The IFC Center salutes pioneer New York
filmmaker Bette Gordon!!
Special screening of Gordon’s acclaimed
drama LUMINOUS
MOTION Monday, April 12th and the cult classic VARIETY
Thursday,
April 15th
HANDSOME HARRY, Gordon’s latest film
starring Jamey Sheridan,
Steve Buscemi, Campbell Scott and Aidan Quinn, opens Friday, April 16th
Gordon, Luis Guzman, Will Patton and other
special guests to
appear in-person
IFC
Center is proud to salute New York-based filmmaker Bette Gordon, a
director who
embodies the essence of independent cinema, with special in-person
screenings
of her acclaimed features VARIETY
and LUMINOUS
MOTION,
leading up to the release of her latest film, HANDSOME HARRY
on April 16th.
A
pioneer in the American independent film world and one of the most
notable
artists to come out of the Tribeca / East Village “No Wave Cinema”
underground 1970’s film movement, Bette Gordon is best known for her
bold
explorations of themes related to sexuality. Her early short
experimental films won numerous awards and festival acclaim worldwide,
including showings at the Berlin International Film Festival, The Museum
of
Modern Art and The Whitney Biennial.
(1984) marked her debut as a feature film director, and was presented in
The
Cannes Film Festival’s prestigious Director’s Fortnight. Luminous
Motion, Gordon’s next feature, opened to rave reviews in
2000, and HANDSOME HARRY,
her
latest film, had its premiere at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival and is
being
released by Paladin in select cities April 16th. A long time
resident of Tribeca, Gordon is also one of the founders of the
Collective for
Living Cinema, the neighborhood’s first theater, an outpost of avant
garde cinema which was located on White
Street. In addition, Gordon has been
teaching new generations of students about the movie craft as a
Professor of Film at Columbia University's graduate film division in New
York City, and the
Supervisor of the directing program there.
On
Thursday, April 15th at 7pm, the IFC
Center will present a special
screening of VARIETY
The sexually charged tale of a woman’s journey of self
discovery, VARIETY
is a fascinating independent film that challenges common notions about
feminism
and pornography. Emerging out of the underground NYC arts scene
that produced the late 80’s boom in American independent cinema, VARIETY
contains the
contributions of an impressive array of talent, including
cinematographer Tom
DiCillo (Living in Oblivion),
actor
Luis Guzman (Boogie Nights),
a
script by the late cult novelist Kathy Acker, and a score by actor and
musician John Lurie (Stranger than
Paradise).
The film stars Sandy McLeod as a woman who takes a job selling tickets
at a Times Square porn theatre, gradually becoming drawn into
the life a gangster (Richard Davidson). Will Patton, Spalding Grey and
Nan Goldin co-star. Joining Gordon for a post-screening discussion will
be a panel of talent from the film’s cast and crew including Luis
Guzman,
Will Patton, Sandy McLeod and others to be announced. Screening
courtesy
of Kino.
Bette’s
follow
up to VARIETY
came with LUMINOUS
MOTION in 2000, which the IFC Center
screens on Monday, April 12th at 7pm. Based on the
acclaimed novel History of Luminous
Motion,
the film is a mother-son road-trip drama reminiscent of BONNIE AND CLYDE, and was named
one of the
best films of the year by New York
Times
critic A.O. Scott. The film stars Deborah Kara Unger (The Game), Terry Kinney (Oz) and marks the first
collaboration
between Bette Gordon and stage and screen veteran Jamey Sheridan (The Ice Storm). 10-year old
Phillip craves speed and light. Obsessed with staying in
perpetual motion, he lives the outlaw life on the road with his Mom, who
makes
ends meet stealing money from men she seduces. After an
unexpected detour, Phillip’s world is turned upside-down when Mom
settles
in the suburbs with a carpenter named Pedro. Determined to escape
this nightmare existence, Phillip dispatches Pedro with a homemade
remedy, and
the two hit the road again. Unfortunately, their past comes back to
haunt them when Phillip’s father shows up to reclaim his place at the
head of the family. The screening will be preceded by an
introduction by Gordon.
HANDSOME
HARRY
Gordon’s latest film, is opening on April 16th at the IFC
Center
as well as select cities across the country. The film marks
Gordon’s second collaboration with Jamey Sheridan who heads an
impressive
ensemble cast which includes Steve Buscemi, Aidan Quinn, John Savage and
Campbell Scott. Sheridan
portrays
the title role– a divorced man, alienated from his grown son, whose
life is
defined by a number of casual relationships but no intimate ones. A
loner
by choice, Harry is forced out of self-imposed exile when he is summoned
to the
deathbed of Tom Kelly (Buscemi), an old Navy pal with one last wish: he
wants
Harry to seek out another old friend, Dave Kagan (Scott), and ask his
forgiveness for some horrible wrong that Tom, Harry, and their other
close
friends committed when they were all still in the military.
Though
it takes the form of a classic road movie, the true terrain covered by HANDSOME HARRY
is the
male psyche. In a series of carefully observed, beautifully acted
vignettes,
the film explores what brought these men together, what drove them
apart, how
they betrayed one another and, worse still, how they betrayed
themselves.
Gordon, whose emotionally wrenching climax reveals the enormous gulf
between
who Harry might have been and who he eventually became, proves that,
sometimes,
it takes a woman to show us what it takes to be a man.
Screening
schedule:
Monday, April 12th
at 7:00pm: LUMINOUS
MOTION – introduced by Bette Gordon
Thursday, April 15th
at 7:00pm: VARIETY
– followed by a panel discussion with Gordon, cast members and other
special guests TBC
Friday, April 16th:
HANDSOME HARRY opens
at the IFC Center
