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See fresh perspectives and formula shattering techniques in film and video
art from the Bay Area and beyond! Open Screening accepts one hour of
shorts every month on an open revolving basis. Live local bands open every
show, and the refreshments are darn good.

FREE admission for exhibitors
7pm: Door, Bar
7:30: Live Music w/ Mia Mustari and Jonah Blumstein 8pm: Projector debuts one hour of independant shorts by emerging artists.

Program (To Date):

John Ray and Danny Briones; “Spies Not Us”, Michael Mantra’s “Nucleic Whey”, Vivian Giourosis’ “Men In A Truck”,”Wandering Clown” by Michael Okum,Jill Herrera’s “, Doug Pound, and Bay Area premiere of ‘Flextacy’:

Feel the burn The Mission District’s darlings of urban athleticism, Double Dutchess, have outdone themselves once again, this time on video. Switchblade, Valtronic, Little Girl, and Kate Rock present the Bay Area premiere of ‘Flextacy,’ showing as part of the Artists’ Television Access series Open Screening. Originally conceived as a how-to guide on double Dutch jump-roping, “Flextacy” more closely resembles a 1980s aerobic workout video following the ladies’ training from sunrise to sunset. Clad in tan tights and matching neon workout gear, the Dutchesses demonstrate their Jane Fonda-meets-Linda Lovelace approach to the finer points of cardiovascular toning. Elaborately choreographed jumping scenes punctuate the action and help to relieve some steam. Highly recommended for the athlete and pervert in everyone. (John Lombardo, SFBG, http://www.sfbg.com/38/35/x_8days.html )

OS Submission Info:
* Cue and label all tapes w/ name, contact, title and length.
* Mail dubs to: “openscreening”, 992 Valencia, SF, 94110
* 1-2 week advance submissions strongly recommended
* Email inquiries do not guarantee a space. Tapes do
* Max trt: 20m
* DVD, miniDV/DVcam, sVHS, sm beta, 8mm and 16mm
* All genres. Student, “in progress”, and segments welcome
* Info: contact meg @ openscreening@hotmail.com

Feature Film: Rosa Luxemburg, 1986 Germany/West Germany, Running time: 122 minutes

In this informative and measured docudrama, director Margarethe von Trotta relates the life and times of Rosa Luxemburg. Von Trotta based her film on  historical research and some of the more than 2,000 letters Rosa Luxemburg wrote during her active life. Luxemburg was a leader of both the German and Polish Socialist parties who advocated an anti-colonialist and pacifist stance on the issues of her day.

“Rosa Luxemburg is one of the most fascinating  figures in modern European political history. She clung to Marx’s teachings when Lenin was rewriting the master to fit his own needs. She believed in the dictatorship of the proletariat but said that no cause could justify the taking of one innocent life. Her death was probably as much of a relief to Lenin and the Bolsheviks in Moscow, whom she relentlessly criticized for their autocratic programs, as it was to her former comrades in the Social Democratic Party, who authorized the purge of the ultraleft Spartacists and orchestrated the cover-up of  her murder” (Canby, New York Times)

Short Silent Film:  Berlin, Symphony of a Great City, 1927 Germany, Running Time: 20 minutes

Berlin offers us a literal ‘day in the life of’, following the life of the city as it wakes, goes to work through the morning and into the afternoon, moves from work to play,  to sport and dancing and drinking deep into the night. It leaps swiftly  from rich to poor, from man to machine and back  again, from the grandeur of the city-scape to  the sewers beneath, and always movement, movement in every way  that can be found.

jewlia@charminghostess.us / www.charminghostess.us

Whispered Media presents ” Organisms Unite! “, an Xtra-special batch of fertile resistance films. Angelo’s Sacerdote’s “Fed Up!”, the Bay Area premiere of James Ficklin’s ” Whose Food? Our Food !”, and wild spores of shorts from around the organic globe. With biotech resistance in the Bay Area in full bloom , as www.ReclaimTheCommons.net mobilizes massive alternatives to SF’s Biotech 2004 Conference in June , we thought we’d keep you armed to the teeth w/ humor, outrage, and wholesome insurrection.

“Fed Up!” presents an entertaining and compelling overview of our current food production system from the Green Revolution to the Biotech Revolution and what we can do about it. http://wholesomegoodness.org

“Whose Food? Our Food !” is an inspiring look at the June 2003 Biotech protest in Sacramento, where thousands came out to reject the Bush’s pro GMO agenda, as they courted third world WTO delegates leading up to Cancun.http://videoactivism.org