NewFilmmakers presents our annual Thanksgiving Show without any turkeys

6:00PM NEWFILMMAKERS DOCUMENTARY SERIES

Joseph Alexandre WARRIORS OF THE DISCO: THE STARCH CLUB DOCUMENTARY (2008, 17 Minutes, Video)

Semyon Pinkhasov WHAT IF: THE HELENE MAYER STORY (2008, 47 Minutes, Video)

Helena Mayer was a German Jew who won the gold medal for Germany in the 1928 Olympics. In the early ’30s Mayer moved to the US after she was kicked out of a German fencing club because of her Jewish background. Yet when Nazi Germany asked her to represent the regime again in the 1936 Olympics, her agreement helped to whitewash Nazi racial policies. Why did she do it?

7:15PM NEWFILMMAKERS SHORT FILM PROGRAM

Laura Klein THE FALLING OF THE BRIGHT (2008, 11 Minutes, 16MM)

THE FALLING OF THE BRIGHT tells the story of a pair of teenage siblings, Lilly & Lenny, struggling to celebrate Thanksgiving on their own after the loss of both parents.

Kathy Kolla ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DIME (2009, 14 Minutes, Video)

When a young married couple gets stuck in debt, dollars and dimes are hard to come by. Taking advice from a wacky motivational speaker, however, could cause a turn for the worse.

8:00PM NEWFILMMAKERS FIRST WORK IN PROGRESS SCREENING

Jivko Darakchiev OS (2009, 26 Minutes, 16MM)

A boy leads a grieving French woman through a series of surreal circumstances where she is forced to make internal sacrifice and assuage her own consciousness. Will the child prevail or will the woman’s lustful and restless nature render his attempts to help useless? [ Followed by Discussion with the filmmaker ]

9:00PM NEWFILMMAKERS SECOND WORK IN PROGRESS SCREENING

Eric Fischer LAST DAY OF SIMON (2009, 90 Minutes, Video)

Simon Keenan is a young man with no direction in life. Working at a videogame store in his small suburb, Simon wastes time smoking pot and complaining. Only after his girlfriend dumps him and his mother kicks him out of the house does Simon realise that it is he who must make changes. Along the way Simon learns about the people in his town, the friends that he has, and even learns a little about who he really is. [Followed by Discussion with the filmmaker ]

Anthology Film Archives evolved from roots and visions that go back to the early Sixties, when Jonas Mekas, the director of the Film-Makers’ Cinematheque, a showcase for avant-garde films, dreamed of establishing a permanent home where the growing number of new independent/avant-garde films could be shown on a regular basis.

This dream became a reality in 1969 when Jerome Hill, P. Adams Sitney, Peter Kubelka, Stan Brakhage, and Jonas Mekas drew up plans to create a museum dedicated to the vision of the art of cinema as guided by the avant-garde sensibility. A Film Selection committee — James Broughton, Ken Kelman, Peter Kubelka, Jonas Mekas and P. Adams Sitney — was formed to establish a definitive collection of films (The Essential Cinema Repertory) and form the structure of the new institution.

Anthology Film Archives opened on November 30, 1970 at Joseph Papp’s Public Theater. Jerome Hill was its sponsor. After Jerome Hill’s death, in 1974 it relocated to 80 Wooster Street. Pressed by the need for more adequate space, it acquired in 1979 Manhattan’s Second Avenue Courthouse building. Under the guidance of the architects Raimund Abraham and Kevin Bone, and at a cost of $1,450,000, the building was adapted to house two motion picture theaters, a reference library, a film preservation department, offices, and a gallery.

At the Courthouse, Anthology has found an ideal home as a chamber museum, dedicated to the preservation, study and exhibition of independent and avant-garde film. It is the first museum devoted to film as an art form, committed to the guiding principle that a great film must be seen many times, that the film print must be the best possible, and that the viewing conditions must be optimal.