twi-ny recommended events

RIZZOLI BOOKSTORE INAUGURAL EVENT: A SPECIAL CONVERSATION BETWEEN MANOLO BLAHNIK AND ANDRÉ LEON TALLEY

Inaugural event at brand-new Rizzoli Bookstore will feature Manolo Blahnik and André Leon Talley (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Who: Manolo Blahnik and André Leon Talley
What: Book signing and talk
Where: Rizzoli Bookstore, 1133 Broadway at 26th St., 212-759-2424
When: Friday, September 11, free, 5:30
Why: When we stopped by the beautiful, brand-new Rizzoli Bookstore on Broadway this past weekend — the company was forced out of its majestic Fifth-Seventh St. digs last spring after nearly thirty years — there was still a lot of construction going on in the back room, where they will be holding their events. So they have their work cut out for them to get it ready for the inaugural book signing and talk in the new space, taking place this Friday with legendary shoe designer Manolo Blahnik. The Canary Islands native will be discussing his life and career, as depicted in the massive book Manolo Blahnik‬: Fleeting Gestures and Obsessions (Rizzoli, September 8, $150), which includes contributions from Pedro Almodóvar, Mary Beard, Sofia Coppola, Michael Roberts, and André Leon Talley; Talley will host the conversation with Blahnik.

WELCOME TO LEITH

Documentary looks at issues of hate and free speech in rural North Dakota town

WELCOME TO LEITH (Michael Beach Nichols & Christopher K. Walker, 2015)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at Third St.
Opens Wednesday, September 9
212-924-7771
www.welcometoleithfilm.com
www.ifccenter.com

In 2012, white supremacist leader Craig Cobb began buying up plots of land in Leith, North Dakota, a rural community of twenty-four people in the middle of nowhere, with the intention of taking over the local government and spreading his message of hate. Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher K. Walker document the ensuing battle between the interlopers and the town residents in Welcome to Leith, which opens September 9 at the IFC Center. Inspired by an August 2013 New York Times article about Cobb and Leith, director, producer, and cinematographer Nichols and director, producer, and editor Walker headed to North Dakota, where people on both sides of the escalating controversy gave them remarkable access. As Cobb — and instigator, inciter, manipulator, and provocateur — his right-hand man, Kynan Dutton, Vanguard News Network operator Alex Linder, White Aryan Resistance founder Tom Metzger, Jeff Schoep of the National Socialist Movement, and members of other hate groups support what they believe is essentially a legal coup, Mayor Ryan Schock, Sheriff Steve Bay, photographer Gregory Bruce, Southern Poverty Law Center journalist Ryan Lenz, prosecutor Todd Schwarz, and the citizens of Leith examine their options to fight Cobb, who has brought fear and the concrete threat of potential violence to the small, peaceful community, reminiscent of what a group of neo-Nazis did in Skokie in 1977-78. Nichols and Walker, who previously collaborated on Flex Is Kings, incorporate archival footage, town meetings, courtroom scenes, new interviews, and scary video shot by Dutton’s girlfriend, Deborah Henderson, to create a frightening look at race-baiting, the First and Second Amendments, the U.S. legal system, and, most of all, the rising issue of hate in modern-day America. The film plays out like an edge-of-your-seat thriller, but it’s all too real. Leith might seem a long way away geographically, but it’s a lot closer than you might think.

THE LEGACY OF PARAGRAPH 175: DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS

The devastating effects of Germany’s Paragraph 175 endangers the relationship between Paul Körner (Conrad Veidt) and Kurt Sivers (Fritz Schulz)

DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHERS (ANDERS ALS DIE ANDERN) (Richard Oswald, 1919)
Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust
Edmond J. Safra Plaza, 36 Battery Pl.
Thursday, September 10, $12, 7:00
646-437-4202
www.mjhnyc.org

In 1871, Germany adopted Paragraph 175, an antihomosexual provision in the criminal code that called for the imprisonment of any “male who commits lewd and lascivious acts with another male or permits himself to be so abused for lewd and lascivious acts.” For decades, it led to blackmail, suffering, and often suicide for German homosexuals. In 1919, Austrian writer-director Richard Oswald (Tales of Hoffman, The Picture of Dorian Gray) teamed with noted sexologist Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld (The Homosexuality of Men and Women, Sex in Human Relationships) to make Different from the Others, one of the first films to treat the subject of homosexuality with sympathy and compassion. Conrad Veidt (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Casablanca) stars as Paul Körner, a violin virtuoso who falls for his young student, Kurt Sivers (Fritz Schulz), while Kurt’s sister, Else (Anita Berber), falls for Paul. But when the conniving Franz Bollek (Reinhold Schünzel) sees the two men together, he blackmails Paul, who struggles against ever-growing odds. Written by Oswald and Hirschfeld, who also plays the doctor in the story, the film explores the social and psychological impact of homosexuality and gender identity with care and intelligence, which was among the reasons why the movie was banned in Germany; copies of it were later burned by the Nazis, and today it exists only in a partial fifty-minute version to which text has been added to fill in the destroyed footage. In 2012, flutist and composer Yael Acher Modiano performed an original live score accompanying the film at the Spectacle theater in Brooklyn, and she’ll be at the Museum of Jewish Heritage on September 10 for an encore performance, held in conjunction with the exhibition “Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933-1945” and the related film series “The Legacy of Paragraph 175,” which concludes September 30 with a free fifteenth-anniversary screening of the 2000 documentary Paragraph 175, preceded by a discussion with Dr. Dagmar Herzog.

NEW YORK OYSTER WEEK: OYSTER SHELLEBRATION AND MORE

Tasty bivalve mollusks will be on special menus and at special events all over the city during New York Oyster Week

Multiple venues
September 10-27
www.oysterweek.com

Oysters have been an important part of New York City culture practically from the beginning, and not just because of how delicious and extravagant they are. “There used to be enough oysters in New York Harbor to process all the water there, which is one of the reasons environmentalists want them back,” Mark Kurlansky wrote in his celebrated 2006 book The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell. “And perhaps this is also why oysters taste like eating the sea.” You can swallow the slimy bivalve mollusks while learning more about them at the Oyster Shellebration, taking place September 12 ($100, 5:00 – 8:00) in the newest section of Brooklyn Bridge Park at Adams and John Sts. Sponsored by the park conservancy and One John Street, the event will feature tastings of East Coast oysters, clam chowder, shrimp rolls, canapés, beer, Champagne, wine, and more, with Oyster Concierge Julie Qiu, Master Mermmelier Kevin Joseph, and Chef Rob McCue as well as experts from the Billion Oyster Project and the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries. Be prepared to discover that oysters aren’t just good, they’re good for all of us, for many reasons. Oyster Shellebration is part of New York Oyster Week, in which more than a dozen participating eateries will be preparing special menus highlighting oysters; the festivities kick off with the second annual Brooklyn Oyster Riot, being held September 10 at the Brooklyn Brewery ($95-$125) and featuring East and West Coast oysters served by oyster farmers, who will also share stories and answer questions. Also on the festival menu are the Shuckeasy on September 17, the Big Gay Oyster Brunch on September 20, and Oystoberfest and the Stone Street Oyster Festival on September 26.

WORD, ROCK, AND SWORD V: A FESTIVAL EXPLORATION OF WOMEN’S LIVES

Toshi Reagon (l.) and friends will come together for fifth annual festival

Toshi Reagon, Nona Hendryx, and friends will come together for fifth annual festival exploring women’s lives

Multiple venues
September 13-20, free – $25
www.wordrocksword.com

“Word, Rock & Sword” might describe itself as “a festival exploration of women’s lives,” but it also makes clear that “All are welcome” to these eight days of live music, panel discussions, film screenings, yoga, workshops, and other special events, many of which are free and require advance registration because of very limited space. The festival was started by singer-songwriter and activist Toshi Reagon, who explained in a statement, “We struggle in a political climate that still tolerates and actively encourages systemic discrimination against women — from the workplace to the doctor’s office. We witness congressional attacks on funding for Planned Parenthood; the harassment and murder of abortion providers; the denial of access to affordable health care; the constant vulnerability of women and girls to violence and sexual abuse; the daily struggle of women to hold families together in our ailing economy. We will come together to share our gifts and focus our intentions for the twenty-first century.” The fifth annual festival begins September 13 with an Opening Service in a private home with song, poetry, art, storytelling, and silent meditation and continues with such other programs as the discussion “Beyond the Hashtag: Using Art and Technology to Combat the Criminalization of Our Communities,” presented by the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice and the Ford Foundation; “Babies!” with Amy Matthews, which examines the learning experiences of newborns and toddlers; the multisensory anatomy lesson “Sound, Movement, and Mapping Our Bodies” with Matthews and Lydia Mann; Imani Uzuri’s healing creative-expression workshop “Water from the Well”; and “A Musical Celebration of Women’s Lives Year 5” ($20-$25), a concert at (le) poisson rouge with Nona Hendryx, Joan as Police Woman, Martha Redbone, Tamar-kali, SassyBlack, Gina Breedlove, and many more, produced and directed by Reagon and hosted by Karen Williams.

LOAD OUT!

Arts and cultural organizations can donate and acquire costumes, props, furniture, and more at Load OUT!

11 East Third St.
Saturday, September 12, free for artists and students, $5 for general public, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm
www.fabnyc.org

The biannual Load OUT!, which has been “helping artists recycle together since 2011,” is hosting its fall 2015 event on September 12, sponsored by Fourth Arts Block, which is dedicated to helping develop the East Fourth St. Cultural District that includes numerous small theaters and nonprofits. On September 10 and 11, arts and cultural institutions are invited to donate, by appointment only, their gently used costumes, props, furniture, and office equipment so they can be reused by other arts organizations and individuals, instead of just going into Dumpsters as garbage. This creative repurposing saves companies money while also cutting down on waste. Admission is free for artists and art students and five bucks for the general public.

ONE NITE ONLY / THE DEUCE: BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA

Warren Oates gets the starring role he always deserved in Sam Peckinpah’s dark, surreal tequila Western, BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA

BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA (Sam Peckinpah, 1974)
Nitehawk Cinema
136 Metropolitan Ave. between Berry St. & Wythe Ave.
Thursday, September 10, 9:30
718-384-3980
www.nitehawkcinema.com

Predictably, one of my freshman-year film classes featured weekly screenings of such all-time classics as Citizen Kane, The Godfather, and The Searchers. But when the professor assigned topics for our two papers that semester, he chose a pair of works he considered underrated, overlooked masterpieces. One was Nicholas Ray’s Bigger Than Life, in which James Mason plays a teacher overcome by a prescription drug addiction. The other was Sam Peckinpah’s Mexican cult favorite, the awesomely titled Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, which Williamsburg’s Nitehawk Cinema is presenting September 10 as part of its ongoing “One Nite Only” and “The Deuce” series. Befitting this crazy film, the evening promises prizes and surprises, a beer-infused after-party, and music by DJ Bones. Following his bitter experience with MGM over Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, California native Peckinpah headed south to shoot a very strange tequila Western about an American loser making one last stab for love and wealth. Longtime sideman Warren Oates, who had previously appeared in Peckinpah’s Ride the High Country, Major Dundee, and The Wild Bunch, gets one of his only lead roles as Bennie, a down-on-his-luck former army officer now running a third-rate Mexico City bar and playing “Guantanamera” over and over again on the piano for tips. He is approached by a pair of dapper gentlemen, Sappensly (Robert Webber) and Quill (Gig Young), who need his help in locating a man named Alfredo Garcia, offering Bennie ten grand. What Bennie doesn’t know is that there is a one-million-dollar bounty on Garcia’s head put out by El Jefe (Emilio Fernandez), a warlord whose daughter, Theresa (Janine Maldonado), was knocked up by Garcia, a noted ladies’ man. As it turns out, Bennie’s girlfriend, a prostitute named Elita (Isela Vega), knows exactly where Garcia, a lover of hers as well, is buried, the recent victim of a fatal car accident. The film then turns into a violent and lurid road movie as Bennie and Elita encounter some extremely shady characters, including a couple of biker rapists (Kris Kristofferson and Donnie Fritts), a pair of locals also after Alfredo’s noggin, and Garcia’s family. All Bennie wants is to make some fast cash so he can take Elita away from all of this abject madness, but it’s not going to be nearly as easy as he expected, and a whole lot bloodier.

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is an absolutely unforgettable film, featuring an absolutely unforgettable performance by Oates (Two-Lane Blacktop, Stripes), who is spectacularly seedy as Bennie, whether professing his love for Elita, trying to act suave in front of professional hit men, removing crabs from his genitals, or talking nonsense to a disembodied cranium. At one moment he is ever-so-cool, while the next he is a sweaty, pathetic derelict who just can’t catch a break. But you can’t help but love the poor schlemiel, even after he makes mistake after mistake. Garcia also has a decidedly feminist edge, depicting exceptional inner strength from Theresa and Elita. Peckinpah received total control over the film, with no studio people involved, and it shows, as he takes it places no suited executive would ever allow. “Hollywood no longer exists. It’s past history,” Peckinpah told Variety in October 1973 after having several films significantly cut and reedited by studios. “I’ve decided to stay in Mexico because I believe I can make my pictures with greater freedom here.” Peckinpah, who was battling the bottle at the time, also takes a shot at himself in the film when Bennie says, “You ought to be drunk in Fresno, California. This place is a palace.” The auteur, who made only fourteen feature films in his career — he got his start directing television series in the 1950s and ’60s, from Gunsmoke and The Rifleman to Zane Grey Theater and The Westerner — was born in Fresno in 1925; he died in Inglewood, California, in 1984 at the age of fifty-nine. Kentucky native Oates died in Los Angeles two years earlier at the age of fifty-three. But they each left behind quite a legacy, including this small gem, a bizarre, unusual, very dark and creepy Western that really, at its immense heart, is just a tender little tale of love and redemption.