August 25-31
The Quad surveys sex on screen in the Big Apple ranging from the erotic to the obscene, the exploitative to the experimental
Featured directors include Joe Sarno, Roberta Findlay, Gerard Damiano, Andy Milligan, Radley Metzger, and Doris Wishman, plus theatrical premieres of half a dozen restorations
In the early 1960s New York City became the national hub for independent filmmaking of all types. With the gradual relaxing of local and national censorship and obscenity laws, many directors turned their lenses towards the growing demand for sexuality themed films. For the next 20-some years, a diverse group of filmmakers seized the opportunity to explore taboo subjects, and collectively produced thousands of shorts and features in a wide range of styles—from commercially-minded exploitation fare to deeply personal experimental, underground, and avant-garde cinema. Organized in collaboration with Joe Rubin.
Aroused
Anton Holden, 1965, U.S., 78m, 35mm
A misogynistic killer is stalking and slaughtering streetwalkers while being relentlessly pursued by a hard-boiled detective. This unassumingly simple “roughie” is elevated by its adept use of noir influenced cinematography, sharp writing, and above-average performances. Among the earliest “proto-slashers,” Aroused helped set a cinematic template for serial killer thrillers that endures to this day.
Bacchanale
John & Lem Amero, 1970, U.S., 77m, 35mm
Taking equal inspiration from Maya Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon and the camp-laden works of Jack Smith, this dreamy voyage into absurdism centers on a young woman who leaves her body as she sleeps, embarking on an increasingly strange journey to find her brother, a possibly dead soldier in Vietnam. A rare example of surrealist filmmaking in sexploitation and a unique and unjustly forgotten piece of American underground cinema.
Bijou
Wakefield Poole, 1972, U.S., 75m, DCP
Wakefield Poole's second feature is an avant-garde examination of fantasy and desire. After witnessing a car accident and stealing the victim's purse, a construction worker discovers a ticket to Bijou, a strange club where nameless men fulfill each visitor's sexual fantasy. Relying heavily on experimental filmmaking techniques, Bijou is among the most significant and acclaimed all-male films of the 1970s.
Blue Summer & The Appointment
Chuck Vincent, 1973/1971 U.S., 80m/21m DCP
About to head off to different universities, best friends Gene and Tracy embark on a road trip, aiming to pick up as many women as possible. But as the days unfold, the reality of their impending separation and deeper emotional bond begins to set in. Chuck Vincent's coming of age/road movie subverts a simple premise with its powerful subtext on adolescent sexuality and the value of friendship. Preceded by Vincent's 1971 short, The Appointment
Both Ways
Jerry Douglas, 1975, U.S., 84m, DCP
Donald Wyman lives the idyllic suburban dream with a loving wife and young son. But when a chance affair with a male college student begins to threaten his home life, Donald goes to drastic measures to maintain his secret. This tightly scripted and well-acted drama, written and directed by playwright Jerry Douglas (Score), is a stirring examination of male bisexuality.
With director Jerry Douglas in person Sun August 27
Changes
Gerard Damiano, 1970, U.S., 80m, DCP
Before becoming a household name thanks to his notorious 1972 Deep Throat, Gerard Damiano made this intimate and personal documentary examination of the sexual revolution as seen through the then-burgeoning NYC porn scene. Interviewing everyone from live sex-show performers to gay liberation activists, Changes is a powerful and one-of-a-kind portrait of the city during one of its most significant moments in the 20th century.
World Premiere of 2K restoration
Double Agent 73
Doris Wishman, 1974, U.S., 80m, 35mm
With a camera implanted in her breast, Jane is assigned to eliminate drug-king Toplar and photograph everyone she kills along the way, so that The Agency can verify his termination. Legendary nudie director Doris Wishman had already brought Chesty Morgan (burlesque dancer Liliana Wilczkowska) and her 73-inch bust to the screen in Deadly Weapons, but ups the ante here as Chesty snaps, chokes, and strangles every goon in sight!
With Doris Wishman biographer Michael Bowen in person Sun August 27
Naked Came the Stranger
Henry Paris (Radley Metzger), 1975, 86m, DCP
In this film based on the infamous joke novel written pseudonymously by the staff of Newsday, perfect couple radio talk-show hosts Gilly and Billy each indulge in a series of increasingly outlandish extra-marital affairs. A bitingly funny commentary on New York socialites, Metzger's elegant and sophisticated comedy is as much a love letter to the city as it is an ode to the perseverance of romance.
Not A Love Story
Bonnie Sherr Klein, 1981 U.S., 68m, 35mm
Made at the height of the anti-porn feminist movement, Canadian filmmaker Klein's documentary exploration of the darker side of the American (though particularly New York) sex trade and porn film industry, remains one of the most controversial films produced on the subject. Ostensibly following the journey of a young burlesque dancer as she explores increasingly violent forms of sex for profit, Klein presents a bleak and disturbing alternative to the glamorous world of mainstream Porno Chic.
Not Just Another Woman
Toby Ross, 1973, U.S., 78m, DCP
This major lost work of the Porno Chic period chronicles the obsessive and ultimately disastrous relationship between a young kung fu instructor and his visiting sister-in-law, who happens to be a nun. Ross was one of the few African Americans directing genre films at the time and his sole feature film is a lavishly mounted character drama, primed with adept commentary on the destructive nature of male desire.
World Premiere of 2K restoration
The Opening of Misty Beethoven
Henry Paris (Radley Metzger), 1976, 86m, 35mm
The most iconic film from Metzger's Henry Paris period puts an erotic twist on Pygmalion. Dr. Seymour Love has a chance run-in with a crass Parisian prostitute and decides to bet that he can turn her into a sophisticated lover. Filmed on location in New York, Paris, and Rome, Misty Beethoven has been hailed as among the finest erotic films ever produced.
The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann
Henry Paris (Radley Metzger), 1974, 86m, 35mm
Radley Metzger's first production under the name Henry Paris, and one of the most successful sex films of 1974, The Private Afternoons of Pamela Mann is a broad comedy following the secret amorous rendezvous of wealthy housewife, Pamela Mann, who, unbeknownst to her, is being tailed and documented by a private detective hired by her jealous husband.
Red Roses of Passion
Joe Sarno, 1966, U.S., 85m, DCP
Joe Sarno was nicknamed The Bergman of 42nd St. for his often haunting character dramas. Here he explores vaguely supernatural mysticism in a story of a young woman's initiation into a strange cult that uses roses as an aphrodisiac but whose real purpose is much more sinister. Filled with stark, high contrast black and white photography, Roses is one of Sarno's best films.
World premiere of 2K restoration courtesy of Vinegar Syndrome
Introduction by Joe Sarno biographer Michael Bowen Fri August 25
Scoundrels
Cecil Howard, 1982, U.S., 86m, DCP
Graphic designer turned filmmaker, Cecil Howard, was one of the key auteurs at the tail end of theatrical hardcore features. Scoundrels follows Simon, a wealthy psychiatrist whose life begins to crumble when he discovers his wife's ongoing affair and daughter's promiscuity. Inventively structured to allow all three principals to serve as an intermittent Greek chorus, Scoundrels ranks as one of the last major Big Apple sex films.
World Premiere of 2K restoration
Seeds & Vapors
Andy Milligan, 1963/1968 U.S., 81m/32m
Notorious “gutter auteur” Andy Milligan’s Seeds follows a sexually depraved family reunited for Christmas, where long simmering tensions rise, while a mystery killer murders them one by one. Preceded by Milligan's directorial debut,Vapors, and a sordid “filmed play” set over the course of a night in the St. Marks Baths.
World Premiere of 2K restoration created with film elements from the private collection of Nicolas Winding Refn
A Woman's Torment
Roberta Findlay, 1977, U.S., 85m, DCP
Dr. Otis Vorel and his wife Estelle having been caring for Estelle's mentally ill sister, Karen. But as tensions rise over the prospect of committing her to an asylum, Karen runs away, taking refuge in an abandoned home on Fire Island. But as her inner demons take hold and her sense of reality breaks down, she begins murdering various passersby. Director/cinematographer Roberta Findlay's cult favorite mixes bloody killings and nihilistic sex, punctuated by a moody score from Walter Sear.
World Premiere of 2K restoration
With director Roberta Findlay in person Wed August 30
Experimental Film Program
Christmas on Earth, Barbara Rubin, 1963, U.S., 30m, 16mm
Fuses, Carolee Schneemann, 1968, U.S., 23m, 16m
Whoregasm, Nick Zedd, 1988, U.S., 20m, 16mm
In Rubin’s multi-projector film, superimposed images work to create a dream-like ambience of mystical sexuality; in Schneemann's Fuses, light and vibrant colors compliment depictions of lovemaking, as seen through the gaze of a housecat; and in Zedd's film, intentionally grotesque images of sex are juxtaposed with street scenes and “ugly cops.”
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