OVID’s June Lineup: Kartemquin Classics, Abba T Makama’s Surreal Romp through Lagos, Dreamy shorts by Janie Geiser, Quantum Physics Noir, NYC’s Most Iconic Tour Guide, Pride Month Double Bill & more!
This June, OVID presents 26 new films and 12 exclusives.
The month starts with an exclusive trifecta from non-profit collective Kartemquim Films, founded by University of Chicago students immersed in the political turmoil and verité cinema movement of the 60s. Their doc Hum 255 about the expulsion of striking students resonates with new urgency amid the current wave of student arrests across the United States.
More exclusives include a selection of Janie Geiser’s “astonishing visions of alternate realities.” (‘6 Avant-Garde Female Filmmakers Who Redefined Cinema,’ Aubrey Page, IndieWire) OVID also takes you on The Cruise, an eccentric NYC excursion led by now iconic tour guide Timothy “Speed” Levitch, the groundbreaking debut feature film from two-time Academy Award-nominated director Bennett Miller (Capote, Moneyball). Then off to simulated skies and tension-filled cockpits in the convention-defying Charlie Victor Romeo, described by A.O. Scott in The New York Times as one of the most “terrifying movies” he has ever seen (and anticipating Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal by over a decade).
OVID expands its African Cinema collection with two visually arresting dramas set in Lagos, Nigeria, by award-winning filmmaker Abba T. Makama, including his feature debut Green White Green. Other features on the way include the quantum physics thriller The Universal Theory, and Revoir Paris, starring Virginie Efira (Sibyl), the second film by Alice Winocour to join the platform. Efira also stars in Valérie Donzelli’s drama Just the Two of Us, joining Donzelli’s The Queen of Hearts. Plus, coming-of-middle-age rom-com The Story of a Summer Lover, the fourth film by Romanian filmmaker Paul Negoescu to join OVID.
Full details on February’s complete lineup are below.
Image above from Jane Geiser's REVERSE SHADOW, premiering on OVID on June 10th.
Tuesday, June 3
Hum 255
Directed by Jerry Blumenthal, Jason Litvin, Gordon Quinn, Gerald Temaner, Peter Kuttner, Anthony Thomas
Kartemquin Films | Documentary | 29 min | USA | 1970
In 1968, striking students at the University of Chicago occupied an administration building. Many were suspended and a few were expelled. A year later, two expelled young women were asked by their former classmates to talk about the experience as a class project. The women confront the students about their convictions and how far they are willing to go to defend their values.
OVID EXCLUSIVE
Anonymous Artists of America
Directed by Gordon Quinn, Jerry Temaner
Kartemquin Films | Documentary Short | 9 min | USA | 1970
While touring the U.S. in a brightly painted school bus, the psychedelic rock collective Anonymous Artists of America stop to hold a performance at an alma mater, the University of Chicago. Inspired by LSD, the group once opened for the Grateful Dead and played at Ken Kesey’s infamous Acid Test Graduation. The band also feature one of the first analog synthesizers designed by Don Buchla. Kartemquin’s Gordon Quinn is behind the camera, and in the audience are Jerry Temaner and his family.
OVID EXCLUSIVE
What the Fuck Are These Red Squares?
Produced by Shirlee Blumenthal (Discussion Leader) Gordon Quinn (Camera), Jerry Blumenthal (Editor)
Kartemquin Films | Documentary Short | 14 min | USA | 1970
Striking students meet at a “Revolutionary Seminar” at the Art Institute of Chicago in response to the invasion of Cambodia and the killing of protesting students at Kent and Jackson State Universities. They explore their role as artists in a capitalist society and issue questions like: What are the implications of the artist’s elitist position in America? Is it possible not to be co-opted, as “radical” as one’s art may be? What are the connections between money and art in America? Between the “New York Scene” and the rest of the country?
OVID EXCLUSIVE
Thursday, June 5
I Like Killing Flies
Directed by Matt Mahurin
With Kenny Shopsin
Oscilloscope | Feature | 80 min | USA | 2004
This bitingly funny comedy follows a prickly, profanity-prone man seeking to preserve his dream; it dishes up bites of wisdom along the way, ultimately serving both a hilarious trip and a charming slice of New York history.
“After spending a swift 80 minutes with him, it’s impossible to envision him ever doing anything other than slinging hash, complaining about “bustin’ my fuckin’ hump,” and cursing out customers who would dare to bring parties of five or more. And as Mahurin’s film testifies, that’s a reassuring thing.” —Michael Koresky, Reverse Shot
“You’re a piece of shit. Once you realize you’re a piece of shit it’s not so hard to take.” —Kenny Shopsin
** Postponed to July!
Friday, June 6
Green White Green
Directed by Abba T. Makama
With Samuel Abiola Robinson, Dabis Christopher, Erick Didie
Dekanalog | Feature | 102 min | Nigeria | 2016
Shot on location in Lagos, and playing like a cross between American Graffiti and Be Kind Rewind, in this richly textured and frequently funny look at Nigeria’s next generation, a group of young bohemian artists hang out and search for direction in their lives in the stagnant months leading up to the beginning of their university studies. A story about classism and how people from different economic and cultural backgrounds think and behave, Abba T. Makama’s feature debut plays with stereotypes to illustrate just how similar we are despite our diversity and prejudices.
“A hopeful, downright energizing love letter to Nigeria’s enterprising youth.” —Noah Tsika, Africa Is a Country
** Postponed until further notice!
The Lost Okoroshi
Directed by Abba T. Makama
With Seun Ajayi, Judith Audu, Tope Tedela
Dekanalog | Feature | 94 min | Nigeria | 2019
A security guard (and something of a layabout) whose main preoccupations are checking out women and figuring out how to escape the bustle of Lagos is beset by surreal dreams and haunted by a traditional Okoroshi masquerade (ancestral spirit). One morning, he wakes to discover he’s been transformed into a purple spirit. Having lost his voice, he must navigate Lagos in this new form.
“[An] exploration of heritage, culture and folk memory, seasoned with endearing, offbeat humour and a touch of body horror.” —Christopher Machell, CineVue
“A colorful rejection of soullessness in modern Nigerian culture.” —John DeFore, The Hollywood Reporter
Tuesday, June 10
The Red Book
Directed by Janie Geiser
Short film | 11 min | USA | 1994
An elliptical animated film that collages elements in two and three-dimensional settings to explore the realms of memory and language from the point of view of an amnesiac. The Red Book was shown as part of the 1996 New Directors / New Films Festival at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and was selected in 2009 to be a part of the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
“Beautifully mysterious… Everything is red, white, black, or gray in this smashing little film, which has graphic flair and a surrealist edge.” —Caryn James, The New York Times
OVID EXCLUSIVE
The Fourth Watch
Directed by Janie Geiser
Short film | 9 min | USA | 2000
A nocturnal drama of lost souls. Music by Tom Recchion. The Fourth Watch was one of Film Comment’s Top Ten Avant-Garde Films of the Decade (2000-2010).
“A small masterpiece of the uncanny.” —Mark McElhatten, Views from the Avant-Garde (NYFF 2000)
“A poetic metaphor for the current state of avant-garde cinema.” —Kristin M. Jones, Film Comment
OVID EXCLUSIVE
The Floor of the World
Directed by Janie Geiser
Short film | 9 min | USA | 2010
In a shifting landscape of dirt and sky, excavation and construction merge. The floor of the world turns out to be easily pierced, liquid, permeable. From The Nervous Films series.
“The earth opens up, then swallows back up, its many secrets.” —Genevieve Yue, The Parallax View: On the Recent Films of Janie Geiser
OVID EXCLUSIVE
Ghost Algebra
Directed by Janie Geiser
Short film | 8 min | USA | 2009
Under erratic skies, a solitary figure navigates a landscape of constructed nature and broken bones. Using found and natural objects and other collage elements, Ghost Algebra suggests one of the original meanings of the word algebra: the science of restoring what is missing, the reunion of broken parts. From The Nervous Films series.
OVID EXCLUSIVE
Kriminalistik
Directed by Janie Geiser
Short film | 5 min | USA | 2013
From the found book pages of an early twentieth-century German book on forensics, Geiser uncovers hidden narratives. Evidence is scientifically arranged and catalogued, suggesting a corridor to knowledge. From the Double Vision series.
OVID EXCLUSIVE
Flowers of the Sky
Directed by Janie Geiser
Short film | 9 min | USA | 2016
Flowers of the Sky (a medieval term for comets) draws on two found photographs depicting a gathering of members of the Eastern Star, a Masonic order. From the Double Vision series.
“In Flowers of the Sky, Janie Geiser elegantly submits two thrifted photographs to superimpositions and masking techniques in order to trouble and recast histories of the early 20th century.” — Andrea Picard, TIFF
OVID EXCLUSIVE
Reverse Shadow
Directed by Janie Geiser
Short film | 8 min | USA | 2019
Reverse Shadow draws on a range of sources, from a child’s target practice game to brochures of WW2 warplanes, medical books, panoramic photographs, and iPhone videos shot from an airplane seat. From the Time, A Substance series.
“I had a recurring dream that I was walking in the woods and a hunter mistook me for a bird. I could hear him moving through the forest. I always woke up before the gun was fired, but that feeling of apprehension would stay with me throughout the day. Lately, even without dreaming this dream, that apprehension is present.” —Janie Geiser
OVID EXCLUSIVE
Heliotrope
Directed by Janie Geiser
Short film | 7 min | USA | 2023
A subterranean unraveling, seeds fall to the ground with nowhere to land. The only witness is blindfolded, and she, too, falls at some point. The underground factory operates day and night, and the burrowing continues.
OVID EXCLUSIVE
Wednesday, June 11
The Universal Theory
Directed by Timm Kröger
With Jan Bülow, Olivia Ross, Hanns Zischler
Oscilloscope | Feature | 118 min | Germany, Austria, Switzerland | 2023
The year of 1962. A physics congress in the Alps. An Iranian guest. A mysterious pianist. A bizarre cloud formation in the sky and a booming mystery under the mountain. A quantum mechanical thriller in black and white.
“A deliciously cryptic quantum thriller.” —BFI
“Call it blanc noir. Or hi-fi sci-fi. Or matinee fodder for the likes of Niels Bohr and Erwin Schrödinger. For sure, it’s a dreamy pastiche of the era’s moody, existential movies. Co-writer and director Timm Kröger effortlessly evokes the chilly unease of Antonioni, Welles and Tarkovsky while channeling plenty of Hitchcock vibes.” —LA Times
** World Premiere, Golden Lion at the 80th Venice International Film Festival
Friday, June 13
Just the Two of Us
Directed by Valérie Donzelli
With Virginie Efira, Melvil Poupaud
Music Box Films | Feature | 105 min | France | 2023
When Blanche meets the charismatic Gregoire at a party her twin sister Rose drags her to, she believes she has found the one. The ties that bind them grow quickly, and a new life begins. Little by little Blanche finds herself caught in the grip of a deeply possessive and dangerous man, desperate to escape his increasingly threatening affections. Adapted from Éric Reinhardt’s prize-winning novel L’amour et les forêts by Valérie Donzelli and Audrey Diwan.
“[A] nervy, finely acted domestic thriller.” —Guy Lodge, Variety
“A solid and often uncomfortably tense domestic drama” —Wendy Ide, Screen Daily
** Official Selection, Cannes Film Festival 2023
Revoir Paris
Directed by Alice Winocour
With Virginie Efira, Benoît Magimel
Music Box Films | Feature | 105 min | France | 2023
After an idyllic date night full of red wine and a late-night motorcycle ride home, Mia stops at a Parisian bistro to take shelter from a downpour. Her reprieve is shattered when a gunman opens fire. Three months later, with a hazy memory of the attack, Mia finds herself repeatedly returning to the bistro where the shooting happened. In the process, she forms bonds with fellow survivors.
“A taut existential mystery.” —Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
“An anti-romance about two people whose wounds bring them closer together.” —Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter
“A stunning examination of grief and recovery that will haunt you long after it is over.” —Peter Sobczynski, RogerEbert.com
** Winner, César Award for Best Actress, 2023
** Official Selection, Cannes Film Festival 2022
Tuesday, June 17
The Cruise
Directed by Bennett Miller
With Timothy “Speed” Levitch
Oscilloscope | Feature | 76 min | USA | 1998
Sailing the streets of Manhattan atop a double-decker bus, Timothy “Speed” Levitch waxes philosophical as the city’s most eccentric tour guide. Speed’s bombastic and psychedelic poetry is captured in this groundbreaking debut feature film from two-time Academy Award-nominated director Bennett Miller (Capote, Moneyball, Foxcatcher). A love letter to NYC and an archive of beautifully distorted information about the city.
Critic’s Pick! “A whirlwind tour both of New York and of Mr. Levitch’s feverish mind… As much as Mr. Levitch’s voice grates, you can’t help but admire the zest for life of this heroically independent but impossibly self-centered crank.” —Stephen Holden, The New York Times
Thursday, June 19
Borgman
Directed by Alex van Warmerdam
With Jan Bijvoet, Hadewych Minis, Jeroen Perceval
Giant Pictures | Feature | 118 min | Netherlands | 2014
A vagrant enters the lives of an arrogant upper-class family, turning their lives into a psychological nightmare in the process.
“A quirky study of the unrelenting grip of evil… bracingly creepy and off-kilter.” —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter
“Tensions flare, eeriness escalates, and body counts rise… a fable about the way sinister elements can creep into life in surprising ways.” —Mekado Murphy, The New York Times
4K Restoration
Sympathy for the Underdog
Directed by Kinji Fukasaku
With Kôji Tsuruta, Tomisaburô Wakayama, Tsunehiko Watase
Radiance Films | Feature | 93 min | Japan | 1971
Former gang leader Gunji finds that his turf has been taken over by his former enemy, now a large crime syndicate with a legal corporate front. Looking for new opportunities, he gathers his old crew and heads for the island of Okinawa, a legal grey zone ripe for the taking.
“Standing at the crossroads of the yakuza genre as it began to incorporate ripped-from-the-headlines stories, Sympathy for the Underdog has lost none of its raw, kinetic power.” —Derek Smith, Slant Magazine
“This may be a yakuza film, but it plays more like noir, not least thanks to Takeo Yamashita’s hard jazz score, the flashbacks told in stylized photomontages, and the brooding fatalism that pervades everything.” —Anton Bitel, Little White Lies
Friday, June 20
The Story of a Summer Lover
Directed by Paul Negoescu
With Alexandru Papadopol, Radu Romaniuc, Rolando Matsangos, Nicoleta Lefter
Dekanalog | Feature | 100 min | Romania, Bulgaria | 2018
A coming-of-middle-age romantic comedy. Carefree college professor Petru is a 42-year-old man-child in an open relationship with Irina until she gets pregnant. Petru must now change his ways and grow up. A charmingly funny exploration of middle-aged male arrested development.
“Entertaining watching… A breezy, light comedy.” —Ioana Moldovan, Romanian Insider
“An unfussy, unpretentious crowd-pleaser.” —Jay Weissberg, Variety
Tuesday, June 24
Drug Stories! Narcotic Nightmares and Hallucinogenic Hellrides
Directed by J. Thomas Ungerleider & W. Ross Adey
Giant Pictures | Documentary | 81 min | USA | 2018
A horror-comedy compilation of educational anti-drug and anti-alcohol short films from the 1960s and the 1970s. From the American Genre Film Archive.
OVID EXCLUSIVE – SVOD PREMIERE
Wednesday, June 25
Charlie Victor Romeo
Directed by Robert Berger, Patrick Daniels, Karlyn Michelson
With Patrick Daniels, Irving Gregory, Debbie Troche, Nora Woolley, Sam Zuckerman
Dekanalog | Feature | 81 min | USA | 2013
When you board an airplane, who are those people in uniform to whom you entrust your life? What do they really do when things go horribly wrong? Derived entirely from cockpit voice recorder transcripts of six major airline incidents and accidents, Charlie Victor Romeo puts the audience inside the tension-filled cockpits of actual flights in distress, offering a fascinating portrait of the psychology of crisis and a person’s will to live to the last second.
“Defies one convention after another: A thriller with arthouse bona fides, minimalist in design but shot in 3D, it brings the original 1999 play to the screen in a fashion that’s stagebound yet otherworldy.” —John Anderson, Variety
“One of the most terrifying movies I have ever seen.” —A.O. Scott, The New York Times
Thursday, June 26
Beneath Clouds
Directed by Ivan Sen
With Dannielle Hall, Damian Pitt
Visit Films/Monument Releasing | Feature | 90 min | Australia | 2002
Lena is a fair-skinned teenage girl with a dark-skinned mother in an isolated Australian town. She rejects the Indigenous family that surrounds her and longs for the love of her Irish father. Vaughn is a dark-skinned teenage boy who lives in an isolated prison camp, separated from his family. These two hardened young souls escape from their worlds and hitchhike together towards Sydney in a struggle for purpose, identity, and love.
“Melancholic but ultimately hopeful, Beneath Clouds offers viewers lightning in a bottle, enshrining the work of two novice performers with tremendous raw potential.” —Ben Kooyman, Senses of Cinema
“[A] major triumph… one of the strongest and most deeply affecting films produced in Australia.” —Realtime Arts
Toomelah
Directed by Ivan Sen
With Daniel Connors, Michael Connors, Daneeka Connors, Christopher Edwards
Visit Films/Monument Releasing | Feature | 106 min | Australia | 2011
In a remote Aboriginal community, Daniel, a sensitive, troubled young boy from a broken home, is well on his way to becoming a little gangster. As Daniel’s home life becomes increasingly difficult, he has to deal with the return of an elderly Aunt who was removed from the mission when she was a young child. Daniel’s sometime girlfriend Tanitia still holds out hope for Daniel, trying to get him to go back to school.
“Sen’s nonjudgmental portrait of dysfunctional families and a community long ravaged by drugs, alcohol, forced assimilation, and the ‘stolen children’ of the 1940s, rings wrenchingly true.” —Alissa Simon, Variety
‘A quiet, obviously heartfelt picture about life for those who’ve had their traditional identity stripped away and are still struggling to replace it.” —Martyn Pedler, Time Out
Friday, June 27
Queercore: How To Punk A Revolution
Directed by Yony Leyser
With John Waters, Bruce LaBruce, Kim Gordon, Genesis P-Orridge, Penny Arcade
Altered Innocence | Documentary | 83 min | Germany | 2017
Started in the 1980s as a fabricated movement intended to punk the punk scene, Queercore quickly became a real-life cultural community of LGBTQ music and movie-making revolutionaries. From the start of the pseudo-movement to the widespread rise of pop artists who used queer identity to push back against gay assimilation and homophobic punk culture, Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution is just that: a how-to-do-it guide for the next generation of queer radicals.
“They were clearly on to something… It’s notable that the movement, like punk in general, has managed to retain its radical edge 30 years after it started.” —Jim Farber, The Guardian
Dressed in Blue
Directed by Antonio Giménez Rico
Altered Innocence | Documentary | 98 min | Spain | 1983
Antonio Giménez-Rico’s landmark 1983 documentary Dressed in Blue (Vestida de Azul) explores the lives and loves of a group of six transgender women living in Madrid in the years following Spain’s transition to democracy. More than that, it’s a loving portrait of a culture finally emerging from the shadows after being hidden for far too long.
“You fall in something like love watching Dressed in Blue; it’s devastating knowing that four of its subjects would be gone in only a few years, their lives taken prematurely by AIDS. The film is historically significant for its compassionate portrayal of trans people, but hindsight adds poignance… a powerful snapshot of a moment in time… Essential.” —Blake Peterson, Peterson Reviews
“Like an Almodóvar film come to life, Dressed in Blue is regarded as an LGBTQIA+ touchtone in Spanish cinema; its Berlinale premiere makes a clear argument for its integration into the global queer canon.” —Rachel Pronger, Spike Art
Complete list of films premiering on OVID this month (in alphabetical order):
Anonymous Artists of America, Gordon Quinn, Jerry Temaner (1970)
Beneath Clouds, Ivan Sen (2002)
Borgman, Alex van Warmerdam (2014)
Charlie Victor Romeo, Robert Berger, Patrick Daniels, Karlyn Michelson (2013)
Dressed in Blue, Antonio Giménez Rico (1983)
Drug Stories! Narcotic Nightmares and Hallucinogenic Hellrides, J. Thomas Ungerleider, W. Ross Adey (2018)
Flowers of the Sky, Janie Geiser (2016)
Ghost Algebra, Janie Geiser (2009)
Green White Green, Abba T. Makama (2016)
Heliotrope, Janie Geiser (2023)
Hum 255, Various Directors (1970)
I Like Killing Flies, Matt Mahurin (2004)
Just the Two of Us, Valérie Donzelli (2023)
Kriminalistik, Janie Geiser (2013)
Reverse Shadow, Janie Geiser (2019)
Revoir Paris, Alice Winocour (2023)
Sympathy for the Underdog, Kinji Fukasaku (1971)
The Cruise, Bennett Miller (1998)
The Floor of the World, Janie Geiser (2010)
The Fourth Watch, Janie Geiser (2000)
The Lost Okoroshi, Abba T. Makama (2019)
The Red Book, Janie Geiser (1994)
The Story of a Summer Lover, Paul Negoescu (2018)
The Universal Theory, Timm Kröger (2023)
Toomelah, Ivan Sen (2011)
Queercore: How To Punk A Revolution, Yony Leyser (2017)
What the Fuck Are These Red Squares?, Various Directors (1970)
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