In 1966, as the underground film wave was sweeping the country, a Boston off-shoot of New York City’s Film-Makers’ Cinematheque opened at a performance space at 53 Berkeley Street. Underground films were shown on weeknights, while on the weekends the space transformed into a music venue called The Boston Tea Party.
The Cinematheque and the Tea Party were founded and run by a controversial figure named Mel Lyman, a harmonica player and the leader of a hippie commune in Boston’s Fort Hill neighborhood. Lyman has also been considered a cult leader on par with Charles Manson, except Lyman’s followers never actually murdered anyone. According to the book Apocalypse Culture, Lyman claimed to be an extraterrestrial and was seemingly obsessed with “ruling” the country’s underground culture.
Whatever Lyman’s background, the Cinematheque showed some cool films, according to the actual flyers from that time period below. Click each poster...
The Cinematheque and the Tea Party were founded and run by a controversial figure named Mel Lyman, a harmonica player and the leader of a hippie commune in Boston’s Fort Hill neighborhood. Lyman has also been considered a cult leader on par with Charles Manson, except Lyman’s followers never actually murdered anyone. According to the book Apocalypse Culture, Lyman claimed to be an extraterrestrial and was seemingly obsessed with “ruling” the country’s underground culture.
Whatever Lyman’s background, the Cinematheque showed some cool films, according to the actual flyers from that time period below. Click each poster...
- 8/6/2017
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
From the Austin Daily Texan, September 22, 1966
Film-Makers’ Co-Op Shows ‘The Wild One’
The Gulf Coast Film-Makers’ Co-Op, an off campus student organization, will inaugurate its Film Factory at 8 p.m., Friday.
Founded to encourage student film-making, Film-Makers’ Co-Op is a result of interest among university students for a place to show and make films. Spokesmen cite the fact that at present there isn’t any University course for the beginning student who wants to make creative films, and of the two courses devoted to film on campus, both are oriented for radio and TV majors.
The Group has received support from the New American Cinema groups on both east and west coasts. Independent film-makers like Bruce Baillie and Robert Nelson from California have provided films for the first program. In New York, Pop Artist Andy Warhol will provide his newest film, “Camp” with Baby Jane Holzer and Jack Smith, for...
Film-Makers’ Co-Op Shows ‘The Wild One’
The Gulf Coast Film-Makers’ Co-Op, an off campus student organization, will inaugurate its Film Factory at 8 p.m., Friday.
Founded to encourage student film-making, Film-Makers’ Co-Op is a result of interest among university students for a place to show and make films. Spokesmen cite the fact that at present there isn’t any University course for the beginning student who wants to make creative films, and of the two courses devoted to film on campus, both are oriented for radio and TV majors.
The Group has received support from the New American Cinema groups on both east and west coasts. Independent film-makers like Bruce Baillie and Robert Nelson from California have provided films for the first program. In New York, Pop Artist Andy Warhol will provide his newest film, “Camp” with Baby Jane Holzer and Jack Smith, for...
- 7/8/2017
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Iconic underground filmmaker, and the founder of the underground filmmaking movement in San Francisco in the early 1960s, Bruce Baillie made an appearance at a two-night retrospective of his work at Los Angeles’s Redcat Theater on November 3 & 4. The Underground Film Journal attended the second night of screenings, from which the photograph above and the ones in the gallery below were taken.
The November 3 screening, which the Journal missed, included Baillie’s films Here I Am (1962), Tung (1966), All My Life (1966), Castro Street (1966), Valentin de las Sierras (1968), Little Girl (1966).
The November 4 screening was of Baillie’s feature-length epic, Quick Billy (1970), plus the short film Roslyn Romance (1977) and some unedited 16mm camera rolls taken around the time of the production of Quick Billy.
While Quick Billy is an astounding piece of film art, the real highlight of the Nov. 4 screening was the appearance of Baillie himself, who spoke for what seemed about an hour before the film.
The November 3 screening, which the Journal missed, included Baillie’s films Here I Am (1962), Tung (1966), All My Life (1966), Castro Street (1966), Valentin de las Sierras (1968), Little Girl (1966).
The November 4 screening was of Baillie’s feature-length epic, Quick Billy (1970), plus the short film Roslyn Romance (1977) and some unedited 16mm camera rolls taken around the time of the production of Quick Billy.
While Quick Billy is an astounding piece of film art, the real highlight of the Nov. 4 screening was the appearance of Baillie himself, who spoke for what seemed about an hour before the film.
- 11/5/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Photo courtesy of Abby Rose Photography.
This year marked the 50th anniversary of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, which would be a milestone for any cinema-related event in the U.S. But for a festival that has carved out a niche in the area of experimental and avant-garde film and video, Aaff's achievement is especially noteworthy. Even within the rarefied realm of cinephilia, the avant-garde tends to be something on the margins, or even in the best of circumstances (e.g., the Rotterdam, New York, or Toronto film festivals) one part of a much larger whole. So the fact that Ann Arbor and its intrepid citizens have continued to support this strange little festival, and all the bizarre films the festival has thrown their way over the years, speaks very highly of both the town and the festival founders and organizers (many of whom were present for an on-stage birthday ceremony,...
This year marked the 50th anniversary of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, which would be a milestone for any cinema-related event in the U.S. But for a festival that has carved out a niche in the area of experimental and avant-garde film and video, Aaff's achievement is especially noteworthy. Even within the rarefied realm of cinephilia, the avant-garde tends to be something on the margins, or even in the best of circumstances (e.g., the Rotterdam, New York, or Toronto film festivals) one part of a much larger whole. So the fact that Ann Arbor and its intrepid citizens have continued to support this strange little festival, and all the bizarre films the festival has thrown their way over the years, speaks very highly of both the town and the festival founders and organizers (many of whom were present for an on-stage birthday ceremony,...
- 5/7/2012
- MUBI
It’s the 50th anniversary of the Ann Arbor Film Festival and they’re preparing an all-out blowout on March 27 to April 1 to celebrate! The fest is crammed to the gills with the latest and greatest in experimental and avant-garde film, in addition to a celebration of classic work from Ann Arbors past.
Filmmaker Bruce Baillie was there at the first Aaff — and numerous times since. He’s back this year with a major retrospective of his entire career that spans three separate programs. Baillie, who’ll be in attendance of course, will present a brand-new restored version of his epic pseudo-Western Quick Billy, plus screenings of his classic short movies such as Castro Street, Yellow Horse, Quixote, To Parsifal and more.
There’s also a program dedicated to the films of the late Robert Nelson, including Bleu Shut and Special Warning, as well as sprinklings of underground classics throughout...
Filmmaker Bruce Baillie was there at the first Aaff — and numerous times since. He’s back this year with a major retrospective of his entire career that spans three separate programs. Baillie, who’ll be in attendance of course, will present a brand-new restored version of his epic pseudo-Western Quick Billy, plus screenings of his classic short movies such as Castro Street, Yellow Horse, Quixote, To Parsifal and more.
There’s also a program dedicated to the films of the late Robert Nelson, including Bleu Shut and Special Warning, as well as sprinklings of underground classics throughout...
- 3/7/2012
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Flaming Creatures midnight screening
Jonas Mekas’ Movie Journal: The Rise Of The New American Cinema 1959-1971 is essential reading for anybody interested in underground film. The book contains excerpts from the “Movie Journal” column Mekas wrote for the Village Voice alternative weekly newspaper for a dozen years. Also included in the book are a couple of movie posters and newspaper ads from that era, which I’ve scanned and uploaded to a photo gallery. If you click on each image in this post, it will take you to an embiggened version of it so you can look at them in better detail.
It’s tough for me to pick an absolute favorite poster out of the bunch, but I inserted the most striking above. It’s for a special midnight screening of Jack Smith’s classic Flaming Creatures. I’m guessing from the date on the poster and the year the film was completed,...
Jonas Mekas’ Movie Journal: The Rise Of The New American Cinema 1959-1971 is essential reading for anybody interested in underground film. The book contains excerpts from the “Movie Journal” column Mekas wrote for the Village Voice alternative weekly newspaper for a dozen years. Also included in the book are a couple of movie posters and newspaper ads from that era, which I’ve scanned and uploaded to a photo gallery. If you click on each image in this post, it will take you to an embiggened version of it so you can look at them in better detail.
It’s tough for me to pick an absolute favorite poster out of the bunch, but I inserted the most striking above. It’s for a special midnight screening of Jack Smith’s classic Flaming Creatures. I’m guessing from the date on the poster and the year the film was completed,...
- 11/23/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
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