Don’t even think about having something better to do than checking out a movie this weekend and beyond. We’ve got some great stuff right here including a totally creepy documentary about notorious polygamist Warren Jeffs, a Coney Island-based film festival for the freaks, and this fascinating looking doc (see the trailer above) about train hoppers and their mysterious hieroglyphs.
Who is Bozo Texino?
Wednesday Sept. 23, 7:30 pm at Light Industry: $8
This cult classic documentary illuminates not just the mysterious life of train hoppers, but the markings they leave behind. As seems only appropriate, filmmaker Bill Daniel made Who is Bozo Texino on a shoestring, embracing lo-fi by digging up an old Super 8 camera to shoot the black-and-white film on. Light industry calls it “a landscape film, an outsider art history, an essay on wanderlust,” which sounds pretty alright to us.
The doc is beautifully shot, but the journalistic spirit of Daniel doesn’t suffer for aesthetics. He interviews tons of hobos immersed in their adventurous but strangely checked-out lives, and bravely joins in jumping aboard the trains crisscrossing the country. We meet the guys behind the mysterious hieroglyphs: Palm Tree Herby, Frisco Jack, Waterbed Lou and begin to understand the meaning and purpose of their pictographs.
We never find out who Bozo Texino is, instead he takes on the shape of a mythical spirit. But through his shadowy essence we’re let in on a bit of the folklore that runs through the train hopping community. And because Light Industry always seems to deliver, Daniel will be present for a Q+A after the screening.
Prophet’s Prey
Friday, Sept. 18 through Thursday, Sept. 24 at IFC Center: $14
Yeah it’s pretty twisted, but stories about polygamy are always gripping. And the documentary Prophet’s Prey, about the corrupt leadership of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is no exception. The documentary centers on Warren Jeffs, a guy who fashioned himself a prophet and led a polygamist sect on two compounds, one located in a remote part of Arizona and another in Utah.
He’s currently serving a long-ass sentence in prison for raping kids and having a bunch of child brides. He was estimated to have more than 70 wives at the height of his creep powers and was once on the FBI’s most wanted list. There’s enough drama and outright weirdness around this story to keep a documentary like this one churning for a while.
Multiple Futures Trilogy
Friday, Sept. 18, 8 pm and Monday, Sept. 28, 10 pm at Spectacle Theater: $5
If we tell you the filmmaker behind this trilogy is often called the “Queen of the New York Underground,” you’re probably as sold as we are, but hold up coz we don’t want you wandering into a dark theater completely uninformed.
Firstly, we want to tell you that filmmaker Alyce Wittenstein will be on hand for questions and ogling if you can make it to Spectacle tonight for “You Call This Progress?”, the first in the Multiple Futures Trilogy. Wittenstein was known for her cool friends and next-level sci-fi creations, but apparently has also been accused of playing too much tennis. We all know that tennis is often equated with remarkable genius, so trust as we do that Wittenstein’s got something seriously rad up her sleeve.
Coney Island Film Fest
Friday, Sept. 18 through Sunday, Sept. 20 at Sideshows by the Seashore & the Coney Island Museum: full pass, $50; Saturday pass, $15; Sunday pass, $12, individual passes, $8: all tickets now available at the box office only
Ok, Ok, OK– so we know full well that going to a movie is pretty much taking what little is left of summer and spitting on it, but in the case of the Coney Island Film Fest, you have an excuse to get to the beach for maybe one last warm day and if it gets cold, dip into a movie. Brilliant, you say? Yeah, we know.
Better yet, the CIFF is bound to get wacky. For one, on opening night (Friday, Sept. 18) there’s an after party (which will cost you 25 bones only) featuring an open bar from 9:30 pm to 12:30 am, which is so amazing that is seems unreal, and live burlesque.
Oh right, there are film screenings happening at this thing too, featuring movies old and new, big budget and indie, shorts and features. Check out Vamp Biker Dos (Sat. at 6 pm) for an awesomely awful contemporary B movie. Also on Saturday (10:30 pm) The Warriors is showing, because it has to or this wouldn’t be a Coney Island film festival. Altered Minds, a film about family secrets and the CIA, sounds intriguing too.