SALO, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM @ cinefamily

The Midnight Mafia: SALO, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOMWednesday, April 24th | 11:00pm Special Midnight Mafia show at 11:00pm -- not midnight!  Arguably the original arthouse video nasty, Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom -- the Italian iconoclast's final film, and infamous transposition of the Marquis de Sade's “School of Libertinism” texts -- brought a career of sexual, religious, and political provocation full circle. Structured as a visceral four-part rite of passage through Dante's Circles of Hell, the film depicts in unflinching detail the systematic sexual torture and mental abuse perpetrated on a group of teenagers kidnapped by libertine fascists in the wake of the Mussolini regime. Igniting the ire of government officials and Italian Social Republic extortionists before the film had even wrapped, Pasolini's impassioned portrayal of rape, sadism, sodomy, and murder would, along with his ties to Communism, eventually lead to his murder in the months leading up to the film's premiere. Whether seen as an allegory of Nazi Germany, a ritual of spiritual agnosticism or a blatant authorial affront, Salò remains a nightmarish vision of inhumanity, and a midnight movie of grave allure and enduring implication. Dir. Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975, 35mm, 116 min.  Watch the trailer for "Salo, or The 120 Days Of Sodom"!  Tickets - $8/free for members

Cinespia Salon: TRANCES (rare 35mm print!)Thursday, April 25th | 7:30pm Fiercely championed by Martin Scorsese since he first saw it in 1981, Trances is, in his words, "a concert film like no other." Meet the long-standing kings of Moroccan jams: Nass el Ghiwane, who for decades have driven audiences into highly spiritual and deeply groove-laden frenzies with their unique style of crowd-rocking ritual, prompting Scorsese to dub them "the Rolling Stones of Africa." Under the spell of the band’s gnawa music (the sounds of the mystical Sufi healers, who use deeply hypnotic drones to cure psychological ills or remedy scorpion stings), Nass el Ghiwane’s audiences are often put into trances by the tunes, and the film’s gorgeous tracking shots of people dancing in ecstasy are unlike anything else in cinema. Filmed at a time when pop music was barely tolerated in Northern Africa, Trancestakes you on a heady trip through the streets of a dreamy seaside port, where Nass el Ghiwane play with friends, perform for immense concert crowds, visit master musicians, and discuss their beautiful metaphysical views and lifestyle. We’re beaming with pride as we present a very rare 35mm print of this incredible movie! Dir. Ahmed El Maanouni, 1981, 35mm, 90 min.  Watch Cinefamily's original trailer for "Trances"!  Tickets - $12/free for members