That damn potato salad might be all you’re hearing about Kickstarter these days, but the Greenpoint-based crowfunding company is throwing a big party in Fort Greene Park tonight.
Okay, so the Kickstarter Film Fest, which runs from from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., isn’t technically a festival, since all you get to see are excerpts of Kickstarter-funded flicks—among them Obvious Child, Rich Hill, King Fury, and Prospect. (No sign of Zach Braff’s latest, and we can’t say we’re heartbroken.) But there’ll be musical performances by Asphalt Orchestra and Kaki King, as well as food and drinks from Brooklyn Soda Works, Butter and Scotch, and SCRATCHbread, among others.
Up in Williamsburg, local institution Crest Hardware introduces their first annual Quickie Crest Film Fest, a competition and screening of short, local films. They’re accepting submissions—films that run between one and seven minutes long—now through Wednesday, July 30. Then on Tuesday, August 14 at 7:30 p.m., the team at Crest will show the winning films on their patio under the stars.
And now, without further ado, here’s what we’re Reel Psyched to see outside of the festival circuit.
The Bed Sitting Room
Absurd ’60s surrealism with a long pour of British humour. People are acting rather strange in a post-apocalyptic Britain, and there’s a double entendre related to drawers that simply cannot be missed. The forecast for this one calls for more than an excellent chance of fart jokes. Three short films will be screened before The Bed Sitting Room: Black Trip 2, 7 Things Carlo Mollino, and User Group Disco. Ho ho and apparently ticket holders can slip into a wormwood-induced mildly hallucinatory trance if they so choose thanks to complimentary absinthe cocktails. Thursday, July 17, 7:30 pm at Nitehawk, 136 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn; tickets, $15
From the Cloud
A bunch of weird video artists will be showing their net-centric work that utilizes, in some capacity, footage found somewhere in darkest trenches of the interwebs. Of course there are cats, did you really even have to ask? Even Julian Assange will be there. And if you’re ever going to have a shot in hell at scoring a date with that blonde locked cutie you better hustle– apparently the show sold out on Tuesday, so get there early to lock down a spot. Friday, July 18, 7 pm at Spectacle Theatre, 124 S 3rd Street, Brooklyn; tickets at the door, $5.
Mad Love or The Hands of Orlac
In this 1935 remake directed by Karl Freund, the German Expressionist cinematographer responsible for great works like Metropolis, pianist Steven Orlac loses his hands in a train accident and a certain Dr. Gogol (Peter Lorre) attaches the hands of sideshow knife thrower in their place. Unfortunately for Orlac, the good doctor is totally obsessed with Mrs. Orlac, or Yvonne. Shortly after the Frankenstein-like operation, Orlac finds that his hands “have a dark will of their own.” Peter Tscherkassky’s Outer Space (1999), an abstract short film with similar elements, will also be screened. Tuesday, July 22, 7:30 pm, at Light Industry, 155 Freeman Street, Brooklyn; tickets at the door, $7
Robocop
“He’s not a guy. He’s a machine!” Criminals run rampant in a futuristic dystopian Detroit and the cops are overwhelmed with the bad dudes. Suddenly Robocop rolls in and is all, “I’ll just toss these guys through windows, whatevs.” This is ’80s action sci-fi at its best and there’s no better time to see Robocop on the big screen than at midnight. But cool it on the drinks to avoid puke-laughing, we hear this is a serious issue. Friday, July 18th and Saturday July, 19th 12:25 am at IFC Center, 323 sixth avenue, Manhattan; tickets $14
Drowned Out
This documentary takes you to Madhya Pradesh, India where the damming of the Narmada River has resulted in the mass displacement of indigenous peoples and uprooted their way of life. Drowned Out focuses on an important issue across the developing world– an ever increasing wealth gap, and the sometimes vast separation between what the people want and the ends of the governments that propel development via industrialization and massive infrastructural projects in the absence of regulation. Saturday, July 19th 7pm at Blue Stockings, 172 Allen Street, Manhattan; free
And don’t forget: Flood Tide Reimagines That Time Swoon Took a Flotsam Flotilla Down the Hudson