebrate the life and vision of the great man. For anyone who doesn't know- Bill Hicks was an incredible stand up comedian who's outspoken views on society found him little recognition in his native, conservative America. The son of fundamentalist christians, his passionate deconstructions of issues relating to sex and drugs made him the ultimate rock 'n' roll one-man show. If you have produced any short films or animations inspired by the rants of Bill Hicks, or if you have an idea that you would like to realise then this is your opportunity to get your work shown. e-mail tom@sparror.cubecinema.com
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GEISHA + The Edmund Fitzgerald: Live Soundtracks
(Thurs 17th / 8pm / £4)
GEISHA are Bristol's premier noise band, a combination of complex arrangements
and over distorted instruments, joy and terror. And what better counterpoint to
their music than the deranged body horror of Canadian oddball David Cronenberg?
Tonight their score of original works and laptop noise accompany a special edit
of a rarely screened film, a characteristically disorientating faux documentary
where seven young volunteers undergo brain surgery to remove their power of
speech and enable telepathic communication...
THE EDMUND FITZGERALD are a prodigiously talented three piece from Oxford, an
epic math powerhouse of electric counterpoint and syncopated stabs - think Don
Caballero meets Steve Reich. The band will be sound tracking an edit of enfant
terrible Harmony Korine's debut, a tale of bizarre rednecks and inbred behaviour
in a town that's been ravaged by a tornado.
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Image by: sprinters
SHOGUN ASSASSIN (Robert Houston / 1980 / USA - Japan / 87 Minutes / 35mm / cert18) (Fri 18th / midnight / £4/3) In 1980, Americans David Weisman (producer) and Robert Houston (director) stumbled upon the Japanese Lone Wolf and Cub films and realised that while Western Audiences at the time would lap up the violent battles, they might not be ready for the Chanbara genre’s comparatively slow pacing and period politics. They decided to take the best bits of Lone Wolf and Cub parts 1 and 2 (respectively Baby Cart at the River Styx and Baby Cart in Hell), and add their own dubbing and simplified plot. Shogun Assassin was born, and is probably responsible to this day for the Chanbara movie’s arrival in the West. Shogun Assassin certainly isn’t one for the purists, and could never take the place of the original Lone Wolf and Cub series, but if you like your action, then this is definitely worth a look, and stands out as quality viewing not only as a movie in its own right, but also as a film which played an important role in carrying Asian cinema from its home territories to the global audience it reaches today. Its effect is clearly seen in the legacy it has left in popular culture - from GZA's Liquid Swords to an appearance in the closing minutes of Kill Bill 2 as BB's bedtime movie of choice. In it's midnight movie slot, you too can drift off to fountains of blood and the sound of mangled flesh...maybe leave the kids at home though...
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BRONZE AGE FOX IN CONCERT with Colin Smith (Fri 18th / 8pm / £5) Back from a year of quiet solitude, BAF return with new trainers and an itching to express themselves in their own special way. Having released the low-key Bronze Age Fox Compilation (ISAN's 8th favourite album of 2004, no less!), BAF spent much of the summer writing and recording their debut album proper, and the various members (including Minotaur Shock (4AD/Melodic) and Dobosky (Static Caravan)) beavered away on their own projects. The BAF album will see the light of day sometime in 2005, in the meantime you can catch a rare glimpse of their particular brand of sinister MOR pop music tonight at The Cube. Clutching a scruffy notebook of new songs, the boys will try to entertain everyone who attends. Support comes from erstwhile musical genius COLIN SMITH, who (unbeknownst to him) shall be a puppet in Bronze Age Fox's interesting soundtrack experiment. Colin will hopefully attempt to improvise a live piano soundtrack to a montage of unseen clips prepared by BAF, with a hint of audience participation and a dash of technical trickery courtesy of everyone's favourite Creative Handyman, mr_hopkinson. There will also be DJs and visuals specially selected by BAF, and probably other stuff too. All profit will be donated to the Red Cross Tsunami appeal. www.bronzeagefox.com
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Image by: mr thing
WILD JAPAN LAUNCH PARTY (Sat 19th / 8pm / £6/5) MANIC COMPRESSION presents scratch mayhem, freestyle breaks, and twisted hip-hop as they celebrate everything wild about Japanese genre filmmaking and style. Featuring local producers DJ Madds, CCQ, and LILLYDAMWHITE, this promises to be a hectic blend of funky live fusion. And an ace film thrown in! STREET MOBSTER (Kinji Fukasaku / 1972 / Japan (subtitled) / 87mins / 35mm / cert not cert) (10pm start / £4/3 for just the film) Street Mobster features a demonic performance from Isamu Okita as an individualistic 'yakuza' (gangster) who returns to his old stomping ground after a stint in jail. His insanely uncompromising stance sets him on a collision course with everything and everyone. In a film that begins at 100mph and then proceeds to accelerate, Kenji (Battle Royale) Fukasaku pushes cinematic style to breaking point in a frenzy of breathless, hyper-stylish action. Street Mobster marked the beginning of a new breed of 70s yakuza movies and the birth of a style that was to later influence cult favourites John Woo and Takashi Miike. An unbridled energy fizzes from the screen. We highly recommend STREET MOBSTER to all genre fans. And for those who have not yet become familiar with maestro Fukasaku’s work, this film is a great piece to use to start your education. UK CINEMA PREMIERE
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Image by: mickelburg
ONIBABA (Kaneto Shindo / 1964 / Japan (subtitles) / 98mins / 35mm / cert15) (Sun 20th / 8pm / £4/3) Deep within the lonely windswept marshes of war-torn medieval Japan, an impoverished mother and her daughter-in-law eke out a desperate existence by murdering passing samurai and selling their belongings for grain. When a bedraggled young neighbour returns from the skirmishes, he triggers an outburst of palpable sexual tension and deadly jealousy. Historically a big favorite on the British arthouse circuit, Onibaba features stunning, lyrical black and white photography, a frenzied percussive soundtrack and a wonderfully claustrophobic atmosphere of impending doom. Still working to this day, director Shindo’s film is a surprisingly complex assault on class and gender politics. It's an absolutely knock-out horror thriller – angry, excessive and hypnotic. Miss this ultra-rare 35mm cinema screening at your peril.
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Image by: darn tootin
FEMALE PRISONER 701: SCORPION (Shunya Ito / 1972 / Japan (subtitles) / DVD / 87mins / cert18) (Mon 21st / 8pm / £4/3) Matsu, known as "Scorpion" lands herself in prison thanks to the evil manipulations of an ex-boyfriend. Through her suffering at the hands of the jailers and other prisoners, director Shunya Ito creates a portrait of a woman full of strength, beauty and an honor which outshines her peers and the cage within which she's contained. A heavy influence on TARANTINO, this feature is everything that Kill Bill wanted to be – a lean, taut, ruthless and visually excessive exploitation gem. Lesbianism, cat-fights, eye-gouging, nudity and torture feature prominently. Stunning 70s cult pin-up KAJI MEIKO brings a fiercesome intensity to her role as a young woman, wrongly condemned to a brutal prison, utterly hell-bent on revenge. Ito’s uncanny control of excess lifts several scenes of this intensely visual film to a level of pure psychedelic overload. A delicate balance between art and trash helps to create one of the most sleazy and satisfying 90 minutes of any cult film fanatics' lifetime. UK CINEMA PREMIERE.
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WOMAN WITH RED HAIR (Tatsumi Kumashiro / 1979 / Japan / 35mm / time+cert tbc) (Tues 22nd / 8pm / £4/3) A mysterious hitchhiker is picked up by a thuggish, macho construction worker. They return to his flat and embark on an obsessive (bordering upon hysterical) erotic relationship in an attempt to escape their bleak, working class lives. The narrative's strong sense of claustrophobia is further heightened by constant rain outside and a chorus of moaning junkies from the room below. Plays like 'In The Realm Of The Senses' meets 'Five Easy Pieces'. Regardless of it's disreputable roots in the 'Pink' (sex) film genre, Kumashiro's film was ranked as one of the top five releases of 1979 by the prestigious Japanese film journal 'Kinema Jumpo'. Woman With Red Hair is a work of gritty intelligence, emotional intensity and sublime aesthetic detachment which scratches towards the very core of human sexuality. Unforgivably, Tatsumi Kumashiro remains virtually unknown in the West. He deserves status as one of the greatest Japanese directors of the 1970s. UK CINEMA PREMIERE
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Orchestra Cube - Open Rehearsal (5pm-7pm / free / adv bookings only) FREE open rehearsal organised by Jesse from 'The Greatness' in conjunction with Peter Reynolds, leader of Scandinavian Circus Bizarre orchestras. This workshop aims toward creating an orchestra based at The Cube. Musicians of all standards are welcome and can expect to improvise towards composition. If that sounds scary then come anyway. If you haven't played your instrument for many years, rumage it out and come anyway. If you think this isn't for you, you're wrong, come anyway. Bring your instrument and any ideas you have for Orchestra Cube. It's going to be GREAT. ADVANCE BOOKINGS ONLY: jessemorning@blueyonder.co.uk / 0117 9513737
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Image by: wild japan arkive
SCHOOL OF THE HOLY BEAST (Norifumi Suzuki / 1974 / Japan (subtitles) / 35mm / time+cert tbc) (Wed 23rd / 8pm / £4/3) Truly excessive and absolutely wild, the perfect closer to a glut of exploitation and general abuse thanks to the boys at the Filmhouse. This is a unholy mix of sex, comedy, drugs, flagellation, horror and political commentary. It plays like a bawdy version of Sam Fuller's SHOCK CORRIDOR, in which a young woman enters a convent to investigate the mysterious death of her mother, only to discover a shitload of vice. Director Norifumi Suzuki plunges us all into a maelstrom of hidden torture, secret masochistic desires and blasphemous rites as Yumi Takigawa takes religious vows inside the Sacred Heart nunnery. As a footnote, it's one of the most visually beautiful films ever made. A demented masterpiece. UK CINEMA PREMIERE
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HOOD + THE NAYSAYER
A Qu junktion
(Thurs 24th / 8pm / £6)
One of England's finest unsung, DOMINO supported, melancholically gifted groups
returns, after influencing the US underground. Kindred spirits of Bristol bands
like Third Eye Foundation, Cresent and Flying Saucer Attack they have released a
bewildering array of material since the mid nineties. Exploring surface noise
and bedroom DIY dynamics well before bands like Pavement and Guided By Voices
became well known, their productions have assimilated a very English neo-folk
sensibility with the sounds of urban electronix music and ANTICON atmospherics,
in the process positioning them in a unique point in modern UK sound-song-craft.
THE NAYSAYER are modern gals (feat. members of Retsin, Tara Jane O'Neil) playing
rainy day harmonic Country with a tear on their cheek, on their way to All
Tomorrow's Parties by request of the great SLINT: check www.thenaysayer.com
With CRESCENT DJs in the bar.
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SOUTHMEAD SK8: NO ENTRY LAUNCH PARTY
(Fri 25th / 7pm / free)
A launch party for 'No Entry', a film made as a collaboration between
Southmead Youth Centre and the Cube Sk8 team.
Last summer, the Sk8 team was asked to participate in a project involving
young people from the youth centre. A common activity of skating was the
basis of the film which became set to music performed and written by some
of the skaters.
Working with and against the norms and forms of skate films 'No Entry' is
a snapshot of life for male teenagers living in Southmead.
On the night we hope to have the band featured in the film playing their
first ever live set.
Also a mini-exhibition of the boards they designed, food, DJing and
screenings of the film.
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CLAYHILL + The Tenderfoot With screening of NORTHERN SOUL (Shane Meadows / UK / 2004 / 30mins) (Sat 26th / 8pm / £8) CLAYHILL are vocalist Gavin Clark (ex-Sunhouse), Ali Friend (ex-Red Snapper) and Ted Barnes (Beth Orton collaborator). Their music is a wonderful blend of soulful, bittersweet sounds - a twisted rustic folk that's the unique product of three distinct characters and influences. On the road for a sixteen date UK tour to promote their album 'Small Circle', this is one of two dates to include a screening of the film Northern Soul, their collaboration with up and coming director SHANE MEADOWS (Dead Man's Shoes/A Room for Romeo Brass). With support from THE TENDERFOOT.
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FILM JAM (Sun 27th / 8pm / £2 or £1 for those with some media in the pocket) Film Frenzy! Obliterate the screen with all media - 35mm, 16mm, 8mm, slide, video, dvd and computer. Bring your old family super 8, your VJing Laptop, or your favourite slide and we'll add to the chaotic collage. Calling all DJs! Bring your cds and records and contribute to the sensory overload. Anything goes in this no rules, joyous juxtaposition. A real MULTI-media mash-up. Plus - after the screen is blasted out by your light there will be a wee performance of live TV remixing by VJ RODELL and MR HOPKINSON.
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HEAVY HEADS DISCO: IRON MAIDEN with screening of 'The History of Iron Maiden - Part 1: The Early Days' (Mon 28th / 8pm / £2) Come and join the Heavy Heads in celebrating the early years of this British institution, IRON MAIDEN. We'll be screening a unique collection of archive material charting the Maiden's inexorable rise in just 5 years from a struggling East London pub band to a stadium filling worldwide phenomenon (all without any radio support to speak of!) An honest and revealing insight into just what it was like early on in the world of Eddie and Maiden. With HEAVY HEADS DISCO in the bar.
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