Vinyl Nation, coup 53 and more
Did you have a stamp collection when you were growing up? Or maybe you collected baseball cards. Or bottle caps. You don’t have to be a vinyl enthusiast to appreciate Vinyl Nation, just one of the films playing this week in our virtual cinema.
The vinyl record renaissance over the past decade has brought new fans to a classic format and transformed our idea of a record collector: younger, both male and female, multicultural. Vinyl Nation digs into the crates of the record resurgence in search of truths set in deep wax: Has the return of vinyl made music fandom more inclusive or divided? What does vinyl say about our past here in the present? How has the second life of vinyl changed how we hear music and how we listen to each other? Directed by Christopher Boone and Kevin Smokler, Vinyl Nation is at once a provocative look at the vinyl renaissance and a love letter to the secret delights of collectors of everything, everywhere. (92 minutes)
There’s lots more playing this week:
from Iran: COUP 53: This twisty documentary takes a deep dive into the secret history behind the 1953 CIA-MI6 led coup that overthrew the democratically elected president of Iran, and changed the course of the Middle East. There are many surprises in Coup 53, including Ralph Fiennes in an unexpected role. The filmmakers to tell the story of the overthrow of the Iranian government in unprecedented detail, but also uncover dark secrets that have been buried for 67 years.
from Japan: We Are Little Zombies: Alone in the world with no future, no dreams, and no way to move forward, four 13-year-olds dress themselves in scraps from a garbage dump, track down musical instruments, and decide to form a kick-ass band. CRITIC’S PICK! Wry humor, absurd dialogue and unflagging energy propel this dazzling, manic debut from Makoto Nagahisa…. he throws an entire box of tricks at the screen. Splitting it in two, fading to black and white, writing over it, and dunking an entire scene into a fishbowl, he fashions a fantasia of pranks so unexpected and colors so intense, they could make you hallucinate. – The New York Times
from France: My Dog Stupid: A middle-aged writer takes in an enormous stray dog against the wishes of his wife and four spoiled adult kids. (The family dynamic is amazing.) The dog, affectionately named “Stupid,” serves as both literary muse and a remembrance of lost, youthful rebellion.
from Germany: Bungalow: A major work of the celebrated Berlin School, Bungalow is a mesmerizing portrait of a young German soldier named Paul who goes AWOL and returns to his childhood home in the countryside. Over a few summer days, Paul evades the responsibilities of everyday life and falls in love with his brother’s girlfriend, disrupting the lives of everyone in his circle.
from Portugal: Paulo Rocha Long un-screened in the United States, Paulo Rocha’s The Green Years and Change of Life are two key entries in the Portuguese New Wave. Both have been restored by the Portuguese Cinematheque and are showing this week in our virtual cinema.
WE’RE SHOWING LOTS OF OTHER EXCITING FILMS: HERE IS A COMPLETE SCHEDULE:
The August/September issue of The Ryder magazine is also our annual fiction issue. Some great short stories by local storytellers as well as several non-fiction features.