Rite of Guerrilla Theater

Sep 9, 1969

0h 30m

★ 9.0

Overview

Commissioned work by Julian Beck and members of The Living Theatre (featuring Beck and Judith Malina, co-founders of The Living Theatre, in performance) for broadcast on KQED-TV, San Francisco. The Dilexi Series represents a pioneering effort to present works created by artists specifically for broadcast.

Genres

Documentary

Rite of Guerrilla Theater Trailers

Cast

Julian Beck

Judith Malina

At least forty films have been made about the Living Theatre; it remained to the American underground filmmaker Sheldon Rochlin (previously responsible for the marvellous Vali) to make the 'definitive' film about one of the most famous of their works, Paradise Now, shot in Brussels and at the Berlin Sportpalast. Made on videotape, with expressionist colouring 'injected' by electronic means, this emerges as a hypnotic transmutation of a theatrical event into poetic cinema, capturing the ambiance and frenzy of the original. No documentary record could have done it justice.

0.0

Emergency: The Living Theatre

Sep 9, 1968

a 32-minute color film by Gwen Brown, featuring precious footage of Living Theatre productions “Mysteries” and smaller pieces, “Paradise Now” and “Frankenstein.” “The fusion of Brown’s freewheeling direct cinema and the Living Theatre’s performance for revolutionary change (amidst the heydays of both) unite as a dynamic concoction of the era, yielding for the viewer a shifting terrain of both critical insight and ecstatic zeal, not as a vacant nostalgia for a pre-commodified radicality, but as tactical inspiration for future days.” – Andrew Wilson (Artist’s Access Television)

6.0

Paradise Now: The Living Theater in Amerika

Jan 23, 1969

A harrowing, gorgeous, in-your-face-and-mind 45-minute black-and-white film by Marty Topp, produced by Ira Cohen for Universal Mutant. “Marty Topp’s beautiful film of ‘Paradise Now’ reveals how the theories of revolutionary change and the experience of sexual liberation are not separate paths to the beautiful nonviolent anarchist revolution. Practiced together they are a single thrust, encompassing both political action and sensual joy, leading to the dreamed-of terrestrial paradise.

6.1

Una

Mar 30, 2017

When a young woman unexpectedly arrives at an older man's workplace, looking for answers, the secrets of the past threaten to unravel his new life.

0.0

Alison Spittle: Wet

Feb 16, 2023

Alison loves to do star jumps in the water. She also likes to watch people fight in chip shops. Her two worlds collide as a fight breaks out in aqua-aerobics and she's never felt so alive. When the foam settles, Alison realises she's an outwardly nice person who lives for confrontation.

6.5

And When Did You Last See Your Father?

Oct 5, 2007

The story of a son's conflicting memories of his dying father.

0.0

Dialectic

Oct 15, 2021

A man has to endure a series of physical abuses by a mysterious being until the dominant realizes something that will change how he thinks of himself and others.

6.3

The Cabin in the Cotton

Sep 26, 1932

Sharecropper's son Marvin tries to help his community overcome poverty and ignorance.

0.0

X_X

Feb 13, 2024

Following the discovery of a cryptic photo, the relationship between two best friends shatters, leading to a spiral of revenge, betrayal, and a fatal confrontation that unravels buried secrets.

6.0

Flesh and Bone

Nov 5, 1993

Haunted by memories of his father murdering a family, Arlis Sweeney prefers to keep to himself, focusing his energy on his work. One day, the traumatic past that eats away at him returns when he meets Kay Davies, a woman connected to the bloody event. Against all odds, Arlis and Kay fall in love; however, when his father, Roy, reappears in his life -- with the coldhearted Ginnie in tow -- Arlis must deal with his past demons.

6.3

The Walking Dead

Mar 1, 1936

Down-on-his-luck John Ellman is framed for a judge's murder. After he's convicted and sentenced to death, witnesses come forth and prove his innocence. But it was too late for a stay to be granted and Ellman is executed. A doctor uses an experimental procedure to restore him to life, though the full outcome is other than expected.

7.0

Breathe

Jan 27, 2023

Fouad, a 15-year-old Moroccan immigrant, and Max, a 27-year-old "old stock" Quebecer, both live frustrating lives. Their respective destinies lead them face to face, in a situation from which neither will emerge unscathed.

7.0

The Bedford Incident

Oct 11, 1965

During a routine patrol, a reporter is given permission to interview a hardened cold-war warrior and captain of the American destroyer USS Bedford. The reporter gets more than he bargained for when the Bedford discovers a Soviet sub and the captain begins a relentless pursuit, pushing his crew to breaking point.

6.0

Desperate Measures

Jan 30, 1998

San Francisco police officer Frank Connor is in a frantic search for a compatible bone marrow donor for his gravely ill son. There's only one catch the potential donor is convicted multiple murderer Peter McCabe who sees a trip to the hospital as the perfect opportunity to get what he wants most: freedom. With McCabe's escape, the entire hospital becomes a battleground and Connor must pursue and, ironically, protect the deadly fugitive who is his son's only hope for survival.

7.1

El Topo

Dec 18, 1970

El Topo decides to confront warrior Masters on a trans-formative desert journey he begins with his 6 year old son, who must bury his childhood totems to become a man.

0.0

Untitled (Without Sound)

Mar 11, 2025

A highfalutin art movie crumbles into a meta-fictional disaster that betrays its director’s incompetence in real time, and it’s all on film.

Rite of Guerrilla Theater

Overview

Genres

Rite of Guerrilla Theater Trailers