by robotilt » Wed Oct 11, 2006 3:32 pm
This just showed up in my inbox. Don't know anything about it, but sounds interesting:<br><br>SCREENING ANNOUNCEMENT<br><br>Underworld Cinema: The Life and Work of J.X. Williams + Peep Show<br><br>For press inquiries and bookings, please contact Noel Lawrence at <br>415-290-0401. For info on J.X. Williams and Peep Show, visit <br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://jxarchive.org">jxarchive.org</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>The 2004 program at the Rotterdam Film Festival presented two major <br>cinematic rediscoveries - the original version of John Cassavettes' <br>"Shadows" and a lesser known but equally significant film by an obscure <br>director who worked under the pseudonym "J.X. Williams". Produced in <br>Copenhagen in 1965, PEEP SHOW chronicles a secret history of the <br>Kennedy administration, revealing a mafia plot to addict Frank Sinatra <br>to heroin.<br><br>PEEP SHOW holds a significant place in cinematic history for a number <br>of reasons. Most notoriously, the film's use of pornographic imagery <br>got it banned from several countries and even resulted in the <br>director's brief incarceration in Rome. More importantly, however, the <br>film tackled a multitude of subjects that did not come in vogue until <br>the seventies. Nearly a decade before Coppola and Scorsese, PEEP SHOW <br>offered an unrelentingly grim and realistic portrait of organized <br>crime, undoubtedly influenced by Mr. Williams' personal experiences as <br>a onetime "gofer" to Johnny Rosselli and other mobsters in Los Angeles.<br><br>Released less than two years after the assassination of JFK, PEEP SHOW <br>was also the first film to explore the dark side of Camelot. Besides <br>tracing the tangled web of theories that may have led to the <br>assassination, PEEP SHOW gives a blistering account of the fixing of <br>the 1960 election and the unholy alliance between Joe Kennedy and La <br>Cosa Nostra. (Not surprisingly, PEEP SHOW was funded entirely from <br>European sources).<br><br>In addition to screening PEEP SHOW, film scholar, curator, and <br>archivist Noel Lawrence will give a detailed introduction on the making <br>of the film and the colorful life of its director, including excerpts <br>from his forthcoming documentary on Mr. Williams, "The Big Footnote". <br>We will also present three of his short films from the late 1960's: <br>"Psych-Burn", "Satan Claus", and "The Virgin Sacrifice".<br><br>"Creating a unique body of work from a heady ferment of crime, drugs, <br>politics and porn, J.X. Williams was either a mad genius or a mob <br>stooge. Rediscovery of his films will help cinema historians decide. He <br>could very well be the Missing Link in the secret history of mid-20th <br>century America."<br>-- Eddie Muller, Programmer, San Francisco Film Noir Festival<br><br>"PEEP SHOW has a dark, sleek, seductive look, like polished obsidian - <br>a dark magnificence that emerges in its revelation of an unspeakable <br>construct of extortion, drugs, and the leveraging of influence in the <br>highest (and lowest) of places."<br>-- Gregory Avery, Nitrate Online<br><br>Noel Lawrence<br>J.X. Williams Archive<br>P: 415-290-0401<br>F: 415-358-4895<br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.jxarchive.org">www.jxarchive.org</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>I will be on the East Coast this month to screen and lecture upon the <br>work of noted director (and enfant terrible!) J.X. Williams, including <br>his notorious cult classic "Peep Show". If you know anyone in these <br>places, please let them know of this unique opportunity to watch some <br>very rare and special films from one of the undiscovered masters of <br>cinema.<br><br>Here are my dates:<br><br>Oct. 13 - Spool Mfg. (Johnson City, NY)<br><br>Oct. 15 - George Eastman House (Rochester, NY)<br><br>Oct. 17 - Cornell Cinema (Ithaca, NY)<br><br>Oct. 23 - Wesleyan University (Middletown, Ct.)<br><br>Oct. 25 - The Magic Lantern (Providence, RI)<br><br>Oct. 26 - daytime - MIT (Cambridge, MA) -- special lecture for students <br>only<br><br>Oct. 26 - evening - Balagan/Coolidge Corner (Boston, MA)<br> <p></p><i></i>
