Hallelujah The Hills
Adolfas Mekas
16mm Film Screening
FRIDAY, MAY 25th, 2012
Doors 7:30 PM | Screening 8 PM
$5-10 sliding scale
Adolfas Mekas
HALLELUJAH THE HILLS – projected on 16mm
1963, 82 minutes, 16mm, b&w.
Adolfas Mekas, who passed away last May, was an ingenious filmmaker, co-founder of Film Culture with his brother, filmmaker, Jonas Mekas, and the beloved founder and chair of “The People’s Film Department of Bard College.” Adolfas’s first feature film, HALLELUJAH THE HILLS was selected for the first New York Film Festival, was a hit at the Cannes Film Festival, and won the Silver Sail at Locarno.
“Loopy in more ways than one, HILLS isn’t so much a linear narrative as an ongoing do-si-do between two madcap man-boys—bespectacled nebbish Leo (Marty Greenbaum) and studly Ivy League dipsomaniac Jack (Peter H. Beard)—in pursuit of the same girl, Vera, who’s coyly played by two actresses (Sheila Finn and Peggy Steffans) representing Leo and Jack’s different views of their shared paramour. In between wooing, the cast tool around wintery Vermont in a jeep, romp naked through icy waters, and spoof the art-film canon, from Griffith to Kurosawa. The finale brings a secret woodland cache of ga-ga-ga-goils and a film-stopping cameo from googly-eyed underground jester Taylor Mead. The result is a dizzy time capsule of proto-revolutionary anarchy, like bits of youthful, energetic innocence frozen in the snowdrifts of time.” -Ed Halter, VILLAGE VOICE
“HALLELUJAH proved clearly that Adolfas is someone to be reckoned with. He is a master in the field of pure invention, that is to say, in working dangerously – ‘without a net.’ His film, made according to the good old principle – one idea for each shot – has the lovely scent of fresh ingenuity and crafty sweetness. Physical efforts and intellectual gags are boldly put together. The slightest thing moves you and makes you laugh – a badly framed bush, a banana stuck in a pocket, a majorette in the snow.” -Jean-Luc Godard, CAHIERS DU CINÉMA
“In this antic, freewheeling comedy from 1962, the director tells a story of love, loss and lunacy as filtered through movie madness – his characters’ and his own….” -Richard Brody, THE NEW YORKER
Special thanks to Pola Chapelle, Effie Asili, and the Bard College Film Department.
THIS IS CONGO
PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT AND PREVIEW OF THE DOCUMENTARY SHORTCUT TO HEAVEN
SATURDAY, MAY 26th, 2012
Photo Exhibit and Reception 6 PM | Screening 8 PM
All Ages | Free
Basilica Hudson presents…
THIS IS CONGO: Photography Exhibit and a sneak peak preview of the documentary film SHORTCUT TO HEAVEN with director and photographer Daniel McCabe and crew + Special Guest Filmmaker and Field Producer Horeb Bulambo.
Photography Exhibit will feature images touching on Congo, its people, its conflict and its beauty. Shot on location during the production of the film SHORTCUT TO HEAVEN, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by photographer filmmakers Daniel and Michael McCabe.
SHORTCUT TO HEAVEN is a feature length documentary that explores the ongoing fight for the Democratic Republic of Congo’s vast mineral wealth and natural resources. Battles are waged daily by those who will kill to plunder the country’s rare metals and other natural bounty, which ends up in the hands of western end users. Eastern Congo is an area where an estimated 1,500 people die each day as victims of war, where rape and child combatants have reached epidemic proportions. SHORTCUT TO HEAVEN will document one of the underlying stories of violent conflict in the Congo, it’s resource wars. Showing the direct link between the continued violence in eastern Congo and the consumer products that are manufactured today. From raw materials to war, it will provide a look into the human costs of an unregulated international market for Congo’s valuable natural resources. It will also testify to the need for finding a realistic and enduring solution to over a decade of violent conflict.
PREJUDICE is a short film that explores the racial tension between a white husband and his African wife. Shot on location in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, with local talent.
DANIEL McCABE, born Woodstock, NY, graduated from Pratt Institute with a BFA in Photography and Film. He started his journalistic career as a staff news photographer at a New York daily newspaper and has also worked in the commercial and fashion industries shooting both stills and video. He began his freelance career by documenting gang and prison related issues in Honduras, moving on to projects such as Kenya’s post-election violence, resource based conflict in Eastern DRC, Haiti’s 2010 earthquake aftermath, and HIV in South Africa’s slum Khayelitsha. McCabe currently covers tribal conflict in Kenya’s lawless north on the Sudan and Somalia borders, and conflict resource issues in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2010 McCabe received AOL’s groundbreaking innovator grant, 25 for 25, for his projects in DRC. McCabe is represented by Redux Pictures and is based in Hudson, NY.
HOREB BULAMBO, born in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), attended College Mwanga majoring in Literature, Latin and Philosophy, and the Uganda School of Media majoring in Photography and Video Production. He has worked as a Communications Officer for ACPN (Community Action for the Protection of Nature) in conjunction with the Diane Fossey Gorilla Fund, at World Vision organization as a Communications Officer, and for the UN’s MONUSCO as a lead reporter, traveling to remote areas of DRC to provide on camera reports of UN field operations. Bulambo currently works as a freelance communications specialist and reporter for international film and media organizations, and is an independent film producer/director, winning Best Narrative Film in 2008 at the Picha Film Festival for “Racial Prejudice”. Bulambo is currently based in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo with his wife and three children.
Cash Bar + Food provided by Miss Lucy’s Kitchen
For More Information visit: www.sthfilm.com
BASILICA HUDSON 2012 SEASON
MUSIC, ART & COMMUNITY
The new season at Basilica Hudson has already begun. Our season runs from May-October, but due to the oddly mild winter, we kicked off our 2012 program early this year, starting on Easter weekend with “Rock n’ Remembrance” a special, one-time only event, featuring an intimate reading, screening and performance with former members of the band Hole, in support of the recently released book “Letters to Kurt” and documentary film “Hit So Hard”. Also Basilica Hudson proudly hosted the annual Columbia County’s Habitat for Humanity fundraiser gala which honored their “Builder of the Year” and brought in over 200 guests for dinner and the ceremony.
NOW, for the rest of our 2012 spring season:
Spring has arrived along with the famous Hudson Valley Ramps, bringing you the second annual Ramp Fest> link to ramp blog post. Featuring over a dozen chefs preparing delicious dishes with the wild local green as their central muse.
Don’t miss it, this Saturday, May 5th from noon – 4pm – $20 for adults and $10 for children.
We are currently confirming our summer programming, but highlights include the second edition of NADA art fair and the Basilica’s participation in the Hudson Music Fest, as well as the return of Columbia and Greene County Chamber of Commerce Business Expo, The Hudson Opera Gala and many more local cultural and community events. We have exciting plans to collaborate with the fantastic folks at WGXC community radio to celebrate the 4th of July and Hudson’s legendary Flag Day weekends (fireworks!) with you.
An anticipated new edition to our programming is Basilica Hudson’s WEEKLY film program, which will present an array of works ranging from new and repertoire narrative features, documentaries, experimental films, video and media art, and guest curated programs, often with filmmakers and special guests present for a discussion following the screenings. This season’s program features collaborations with local artists and projects including The Oral History Summer School, a program by Cinemad’s Mike Plante, and rarely seen classics presented by The Film Desk, including: Susan Sontag’s Promised Lands, Truffaut’s The Wild Child, and Godard’s Every Man for Himself, and much more. The full program schedule to be announced soon.
In edition to our cultural and community programming, we are honored to also be the chosen venue for many private weddings and celebrations. For more information on this, please visit our RENTALS PAGE.
It is an action packed season, that will bring literally 1000′s down to our beloved Hudson River waterfront. Head towards the water friends, please stay tuned and hope to see you soon!
-The BH team
PS: DON’T FORGET TO SIGN UP TO OUR MAILING LIST
SECOND ANNUAL RAMP FEST
JOIN US TO CELEBRATE THE RAMP!
SATURDAY, MAY 5th, 2012
12-4 PM | $20/adults – $10/children
The first forageable green, spring delicacy, wild onion of myth and mystery. Abundant in the Hudson Valley, the ramp will be at the center of original dishes created by chefs from upstate New York and the big city. Indulge in their pungent and therapeutic pleasure at the second annual Ramp Fest Hudson.
Participants Include:
Swoon Kitchenbar
Another Fork
Cafe Le Perche
The Farmer’s Wife
DA|BA
Fatty ‘Cue
Hundred Acres
Loaf Bakery
Cookshop
Panzur
The Red Onion
Sfoglia
Truck Pizza
Miss Lucy’s Kitchen
Five Points
Monument Lane
Each offering an original dish featuring ramps + Live Music & Drinks.
For More Information visit: RAMPFESTHUDSON.COM
“Portrait of a Landscape” photographs by Kate Sterlin
sterlinphotography.blogspot.com
ROCK ‘N’ REMEMBRANCE
TALES OF SURVIVAL & REBIRTH
EASTER SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012
DOORS 6 PM READING 7 PM SCREENING 8 PM
Basilica Hudson opens its 2012 season on Easter Sunday, April 8th with a truly unique book reading and film screening featuring two true stories of life, death and survival in and around two seminal 1990s rock bands. This intimate evening will include an in-person reading by Hole lead guitar player and co-founder Eric Erlandson from his new book Letters to Kurt and a screening of documentary film HIT SO HARD: The Life and Near Death Story of Drummer Patty Schemel. Director, P. David Ebersole, will be in attendance for a Q&A following the film. The evening will conclude with Hole members Patty Schemel, Eric Erlandson and bass player Melissa Auf der Maur who will participate in a Q&A and a short stripped down musical performance. Join us for this rare event in Hudson, NY, the only one of its kind scheduled outside of New York City and Los Angeles.
When Nirvana burst onto the national scene in 1991, the music they played spoke directly to a generation that had emerged from the Reagan-Bush years angry and disenfranchised. As grunge took off, the music industry was completely transformed in a way nobody expected … especially the young musicians who went from tiny shared Seattle apartments to international superstardom, sometimes overnight. Some handled it well … and some did not. Just three years later, the drug-related deaths of several prominent musicians, capped by the suicide of Kurt Cobain, closed the books on an all too brief era.
Letters to Kurt, written by Eric Erlandson as an elegy for his friend Kurt Cobain, takes the form of 52 letters, and is an anguished, angry, and bleeding-heart meditation on rock’n’roll, sex, suicide, and the questions that follow. “I see these letters as songs; a fifty-two-card pick-up,” says Erlandson, who studied writing in the years following Hole and found inspiration in the work of Jim Harrison, Patti Smith, and Charles Bukowski. “In no way do I intend to glorify or romanticize Kurt’s chosen way out, nor make light of it … I thought if I could sort out my struggles and disappointments, face my demons, maybe I would be in a position to help others.”
This poetic elegy to legendary Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain illuminates Erlandson as “ . . . the spirit boy in the Nirvana-Hole dynamic.” — Thurston Moore
“The reverberations of Kurt’s suicide last to this day, and have touched the lives of many. Dozens of people could have written their own version of this bracingly candid book; Eric has written one, filled with rage and love, landmined with detail, that can stand for them all.” — Michael Azerrad, author of Come As You Are, The Story of Nirvana
“Nearly two decades after the death of Kurt Cobain, a friend and fellow musician not only continues to mourn his suicide, but also rages against the culture that he holds responsible . . .The pain is real and powerful, and the book’s major indictment is of a celebrity culture in which ‘all beauty has poison under its skin, fangs beneath its gums, a bullet with your name on it, in the name of fortune and fame. If the art doesn’t kill you, the fame surely will.’ A catharsis for the writer and perhaps for the reader as well.” — Kirkus Reviews
HIT SO HARD, directed by award winning filmmaker P. David Ebersole, tells the story of Patty Schemel, the acclaimed drummer of Courtney Love’s seminal rock band Hole, and her rise to fame (and nearly fatal fall from it), with no punches pulled…and it’s one hell of a story. Right in the middle of 90s grunge, Patty, an openly gay woman, always felt ‘different’ but never dreamed she would be part of a multi-platinum selling band, touring with legends, or on the cover of Rolling Stone. Or that, thanks to drug addiction, she could lose it all. Told with insider interviews and stunningly intimate, never-before-seen footage shot by Patty and her friends (Patty was given a Hi-8 camera just before Hole’s infamous Live Through This world tour), HIT SO HARD is not only an all-access backstage pass to the music that shaped a generation, but a harrowing tale of overnight success, the cost of addiction, and ultimately, recovery and redemption. HIT SO HARD will be released in theaters on April 13th at the Cinema Village in New York City, and in other cities across the nation.
“Wins you over… [an] unexpectedly poignant portrait.” – Manohla Dargis, NY TIMES
“[A] pull-no-punches portrait… shocking and disorienting in its intimacy.” – INDIEWIRE
“Raw and unflinching” – THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
“Strikingly intimate” – BILLBOARD
“Heartbreaking” – SPIN MAGAZINE
