Crosstown Arthouse Film Series

The Crosstown Arthouse Film Series presents Cirio Santiago's The Muthers at Crosstown Theater. 1976/93 minutes/Rated R

“Sleaze ahoy! Directed by heroic smut merchant Cirio Santiago (TNT Jackson, Vampire Hookers) and shot on-the-cheap in the Philippines, The Muthers is like stepping into one of Martin Denny's exotica LPs while it plays in Jess Franco's living room. Filled with karate chops and epic psychedelic-funk jams, this is the story of two pirates (Jeanne Bell and Rosanne Katon) who rob and loot on the China Seas, get sent to a women's prison presided over by a sadistic warden, then revolt and turn the sky black with the smoke from their machine guns. In other words, this is the only revolutionary-pirate-women-in-prison movie that you'll ever need. Restored from the original negative for maximum savagery!” — American Genre Film Archive

In the late 80s and early 90s, the streets of downtown Manhattan were the site of a collision between two vibrant subcultures: skateboarding and hip hop. Narrated by Zoo York co-founder Eli Gesner, with an original score by legendary hip-hop producer Large Professor (Nas, A Tribe Called Quest), All the Streets Are Silent brings to life the magic of the time period and the convergence that created a style and visual language with an outsized cultural effect.

Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror explores the folk horror phenomenon from its beginnings in a trilogy of films – Michael Reeves’ Witchfinder General (1968), Piers Haggard’s Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) and Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man (1973) – through its proliferation on British television in the 1970s and its culturally specific manifestations in American, Asian, Australian, and European horror, to the genre’s revival over the last decade. Touching on over 200 films and featuring over 50 interviewees, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched investigates the many ways that we alternately celebrate, conceal, and manipulate our own histories in an attempt to find spiritual resonance in our surroundings.

From American Genre Film Archive: Joel grew up in the church but has recently started questioning his beliefs. After sensing a supernatural presence from his deceased father, Joel becomes compelled to visit his cousin in New York. But shortly after arriving, they become embroiled in a series of mysterious homicides of local men, all of whom were last seen in the company of a mysterious and beautiful woman. Beautifully photographed by Ernest Dickerson (Do the Right Thing) and starring Kadeem Hardison (I'm Gonna Git You Sucka), and Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction), this sole directorial effort from child actor James Bond III is a macabre, neon-tinged portrait of late 1980s Brooklyn. The movie blends supernatural horror and religious mysticism, punctuated by an electrifying hip hop and R&B soundtrack. Newly restored from the original 35mm camera negative!

From Metrograph: Banned upon its original release in 1981, Andrzej Żuławski’s stunningly choreographed nightmare of a marriage unraveling is an experience unlike any other. Professional spy Mark (Neill) returns to his West Berlin home to find his wife Anna (Isabelle Adjani, in a role that earned her Best Actress at Cannes) insistent on a divorce. As Anna’s frenzied behavior becomes ever more alarming, Mark discovers a truth far more sinister than his wildest suspicions. With its pulsating score, visceral imagery, and some of the most haunting performances ever captured on screen, Possession is cinematic delirium at its most intoxicating.

The Masterpiece of German Expressionism and horror, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari is the story of a megalomaniac doctor who uses a sleepwalker that he seems to control to carry out a series of murders. Crosstown Arts’ presentation of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari will feature a live score featuring the original music of The Pop Ritual, a Memphis-based industrial, psyche-pop trio. 

American jazz musician Billy Tipton developed a reputable touring and recording career in the mid-twentieth century, along with his band The Billy Tipton Trio. After his death in the late 80s, it was revealed that Tipton was assigned female at birth, and his life was swiftly reframed as the story of an ambitious woman passing as a man in pursuit of a music career. The genre-defying documentary No Ordinary Man seeks to correct that misrepresentation by collaborating with trans artists. As they collectively celebrate Tipton’s story as a musician living his life according to his own terms, they paint a portrait of a trans culture icon. No Ordinary Man features leading voices and breakout stars in the trans community, including Marquise Vilsón, Scott Turner Schofield, Susan Stryker, C. Riley Snorton, and Thomas Page McBee, among others.

A combination of art film, documentary, and narrative, Funeral Parade of Roses takes a deep dive into  gay subculture in late 1960s Tokyo, Japan. In between the loose narrative, characters are interviewed about their lives and gender identity and occasionally the fourth wall is broken, revealing the crew making the film. A wild combination of film technique, documentation of '60s Japanese pop culture and gay life, Funeral Parade of Roses is a CAN’T MISS!

Swimmer and actress Esther Williams wanted to tell the life story of Australian swimmer and actress Annette Kellerman, and Million Dollar Mermaid is that film! A feast for the eyes with choreography by Busby Berkeley! Esther Williams broke her neck and was temporarily paralyzed for this entertainment!! With Victor Mature (Head: The Monkees Movie) and Jesse White (The Maytag Repair Man!).

From JANUS: The whiplash, double-pronged Chungking Express  is one of the defining works of '90s cinema and the film that made Hong Kong filmmaker Wong Kar-wai an instant icon. Two heartsick Hong Kong cops (Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tony Leung), both jilted by ex-lovers, cross paths at the Midnight Express take-out restaurant stand, where the ethereal pixie waitress Faye (Faye Wong) works. Anything goes in Wong’s gloriously shot and utterly unexpected charmer, which cemented the sex appeal of its gorgeous stars and forever turned canned pineapple and the Mamas and the Papas’ “California Dreamin’” into tokens of romantic longing.