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How the Hare Krishna Movement Started 51 Years Ago in the East Village

A kirtan (collective chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra) at Washington Square Park.(© Kasper van Laarhoven)

If you’ve ever been to Union Square, you’ve seen them: They chant, drum; sometimes they even give you a free copy of their scripture. Hare Krishnas are often shrugged off as an urban oddity on par with clipboard people, but what lies behind those orange robes and endless mantras?

This Friday, June 16, Hare Krishna! The Mantra, the Movement and the Swami Who Started It will premiere at Village East Cinema. The documentary tells the story of Srila Prabhupada, a disheveled 70-year-old Hindu who boarded a freighter to the U.S. in August 1965 with little more than three self-translated religious texts and instructions from his guru to “offer spiritual wisdom to the people of the world.”

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Week in Film: Count Dracula in 35 mm and a Very 80’s Suburban Desert Noir


Moonwalkers
Friday January 15 through Thursday January 21 at Village East Cinema

It’s about time we got a moon-landing conspiracy theory comedy– I mean, it’s all right there in front of us: everyone’s super loving the ’70s right now (don’t pretend you haven’t seen betches in bellbottoms recently, it’s happening whether we like it or not), cynicism regarding the government and Hollywood is at an all time high, and people are finally realizing there’s a high probability that lizard people rule the world.

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Week in Film: STP Freak-Outs Plague the Hippies; an Xmas Demon Stalks ‘Non-Believers’


Silent Night, Deadly Night
Friday Dec. 18 and Saturday Dec. 19, midnight at Nitehawk: $11
Everyone knows the only sufferable holiday films are Xmas-themed horror movies. This 1984 genre classic Silent Night, Deadly Night tells the story of a young boy who witnesses the murder of his parents at the hands of a psychopath dressed as Santa. Traumatized by his exposure to such unspeakable violence, the boy grows into a truly screwed-up young man whose thirst for blood knows no bounds. Oh, and of course he feels the need to don a Santa outfit during his mayhem sprees.
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Week in Film: Teenage Werewolves and Art-House Aliens

Get ready this week for films that are at once fantastical and grounded in sometimes harsh reality. Our top picks include an art-house sci-fi film that says more about immigration than extra-terrestrials, one werewolf flick that proves the Scandinavians are masters of mixing the banality of small town life and horror, and more. Peep on.

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Week In Film: Strange Noir Saga, Underage Nymphos, and Seeing John Malkovitch

The sun will come out tomorrow y’all, but that doesn’t mean our black-as-black hearts have grown any less cynical. We’ll never be wary of shutting ourselves inside and “catching” what I’ve heard people call “flicks,” as opposed to having face-to-face human interactions. Those are never as good as movies anyway, and the only thing you can “catch” from people are diseases. Am I right or am I right? That’s why we’re gracing you yet again with at least a handful of excuses to avoid that horrible social anxiety otherwise known as talking to people, particularly like a date or something. Imagine the horror! Hell is other people and movies are really the only thing that, once in a while, might trick us into thinking that’s a bunch of bull.

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A Chat With Catalina Sandino Moreno, Whose Film Medeas Premieres Tonight

TKTK in Madeas. (Courtesy of The Vladar Company)

Catalina Sandino Moreno in Medeas. (Courtesy of The Vladar Company)

Colombian-born actress Catalina Sandino Moreno will be on hand tonight for the New York premiere of her feature film, Medeas, in which she stars alongside Brian F. O’Byrne (Million Dollar Baby), Mary Mouser (Bride Wars) and Ian Nelson (The Hunger Games). In the film, which explores issues of alienation, intimacy and disconnect within families, she plays a deaf mother of five living in the California desert. Moreno, nominated for an Oscar for her role in Maria Full of Grace in 2004, and director Andrea Pallaoro will be answering questions from the audience at the 7 p.m. premiere on Jan. 16 at Village East Cinema. Moreno chatted with us about her new film, her fondness for the “awesome” East Village, and her next projects.
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James Franco Screened a New Film, Held Forth About Teaching Among ‘Shitheads’

(Photo: Daniel Maurer)

(Photo: Daniel Maurer)

James Franco drew a line when he appeared at the Strand last week and is making headlines on Gawker today, but only a few dozen people filed into Village East Cinema last night for an under-the-radar q&a following a screening of his new film The Color of Time.
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Now Showing: Iranian Vampires, ‘Shape-Shifting Fetus Eaters,’ Bill Murray Returns


Hey there! Are you going to the movies this weekend? If not, you should definitely reconsider because there are some fantastic movies out right now. Seriously, go see them before we are bombarded with Big Hollywood holiday season bull butt.
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Now Showing: Bicycle Film Fest, Al Fresco French Flicks and More

Now you’ve finally made it through OITNB, maybe you’re ready for some big-screen action?


Fed Up
If Super Size Me, Food, Inc., Hungry for Change and the collected works of Michael Pollan have yet to convince you of the evilness of Big Food, why not hit up Fed Up? The tagline is “Congress says pizza is a vegetable,” and it only gets better from there. Brought to you by Katie Couric, Stephanie Soechtig and Laurie David (the producer behind An Inconvenient Truth), this doc delves into America’s obesity epidemic and the creepy corporations behind it. Apparently guaranteed to “change the way you eat forever.” So if you treasure your customary diet, maybe skip it…
Thursday June 26, 11am, Village East Cinema (189 Second Ave), $7.50. LAST CHANCE!
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Reel Psyched: Feminism, Punk Rock, Bloodshed and Free Pizza

Here’s what we’re really excited to see this week in local theaters (or, for that matter, at local bars and rooftops).

Sarah Jacobson was an independent filmmaker who believed wholeheartedly in feminism and punk rock, and fully embraced a DIY method of filmmaking. Before cancer cut her life short at age 32, she made some of the most influential underground films of the ’90s, including “I Was a Teenage Serial Killer,” “Road Movie (Or What I Learned In a Buick Station Wagon),” and a feature film, “Mary Jane’s Not a Virgin Anymore.”
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