Trash introduces Jodorowsky!

JODOROWSKY COMING SOON TO THE DENDY!

[HOLY MOUNTAIN screening introduced by Trash Video's Andrew Leavold]

IMA@DENDY presents the cult classic underground films of Chilean-born director Alejandro Jodorowsky. Visually stunning, deeply disorienting, often incomprehensible, these films blend religious imagery, esoteric mysticism, freaks and amputees, eroticism, surrealism and ultra-violence. With their genre-bending, their fusion of mystic geometry and anarchy, and starring the director himself, these grail-questing epics offer a surprising precedent for Matthew Barney’s The Cremaster Cycle.

El Topo (1970) is a trippy surrealistic Western. Classic Americana and avant-garde European cinema sensibilities meet Zen Buddhism and the Bible as Jodorowsky as El Topo, a master gunman and cosmic mystic, defeats four sharp-shooting rivals on a bizarre path to enlightenment and surreal resurrection.

In The Holy Mountain (1973) a Christ-like thief wanders through grotesque scenarios filled with religious and sacrilegious imagery. He meets a Jodorowsky, a mystic guide and alchemist, who introduces him to seven wealthy and powerful individuals, each representing a planet in the solar system: a cosmetics manufacturer, an arms manufacturer, an art dealer, a political financial adviser, a toy maker, a police chief and an architect. Along with the thief and the guide, they divest themselves of their worldly goods and seek out the Holy Mountain, in order to displace the gods who live there and become immortal.

Saturday 14 June at 6pm El Topo introduced by artist and film critic Philip Brophy

Sunday 15 June at 3pm The Holy Mountain

Saturday 21 June at 6pm The Holy Mountain introduced by Trash Video’s Andrew Leavold

Sunday 22 June at 3pm El Topo

Screenings at Dendy Cinemas, 346 George Street, Brisbane. For tickets phone 3211 3244.

BLACK MARKET TRASH: A Trash Video fundraiser

BLACK MARKET TRASH: A Trash Video Fundraiser/Rock'n'Roll Spectacular!

The Step Inn, cnr Brunswick St & St Pauls Tce in Fortitude Valley

Saturday 26th April from 6pm

7pm - To-Sha-Mun-Da (punk/metal riffa-rolla!)

7.45pm - Macca (The Onyas/The Boondall Boys) solo

8.30pm - The Pretty Boys (punk trio of gazoonga attackers!)

9.15pm - The Busymen (Brisbane's 60s garage legends)

10.10pm - Kewpie Doll (one Aampirella, one Brindle, ALL rock AND roll!)

11pm - Pineapples From The Dawn Of Time (the great 80s band is back with more bogus psychedelia mayhem!)

12pm - Lords Of Wong (you don't need Brian Jones to have a Jonestown Massacre!)

1am - JJ Speedball (spandex and durex in the one package!)

...with the Wayne Keys Show and DJ Wolvie Trash providing your between-band delectainment!

ONLY $12/$10 - Doors open 6pm!

Don Letts tours Brisbane May 8-9th!

The famous London reggae DJ and filmmaker Don Letts is touring Australia in May on his first multi-media tour encompassing film, spoken word and DJ sets. He will be appearing in Brisbane at the Globe, Brunswick St in Fortitude Valley on Thursday 8th May and Friday 9th May. Don will present the film and spoken word component at the cinema at 9pm.

Don Letts' reputation has been firmly established in the film and music world by a substantial body of work from the late 70's and well into the millennium. It was whilst as a d.j at the first punk club 'The Roxy' in 1977, that Don adopted the punk D.I.Y ethic and begun to make his first film 'The Punk Rock Movie'. Shot on Super-8mm it is the only documentary on the U.K punk scene w/ Sex Pistols-The Clash and many others. This led to a period directing over 300 music videos for a diverse range of artists, from The Clash to Bob Marley. In the mid-eighties he formed the group Big Audio Dynamite with Mick Jones (ex-Clash). He directed the hit Jamaican film 'Dancehall Queen' and films for Gil Scott-Heron, Sun Ra, George Clinton, Lee 'Scratch' Perry and The Clash's 'Westway To The World' for which he won a Grammy in 2003. In 2007 Don released his autobiography: 'Culture Clash: Dread Meets Punk Rockers.

More information about the tour is available here

Newsletter March 2008

TRASH VIDEO NEWSLETTER MARCH 2008

Howdy all,

Welcome to a much belated Trash E-Mailout for March 2008. It’s been a turbulent period for us, with a slow Christmas and dead post-holidays period making us scrabble around trying to keep our heads above water. The joys of running a small business! Of course, we always take this opportunity to thank you, our loyal readers and customers, for your ongoing support of our micro-small business. But right now we really do need an extra push to keep things going (you might have noticed our pitiful New Release section has been fed by donations, I’m almost embarrassed to admit). And, to sweeten the deal somewhat, all of our posters and sale DVDs (www.trashvideobrisbane.blogspot.com/2008/02/dvds-for-sale.html) are HALF OFF THE MARKED PRICE FOR THIS WEEKEND ONLY! So please, drop by, grab some ticket giveaways, go nuts, and hope to see you soon!

You’ve finally started your Masters!

I know, how bizarre – after 18 years I’m a uni student again. Starting March 3rd, I have two years to complete my Master of Philosophy degree at Griffith University Nathan campus on the “Pinoy-ization” (I really need a better word!) of Hollywood genre in the Philippines’ local and export movies. Naturally my documentary is feeding the thesis and vice versa; huge chunks of my research so far can be found on the Search For Weng Weng site at www.andrewleavold.blogspot.com. Latest additions to the blog include interviews with Corliss Randall (widow of B-producer Dick Randall) on her husband’s involvement with For Your Height Only, and with Filipino actor Rez Cortez on working with Weng Weng on an abscure 1977 Tagalog movie Sila Sa Bawat Bangketa. There’s also comprehensive filmographies for directors Eddie Nicart, Eddie Romero, Celso Ad. Castillo and actors Dolphy, Franco (One-Armed Executioner) Guerrero and Tony (Agent X44) Ferrer. Nerdy and obsessive, I know, but that obsession is partly what The Search For Weng Weng is all about.

So what is happening with your documentary?

THE SEARCH FOR WENG WENG finally have a producer attached! Veronica Fury is a Brisbane-based indie producer (www.furyproductions.com) specializing in selling documentaries to national broadcasters (ABC & SBS) and overseas. Now we have professional representation, we can start looking for post-prodution funding, and pitch the project to a broadcaster. Meanwhile I’m spending long nights with my editor Carving up the 100+ hours of existing footage - naturally the filming’s far from complete, as we still have a trip to the States mid-year to complete the interviews.

You’re going to the States?

27th May to 16th June - thanks to Dani Haig from BIFF, who as Associate Producer “produced” a plane ticket to LA! I’ve written up a wants list of interview subjects ranging from Roger Corman and Francis Ford Coppola all the way to Weng Weng’s producer Cora Caballes, who resides in Southern California. The search for Weng Weng just got that little bit more complicated! Needless to say to any of our readers in the US, please drop me a line and I’ll try to say howdy in person.

MY SECOND ANDY WARHOL LECTURE at the WARHOL EXHIBITION - FREE THIS SUNDAY!

Last Friday I did performed my two “Fifteen Minutes of Fame” talks at the Warhol Exhibition. Amazingly, I’ve been invited back to do a FREE lecture this Sunday at the Gallery of Modern Art, looking more in-depth at the tense rivalry between Andy’s experimental cinema and his protégé Paul Morrissey’s more “commercial” ventures. It’s in Cinema B at the Gallery of Modern Art, 2-3pm this Sunday (16th March).

SCHLOCK TREATMENT: Drive-In Double and Triple Features hosted by Trash Video’s ANDREW LEAVOLD, 8.30pm every Friday on 31, your Community TV!

Our website is now completely up to date with written intros to over 120 films played since we took over Schlock Treatment in December 2006. Each review is written by yours truly and is loaded with eyepopping stills and posters to match. Click www.schlocktreatment.blogspot.com, follow the links down the right hand side, and happy reading schlockmongers!

COMING SOON TO SCHLOCK TREATMENT...

14/03/08: MEXICAN MASKED WRESTLING ALIEN DOUBLE! Our silver masked hero takes on go-go dancing alien showgirls in Santo vs The Martian Invasion (1966) and the brain-sucking reunion of El Vampiro’s Abel Salazar and German Robles in The Brainiac (1961)

21/03/08: SCHLOCK TREATMENT’S WAR ON DRUGSPLOITATION Special! Presenting a psychedelic collection of classic drug scare films from the Forties to the Seventies, curated by Schlock Treatment - from LSD to the Big H in Drugs Are Like That (c.1970), The Terrible Truth (1951), LSD 25 (1967), Narcotics: Pit Of Despair (1967) and the classic 1949 "weedsploitation" classsic starring Robert Mitchum's busted ex-girlfriend, She Shoulda Said No!

28/03/08: FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA DOUBLE Two early Francis Ford Coppola projects for Roger Corman: an early slasher epic filmed in England called Dementia 13 (1963), and a re-edit of a kooky Russian science fiction feature into Battle Beyond The Sun (1962)!

04/04/08: BAD KUNG FU DOUBLE Viva Chiba! Japanese karate king Sonny Chiba takes names Stateside in The Bodyguard (1976) and then we're proud to present hands down the WORST dubbing job EVER on a kung fu film: the risibly enjoyable 1970 Taiwanese chop-sockey Swordsman With An Umbrella!

11/04/08: MEXICAN MADNESS DOUBLE! Santo goes to Spain for an English dubbed encounter in Santo vs Dr Death (1973) plus German (El Vampiro) Robles returns as the undead Monster Crusher in The Blood Of Nostradamus (1961)!

18/04/08: JACK NICHOLSON IN THE PHILIPPINES DOUBLE A baby-faced Jack Nicholson heads to the Philippines in 1964 with cult auteur Monte Hellman to film 2 cheapies back-to-back: the jungle heist potboiler Flight To Fury and the World War 2 actioner Back Door To Hell!

25/04/08: POP CULTURE GONE TROPPO DOUBLE! FAMOUS FILM THIEVERY #1: Infamous Z-producer/director Jerry Warren takes on DC Comics with The Wild World Of Batwoman (1966) - and is sued almost out of the film industry! FAMOUS FILM THIEVERY #2: "Turksploitation" producers believe they can edit footage from the original Star Wars into their own version (Dünyayi Kurtaran Adam or "The Man Who Saves The World")... and nobody would ever notice! Luckily Schlock Treatment has, and we're proud to present a subtitled version of one of the wildest reworkings of George Lucas' universe EVER, affectionately known as The Turkish Star Wars (1982).

02/05/08: YOUNG DENNIS HOPPER DOUBLE! SEE Dennis Hopper practically out of nappies as he takes on a sinister mermaid in the moody, forgotten Curtis Harrington minor masterpiece Night Tide (1961)... and SEE Dennis, John Saxon and an alien vampiress on board a spaceship to hell in the 1966 Queen Of Blood!

March Giveaways

Trash Video and Time Off Present BE KIND, REWIND!

Jack Black and Mos Def star in the new comedy from the wild imagination of Academy Award-winner Michel Gondry about two best friends, one electromagnetic field, and every movie you’ve ever loved. When Jerry (Black) becomes magnetized while trying to sabotage the power plant that he believes is melting his brain, he accidentally erases all the tapes in the video store where his best friend Mike (Mos Def) works. To keep the few customers happy, Jerry and Mike decide to remake one of the erased movies in Jerry’s junkyard. To their astonishment, their unique version of the movie is a hit. Mike, Jerry, and soon, friends from the neighborhood are in full-time production, re-making movies, from Ghostbusters to King Kong, and in the end revitalize not only the business but the entire community. BE KIND, REWIND HAS AN EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW AT DENDY PORTSIDE Tuesday 18th March, 6:30pm Dendy Cinemas Portside, Remora Road, Hamilton T: 3137 6000 To win a double pass to this screening just drop by Trash this week and rent something from us, and say the magic words “VHS will never die”.

GRINDHOUSE FINALLY ON THE BIG SCREEN!

TARANTINO and RODRIGUEZ are BACK - Two of the most renowned filmmakers go back to back with GRINDHOUSE, a double dose packed to the gills with guns and guts. The unprecedented project from the longtime collaborators presents two original, complete films as a double feature. Quentin Tarantino’s DEATH PROOF is a white knuckle ride behind the wheel of a psycho serial killer’s roving, revving, racing death machine. Robert Rodriguez’s PLANET TERROR is a heart-pounding trip to a town ravaged by a mysterious plague, a retro-futuristic vision of horror that’s been weathered, stripped, and aged to perfection. Inspired by the unique distribution of independent horror classics of the sixties and seventies, these two shockingly bold features are presented together on a drive-in style double bill, replete with fake trailers, missing reels and plenty of exploitative mayhem. Running Time is 190 minutes comprised of Planet Terror (90 minutes), a previously unseen cut of Death Proof (90 minutes) and a selection of faux trailers by Edgar Wright (SHAWN OF THE DEAD), Eli Roth (CABIN FEVER and HOSTEL) and Rob Zombie (HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES). The exclusive season commences at Dendy George Street on April 3^rd for one week only, but we have FIVE DOUBLE PASSES to give away to the GRINDHOUSE OPENING NIGHT + AFTER PARTY on THURSDAY 3RD APRIL, 6:30PM at DENDY CINEMAS, 346 GEORGE STREET, CITY. Just be one of the first five customers to drop by this weekend and rent for than $11 worth of movies from us… TICKETS ON SALE MONDAY 17th MARCH - ADULTS $15 / CONCESSIONS $12 INCLUDE CATERED AFTER PARTY + GRINDHOUSE 101 INTRO BY TRASH VIDEO’S ANDREW LEAVOLD. PH: 3211 3244 FOR BOOKINGS. Click here for the official Grindhouse site

BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD

Sidney Lumet received his Lifetime Achievement Oscar three years ago, and should therefore have had the decency to retire and bask in the glow of past glories. Except that the now 84 year old has no such plans: the director of 12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, Network and The Verdict is not still working, he doing some of his best work, as the sparkling Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead proves. At the centre of this superb, razor-sharp story is the robbery of a “mom and pop” jewellery store in a suburban shopping mall, looking at the events leading up to it and the disastrous consequences from several points of view. Planned by two brothers – the confident older Andy (Philip Seymour Hoffman) whose big real-estate career and trophy wife (Marisa Tomei) mask dark secrets, and the born loser Hank (Ethan Hawke) up to his neck in late child-support payments – they are both cash-strapped and desperate. When Andy summons Hank for a drink at a neighbourhood bar, his bullying, sneering mannerisms are clearly those of an elder brother who has been accustomed to kicking around his younger sibling all his life. Andy has a proposition: without any relevant professional experience, they are going to rob a jewellery store. It will be a simple, supposedly risk-free and non-violent scheme. As the details emerge, Hank is horrified by what he is being forced into, and as the heist goes horribly wrong, both spiral into an abyss of fear and shame, with their father (Albert Finney) heartbreakingly left to deal with the aftermath. Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead is both a superb heist thriller and a family drama, featuring remarkable performances from its delectable cast. In its relentless and uncompromisingly malevolence, cold-sweat tension and fear, its serious engagement with the idea of evil and sin and finally the way it evolves, persuasively, into a kind of contemporary family tragedy, this is in a different league from other thrillers. Told with a fractured time frame skipping smartly between the four days before the robbery and the week after, as the puzzle falls into place a powerful piece of cinema emerges. We have TWENTY DOUBLE PASSES for this weekend’s preview screenings (14th-16th March) for the first 20 customers to drop by and rent something.

LARS AND THE REAL GIRL

Written by Six Feet Under scribe Nancy Oliver, LARS AND THE REAL GIRL is a heartfelt comedy starring Academy-Award nominated Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson, The Notebook) as Lars Lindstrom, a loveable introvert whose emotional baggage has kept him from fully embracing life. Lars lives in a small northern US town with his brother (Paul Schneider,The Assassination of Jesse James) and sister-in-law (Emily Mortimer, Paris, Je T’aime), who are delighted when he finally brings home the girl of his dreams. The only problem is that she's not real - she's a life sized doll ordered over the internet. His sister-in-law is worried for him, his brother thinks he's nuts, but eventually, advised by their well meaning doctor Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson, Pieces of April, The Green Mile) they go along with his delusion, and Lars embarks on a journey to uncover the true meaning of love. We have TEN TWO-FOR-ONE PASSES for the first 10 customers to drop by and rent something this weekend. LARS AND THE REAL GIRL commences in cinemas on April 3rd.

HOLLOW CROSSING: BRISBANE'S LATEST HORROR ON STAGE!

Hollow Crossing is a place with a history of disappearance and has become an attraction for paranormal enthusiasts and teenage thrill-seekers, curious to know what lies on the other side of the crossing. Cliff and Virginia are journalists for the supernatural magazine Undercover, together they report the stories from the curious few who visit the mysterious region. Late one stormy afternoon as they return from an interview in a nearby town, they turn off the highway and discover the truth behind the legend. Hollow Crossing is a cinematic theatre event that creates a state of heightened realism by integrating dramatic visual projections, a surround sound-scape and a terrifying, suspense driven narrative… it is not for the faint of heart. Presented as part of Independents 2008 at Metro Arts, Sue Benner Theatre. Written and Directed by Brad Jennings, produced by Steven Maxwell, featuring Sean Dennehy, Callan Knight, Hannah Levien and Jess Loudon. March 12 to 29 - Tuesday to Saturday at 7.30 pm, tickets Adults $22 Concession $18 Group of 10+ $12 Bookings 3002 7100 and mention you’re a member of Trash Video!

Used and Recommended March 2008

SOUND POLAROIDS Fri 28 - Sat 29 March

presented by Brisbane Powerhouse, ROOM 40 and the British Council

In 2008 Sound Polaroids tips its hat to old Blighty, joining forces with the British Council to present a red, white and blue program of performance, design, sound and vision. Exposing the very edge in new forms of interconnected sound and vision, 2008's Sound Polaroids casts focus on the ever-increasing body of work concerned with our collective living spaces, architecture and movement in the urban environment. Leading the charge is acclaimed UK video art and design outfit D-Fuse who bring to Brisbane their provoking and futuristic cityscape deconstructions. Sound Polaroids also presents the Australian premiere of Empire II by the renowned Amos Poe. The festival features several free events, including Airplay UK, a compile of the best music videos produced in Britain, and a Panel discussion with members of D-Fuse, Pecha Kucha, local architects and designers. Full program available online

TRASH NEWS February 2008

Me, Dani and "Big Jim" Gaines outside Manila Police HQ

I MADE IT BACK TO THE PHILIPPINES!

This time I went with Associate Producer Dani Haig (BIFF late night programmer, and bass player in the Brockas with me for last year’s Squatterpunk). It was a lunatic two weeks – 15^th to 29^th January – that netted the final seven interviews for my SEARCH FOR WENG WENG documentary. Photos from the trip are on the bottom of the page at andrewleavold.blogspot.com, and yes, the tattoo IS real.

Highlights of the trip include: click here

TICKET GIVEAWAYS THIS WEEK!

Flickerfest, The King Of Kong & Focus On Gus Van Sant - click here

YOURS TRULY HOSTS THE BRISBANE SCREENING OF TROPFEST 2008!

Click here: 7pm Sunday 17^th February at the Suncorp Piazza, South Bank. Can you believe they asked me back to MC the live feed from Sydney – particularly after the unkind words I said in 2006 about Adam Spencer, when I said we couldn’t see eye to eye – and nor could he. I also accused him of doing a terrible pirate impression (“Captain F*ckeye”) and proceeded to insult the Kath and Kim doubles from Channel V. This year our sponsors QPIX will NOT be feeding red wine before the show, only during. See you on the downhill slide…

TRASH GOES TO THE WARHOL EXHIBITION

Gallery Of Modern Art, South Bank, South Brisbane on Friday 7^th March at 6pm and 7pm for their Fifteen Minutes of Fame talks. I get to wax lyrical about Warhol’s films, and how his filmmaking collaborator Paul Morrissey eventually took the reins and made Warhol’s cinema almost mainstream. Click here for more details

I SOLD MY FIRST REVIEW TO EMPIRE MAGAZINE!

Of course it had to be a Filipino film, or specifically FILMS – the Women In Prison box set just released by Umbrella. The biggest kick – aside from the sweet, sweet moolah – was the fact I wrote it on the plane and emailed it from Manila! Click here for an extended version (the 3000 words was shrunk down to 500 for the Australian version of Empire’s March edition).