Events & Activities
Film
Movies at a museum? We may not have popcorn, but we do screen thought-provoking movies with themes that often directly relate to our current exhibitions or collections. Screenings are followed by related discussion, often led by topic experts.
Phoenix New Times recently described our No Festival Required series as one of the best ways to spend a Sunday afternoon, so stop by and check it out. It's FREE!
Selected Shorts 2009
January 25, 1pm
This annual presentation of independent short films from local, national and international filmmakers is personally curated by Steve Weiss, Executive Director of No Festival Required. Seven shorts will be screened, with works from East Coast filmmakers Leor Baum and Neil Ira Needleman, Taipei artist Sarah Breidenbach, New York animator Arthur Metcalf, USC School of Cinematic Arts' Sam Lembeck, Phoenix filmmaker Sean Christensen and Scottsdale Community College's Doug Passon.
The shorts run the gamut of genres, including comedy, drama and documentary. Subjects include corporate art, a moonlit road,letters from fans and does bubble-wrap feel pain?
Co-presented by No Festival Required. Runtime: 75 minutes.
In the Shadow of the Moon
February 1, 1pm
Between 1968 and 1972, nine American spacecraft voyaged to the Moon, and 12 men walked upon its surface. They remain the only human beings to have stood on another world. In the Shadow of the Moon brings together for the first, and possibly the last, time surviving crew members from every single Apollo mission that flew to the Moon, and allows them to tell their story in their own words. This riveting first-hand testimony is interwoven with visually stunning archival material which has been re-mastered from the original NASA film footage – much of it never used before. The result is an intimate epic that vividly communicates the daring, the danger, the pride, and the promise of this extraordinary era in history when the whole world literally looked up at America.
Beautifully shot by Clive North in High Definition video, the astronauts talk directly to camera. They emerge as surprisingly eloquent, witty, emotional and very human. The producers Duncan Copp and Chris Riley spent many weeks in the NASA film library examining cans of film some of which had not been opened for over 30 years. This search uncovered many gems, astonishing space shots which have been re-mastered from the original film rolls to reveal the Apollo program with a visual clarity and impact it has never had before. The mute 16mm rolls shot in Mission Control have been laboriously lip-synced with the 16-track audio recordings of the mission controllers’ voice loop to re-unite the pictures and sound of many historic moments for the first time, lending a striking immediacy to many dramatic scenes. Editor David Fairhead and director David Sington have woven this material together with a beautiful orchestral score from composer Philip Sheppard to create a moving, nostalgic and inspiring cinematic experience.
"A bunch of old guys talking about the old days – but what old days. An absorbing doc from a filmmaker who knows a good story, and a handful of men who’ve lived the best story of all"
Total Film
"The remastered, rediscovered documentary footage is incredible" Channel 4 Film
"Stirring stuff, packed with many beautiful images" Financial Times
World Movie Premiere: The Heart Is A Drum Machine
February 6
“The Heart is a Drum Machine,” the hotly anticipated music documentary from the producers of 2006’s “Moog” feature, has wrapped production and features an impressive cast of musicians, music historians, critics and scientists including MTV’s Kurt Loder, Tool’s Maynard James Keenan, KCRW’s Nic Harcourt and actor/musicians Elijah Wood, Jason Schwartzman and Juliette Lewis.
The film, directed Christopher Pomerenke and produced by Ryan Page, Joe Mundo and Hans Fjellestad, explores music’s role in shaping human history the profound connection people have had to music throughout human history and how it has shaped our experiences and its involvement in our daily lives.
The cast includes George Clinton, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ John Frusciante, Kurt Loder of MTV fame, Carl Sagan’s widow Ann Druyan, music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas (Grey’s Anatomy, Mad Men), Tool’s enigmatic frontman Maynard James Keenan, Jimmy Tamborello of the ground-breaking Postal Service, Modest Mouse’s Isaac Brock, music collector/actor/label owner Elijah Wood, Los Lobos, Jason Schwartzman, KCRW’s Nic Harcourt, Spoon’s Britt Daniel, The Silversun Pickups, Juliette Lewis, X’s John Doe, Sleater-Kinney’s Janet Weiss and many others.
“The Heart is a Drum Machine” will premiere at Phoenix Art Museum on Friday, February 6th. Celebrity DJs will be in attendance along with special wine tastings from the vineyards owned by Maynard James Keenan.
BUY TICKETS. Questions? Call (602) 257-2124.
1000 Journals
February 22, 1pm
A shared obsession links thousands of people around the world to the 1000 Journals Project. What began as a handcrafted "message in a bottle" is now a burgeoning global online and offline community that represents an astonishing cross-section of characters and cultures.
It all started with 1000 blank books, released into the world in the summer of 2000 by Someguy, a San Francisco artist. Someguy's instructions, stamped inside each journal, are simple: "This is an experiment and you are part of it. Add anything you like, then pass it on."
Some people found a journal, or got it from a friend or stranger. Some wrote in them, others doodled, pasted in photographs, or added artworks. Some kept them. Some passed them on. Australia, Canada, Denmark, Croatia, Singapore… Scans of journal pages are uploaded to the project's website, where thousands of people have signed up to receive one. There are no rules, and no one monitors these journals and their movements. And yet, they are connecting people worldwide, provoking and inspiring them.
In September 2003, one of the 1000, number 526, returned to Someguy, filled. What happened to the other 999? This film tells their stories. 1000 Journals shares their worldwide journeys across borders and barriers of personal, political, societal, and cultural nature, and chronicles the self-governed collaboration of thousands of random people who have added to this global "message in a bottle."
Shot on all the continents the journals themselves have traveled, this film reveals the beauty and power of the filled pages, interwoven with delicate portraits of people whose lives they touched.
Filmmaker, Andrea Kreuzhage, will attend the screening and answer questions following the film.
Co-presented by No Festival Required.
Lunafest
March 3, 7pm
A national touring show of short films by, for and about women with screening to benefit The Breast Cancer Fund. Produced by LUNA, the whole nutrition bar for women.
Animation, documentary and narrative subjects are included in this 90 minute collection of short films from international women directors. Find out more at lunafest.org
Co-presented by No Festival Required. Adult Content.
Viral Video and The New Media
with Mediocre Films Greg Benson and Kim Evey
March 29, 1 pm
Comedian writer/filmmakers Greg Benson and Kim Evey have turned their irreverent and politically incorrect mini-episodes into some of the internet’s most popular films. From the spoof Japanese kid’s show “Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine” to “Greg Hits Hollywood”, the duo will screen videos and answer questions about their successful use of New Media tools.
Co-presented by No Festival Required. Adult Content.
The Devil’s Envoys
April 19, 1pm
The Devil's Envoys (Les Visiteurs du Soir, translated as The Night Visitors) is a 1942 film by French film director Marcel Carné, famous for his romantic tragedy, Children of Paradise (1945). The film, which debuted on 5 December 1942 during the Nazi occupation of France, is an allegory of the eternal struggle between good and evil as fourteenth-century lovers defy the Devil.
Azzedine Alaïa and John Galliano credited this 1942 film as inspiration for their designs on view in Medievalism.
Movies are free of charge. Seating is available on a first come, first serve basis.
Performance
The Great American Soundscape
Saturday, May 16, Noon
At the turn of the 20th century, American music was rich and provocative, as were Blumenschein’s canvases. A string quartet comprised of members of The Phoenix Symphony evokes the essence of the American landscape with musical works contemporary to the artist.
The Musician Behind the Artist
June 6, 2pm
Inspired by evocative landscapes of the Southwest, Ernest Blumenschein was motivated by classical music masters Bach and Beethoven, and worked with Czech composer and New York philharmonic conductor, Dvorak. DuoWest presents a cello/piano concert rich in tradition, rough and ready with the American West’s descriptive musical narrative and aural painting.