Film-Makers' Co-op at Fifty
July 16–31
National Gallery of Art
Fourth Street and Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20565

"We don't want rosy films—we want them the color of blood." Fifty years ago two dozen or so filmmakers—Jonas Mekas, Robert Breer, Shirley Clarke, Stan Vanderbeek, and Jack Smith among them—wrote the nine-point manifesto of the New American Cinema Group, a communal, collaborative organization founded on the principles of "self-sufficiency and free expression through the art of cinema." Acknowledging the force of other movements throughout the world, including Free Cinema in England and the nouvelle vague in France, they seized the moment and established the Film-Makers' Cooperative (incorporated as the New American Cinema Group Inc. on July 14, 1961). In so doing, they succeeded not only in forming their own collective, but they also influenced the formation of other independent, nonprofit, artist-run organizations around the world. This series of five programs celebrates the Co-op, now in its very active 50th year of financing, producing, distributing, screening, and supporting avant-garde cinema. Special thanks to executive director M. M. Serra and to the artists themselves.
 
Flaming Creatures
preceded by Lupe
Sunday, July 31, 5:00 p.m.

Described by director Jack Smith as "a comedy set in a haunted music studio," Flaming Creatures is a seminal avant-garde work not only because of its outlandishness and unabashedly brazen imagery but even more because of its remarkable sophistication and aesthetic power. As an actor, director, and writer, Smith was a major countercultural figure and a decisive influence on the development of American experimental theater, underground cinema, and performance art. "Had Jack Smith produced nothing other than this amazing artifice, he would still rank among the great visionaries of American film" —J. Hoberman. (Jack Smith, 1963, 16 mm, 45 minutes)

A contemporary of Jack Smith, Puerto Rican filmmaker José Rodriguez-Soltero cast spectacular transvestite Mario Montez in the title role of his short Lupe—a campy, roiling homage to the ill-fated life and brief career of Mexican screen actress Lupe Vélez. (Montez himself also appeared in many of Warhol's underground films, including The Chelsea Girls). (José Rodriguez-Soltero, 1966, 16 mm, 50 minutes)