Author: Fara

OC ARCHIVAL ANOMALIES
Industrials amok! Here’s a jaw-dropping 16mm compilation of our most time-warped titles–educational, informational, and promotional films that together map out the real underside of 20C film production. These preposterous shorts—at times excerpted to foreground their sublimely ridiculous essence—come from that great mass of non-fiction films produced for extra-theatrical audiences—schools, churches, corporate groups—for the promulgation of certain ideas and products. Over these eight decades, their retrograde ideologies and modes of address have become increasing exposed, naked to the eye, like grotesque fossil skeletons in a paleo-media boneyard. Curated by Craig Baldwin, this uncanny initiative mines the most mind-melting filmic artifacts from OC’s 4000-plus, including Little Oscar Meyer, sex-ed, bed-wetting, noise cults, religious ecstasies, car fantasias, tech obsessions, ad absurdum. And beers for a buck! 

The Gold Fish Casino Film follows the queer journey of a plucky Salmon playing for high stakes in the Water Wars. At The Gold Fish Casino, The Salmon must gamble her eggs for high stakes: enough clean water to get home and spawn. On her journey she encounters a queer menagerie, and transforms from a sweet naïve fish into a bold powerful force. The Water Nymph, a washed up veteran of the Water Wars with an enigmatic past, charms The Salmon while dealing dirty cards. Onstage, The Army Chorus of Engineers sing cheerful numbers about Manifest Destiny while at the bar the down-trodden River Creatures hatch plans to topple the Water Tycoon. Just as The Salmon’s luck is running dry, a cryptic communiqué from The Water Underground, a renegade gang of
Water Nymphs, is delivered to the water table.
As a mighty storm brews in the distance, the Water Tycoon shuffles in for a cataclysmic show down: Will the Salmon and her fellow creatures rise up, or will it all go down the drain? Rife with double entendre, musical numbers and stunning visuals, The Gold Fish Casino engages the audience with Water politics using archetypal characters, musical numbers and humor.

The Gold Fish Casino has been primarily grassroots funded and is possible thanks to the hard work and generous donations of many.
We depend on our community to spread the word and to help us continue to raise funds for this very serious undertaking. Please consider a tax-deductible donation today. Every drop counts. The Gold Fish Casino film project is fiscally sponsored by Fractured
Atlas Dir. Sarolta Jane Cump 30 minPlus More…

CANYON CINEMA’S 50th: LOOSE ENDS ZINE RELEASE!
Celebrating the 50^th Anniversary of our beloved Bay Area film co-op, Canyon alums Courtney Fellion and Linda Scobie twirl a whirlygig of illusory narratives and critical thoughts. The luv-fest features rarely seen 16mm prints from the legendary collection, including Diana Krumins’ surrealist assemblage Babobilicons and Mark Lapore’s The Glass System, a cross-cultural mediation on the “impact of globalization and the hegemony of Western-style capitalism”. Local light Greta Snider’s street-poetic Blood Story precedes headliner Loose Ends, Chick Strand’s kaleidoscopic collage on media oversaturation and psychological entropy. And tying up a final loose end, tonight’s party also sees the release of the fifth, consummating issue of the current configuration of Canyon Cinemazine, as editors Fellion and Scobie return the baton to director Antonella Bonfanti for future incarnations. All five editions of their project are available for purchase, along with a raffle of color posters, test prints, plus free cake and champagne!!