DCist’s highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.
The Adventures of Prince Achmed
While not the oldest filmed animation there is, The Adventures of Prince Achmed holds the distinction of being the oldest one that survives to this day. Avant-garde artist Lotte Reineger developed an entirely new, and still utterly enchanting, technique for filmed storytelling. She took shadow puppetry and combined it with stop-motion filmmaking to tell a story based on 1001 Arabian Nights. Visually arresting, the film features meticulously constructed silhouetted figures, handcut from cardboard and lead by the artist, and manipulated frame by frame. Walt Disney took animation in an entirely different, and more mass-crowd pleasing, direction just a few years after, and Reineger’s technique largely remained her own, rarely copied despite it’s oddly magical charm.
Silent films provide unique opportunities for modern reinterpretation, since their soundtracks are up to whoever’s screening them. This weekend’s screening of Prince Achmed is a showcase for a new soundtrack for the film as much as it is for the film itself, as Baltimore instrumental act (and former DCist Three Stars subjects) Yeveto have composed a new score for the film. Yeveto are no strangers to reimagining soundtracks for classic silent films, having previously tackled the 1915 German horror film Der Golem. Saturday night the Honfleur Gallery screens Prince Achmed with Yeveto providing a newly dark soundscape for the mesmerizing images.
Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Honfleur Gallery, new live musical accompaniment by Yeveto.
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Reel Affirmations’ festival has been a stalwart of the local festival calendar for nearly two decades, bringing some of the best in LGBT cinema to Washington. As a genre, gay and lesbian film can be pretty hit or miss. Like much indie filmmaking, good intentions sometimes outpace talent. Often, we’re left us with films that squander loads of potential with sloppy storytelling, or films that make up for a lack of potential with loads of sloppy sex. Reel Affirmation’s schedule looks to be heavy on films that avoid the stereotypical pitfalls. There are plenty of documentaries, often considered the strength of the festival, as well as plenty of serious minded dramas and award winners from other festivals. Tonight’s opener is Laurie Lynde’s Breakfast with Scot, which holds the distinction of being the first feature film with a gay theme (a gay couple, one of whom is a former pro hockey player) being allowed to use official logos and teams by a professional sports league, and has earned a number of accolades from other festivals. This year’s festival will also feature the spoof Another Gay Sequel, which lampoons every gay film stereotype available.
Opens tonight and runs through October 21, with screenings at the AFI, the Goethe-Institut, the Lincoln Theatre and the Sixth and I Synagogue. See the schedule for full listings.
