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Strange Sinema 93: Trance CinemaPost an Event »
Oddball Films presents Strange Sinema 93, a monthly screening of new finds, old gems and offbeat oddities from Oddball Films’ vast collection of 16mm film prints. Drawing on his collection of over 50,000 16mm film prints, Oddball Films director Stephen Parr has compiled his 93rd program of classic, strange, offbeat and unusual films. This installment, Strange Sinema 93: Trance Cinema is an exploration into the cinematic documentation of ritual, trance and altered states. Drawing on rare ethnographic and historic acquisitions from the archives, this program showcases ritualized trance states, powerful healing ceremonies and ceremonial dances from around the world. Films include Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson’s legendary ethnographic study Trance and Dance in Bali (1937-39), Anastenaria (1970), a rare documentation of surviving Dionastic worship in Greece featuring ritualized slaughter and a breathtaking fire walking ritual, Ma’Bugi: Trance of the Toraja (1973) the powerful physicality of spirit-possession rituals of the Indonesian highlands, where men climb a ladder of knives, Pomo Shaman (1964), a rare record of a female Pomo Indian doctor who enters a trance and cures a patient with the aid of a spiritual instrument, Walbiri Fire Ceremony (1977) showcases a spectacular three-day Australian Aboriginal communal ritual of penance, Himalayan Shaman of Northern Nepal (1966) John and Patricia Hitchcock’s examination of shamanism in the Himalayas including possession and purification, and Tanka (1976) David Lebrun’s remarkable and fierce animated vision of ancient gods and demons in the Tibetan Book of the Dead. Also, pre-show highlights from Land-Divers of Melanesia (1972), Kal Muller and famed ethnographic filmmaker Robert Gardner’s profile of Melanesian men as they attach vines to their ankles, diving headlong from a 100 ft wooden tower in the Naghol land-diving ritual. Date: Thursday, October 8th, 2015 at 8:00PM Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to RSVP@oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117 Web: http://oddballfilms.blogspot.com/2015/10/strange-sinema-93-trance-cinema-thur.html