Sunday, October 24, 2010, 7:00 pm, $6-$10 sliding scale
ATA and Alternative Tentacles present:
The Widower (7pm)
Terminal City Ricochet (9pm)
DVD + CD soundtrack release
One of the most asked-about Biafra-related projects finally seeing the light of day! Never available on VHS and rarely shown outside of Canada, this dystopian vision is as timely as ever. Jello Biafra will appear in person for Q&A.
Come at 7pm to see cult classic “The Widower,” and stay for the 9pm screening of “Terminal City Ricochet,” followed by a Q&A.
Welcome to Terminal City—one of only five livable places left on Earth.
Telegenic Mayor Ross Glimore (Peter Breck, The Big Valley, Shock Corridor), is king of all media, and rules as a virtual dictator. To maintain his grip on power he must stage an election, and for that he needs fresh fear. Enter Alex Stevens (Mark Bennett), a fed-up, cynical newspaper delivery boy who happens to witness Glimore run over one of his own supporters in his car, and leave the scene of the accident.
Glimore and his Rove-wellian henchman Bruce Coddle (Jello Biafra) hatch a plot to brand Alex “the #1 terrorist threat” (based on his connection to rock‘n’roll music which, along with meat, is banned) to cow Terminal City into submission and steal another tabloid election.
Alex flees underground, where he stumbles into a resistance movement led in part by his newfound friend Beatrice (Lisa Brown), and a fugitive brain-damaged goalie from the Glimore-owned hockey team, unforgettably portrayed by two-time Genie Award® winner Germaine Houde (Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Les bons Débarras 1980, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role, Un Zoo la Nuit 1987).
Alex finds himself caught up in a plot to bring Glimore down, with the not-so-secret police (D.O.A.’s Joe Keithley and pro-wrestling legend Gene Kiniski) hot on the trail.
The DVD package comes with the soundtrack CD featuring Jello Biafra, DOA, Nomeansno, Beatnigs, Evan Johns and the H-Bombs, Nomeansno, Gerry Hannah (from the Canadian band called the Subhumans), the Groovaholics, I Braineater, Jello Biafra and D.O.A., Jello Biafra and Nomeansno, Jello Biafra and Keith LeBlanc. The Jello Biafra/D.O.A. tracks ended up being expanded into the full-length called “Last Scream of the Missing Neighbors” (virus078) also available from Alternative Tentacles.
“People should watch this before every American election.” —Jello Biafra
Featuring:
PETER BRECK as Mayor Ross Glimore
MARK BENNETT as Alex Stevens
GERMAIN HOUDE as Ace “The Savior”
GENE KINISKI and JOEY “SHITHEAD” KEITHLEY as Cops harassing Alex
The Widower
Canada, 1999
Directed by Marcus Rogers
Approx Run Time 79 Minutes, Unrated
Starring Shawn Milsted, K. Ramona Orr, Irene Miscisco, Tim Trylinski, Darren Andrichuk
with appearances by Jello Biafra, Nardwuar The Human Serviette, Joey “Shithead” Keithley
The Widower is a surreal black romantic comedy from director Marcus Rogers. Rogers has created an instant cult classic inspired by the sinister visions of David Lynch and the colorful, comic book camp of John Waters. The film is a cartoonish world of decay in a timeless, nameless city, where the very fringes of reality are starting to unravel. This is especially true for Milton, the nebbish romantic widower who is unable to face the reality of his wife’s demise… But why should he? She still talks to him. The Widower is a creepy, kitschy comedy about love and death, blood, cops, and donuts, that has some surprisingly sweet touches among the corpses, punk rock and out-sized characters!