Thursday, November 18, 2004, 8:00 pm, $5
Symphony for a Sinner (1979) 56 min 16mm
Symphony for a Sinner was a long, lavishly photographed film generally considered the magnum opus of the class productions. New York critic and coauthor of Midnight Movies J. Hoberman would rank it as one of the ten best films of the year, while Stan Brakhage would call it “the ultimate class picture.” John Waters, who now visited George regularly whenever he passed through San Francisco, envied the lurid photography and wanted George to shoot his next picture (which would have been Polyester and didnt happen). Symphony, Waters said, had the look he craved for Desperate Living (1977).
Color Me Shameless 1967, 16mm, b&w/so, 30m
Starring Bob Cowan, Gina Zuckerman, Donna Kerness.
This movie was made when I was a bit depressed which is nothing new, but also the main actor, Bob Cowan, happened to be depressed also and so we had a wonderful time working together. One of the actresses was also separated from her husband at this time and the movie solidifies into concrete the repressed desires of everyone who works with me, or more realistically, instead of concrete, the production becomes a frozen, brittle enema bag that slowly thaws and can only be appreciated along channels previously blocked by organic reality.
Prints and projection provided by Canyon Cinema Co-op