Feral Cinema No. 1

Titicut Follies  (Frederick Wiseman, 1967)

The Cramps Live at Napa State Mental Hospital (1978)

Thursday, July 9th, 8pm, $5

The United States Art Authority (2908 Fruth St.)

Austin Chronicle movie critic Marc Savlov, The Austin Underground Film Society's Andy Gately & Charles Lieurance of I Luv Video & Blastitude Magazine, present very rare, wild and woolly cult artifacts from the fringes of popular culture the second Thursday of every month. Prizes! Giveaways! Snotty Movie Trivia! Cheap Drinks!

The second Thursday of each month I Luv Video, The Austin Chronicle, The Onion & The Austin Underground Film Society will present Feral Cinema Double Features -- rare, freakish & often damn near impossible to find cult classics from the wild fringes of pop culture. Hosted by Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle, Charles Lieurance of I Luv Video & Blastitude Magazine & Andy Gately from The Austin Underground Film Society & Psych Fest, these double features will bring to light a wide range of chronically unseen treasures. As an added bonus, each screening will be packed with trivia contests, giveaways, drink specials, mind-melting music & short films & erudite, boozy introductions from your hosts.

Feral Cinema will come lunging out of the cage on Thursday, July 9th with two masterworks sure to please all devotees of the deranged -- Frederick Wiseman's very rare 1967 documentary Titicut Follies & the less rare but no less brain-addling Cramps Live At Napa State Mental Hospital from 1978.

TITICUT FOLLIES focuses on the inmates at Bridgewater State Hospital for the criminally insane (the title comes from a talent show put on by the inmates). This is a rare exhibition of a film with a very checkered career: just before it was due to be shown at the '67 New York Film Festival, the government of Massachusetts tried to get an injunction banning its release, claiming the film violated the patients' privacy and dignity (despite prior permission granted to the filmmaker). A New York state court overturned this, but then in '68 the Superior Court judge ordered it pulled from distribution and called for all copies to be destroyed. Wiseman appealed to the supreme court, who refused to hear the case. The dispute marked the first known instance in the history of the American film industry that a film was banned from general distribution for reasons other than obscenity, immorality or national security, and, among other things, lead to the closing of the institution featured in the film.

Then, after this dose of mental medicine, we'll have the perfect palate-cleansing sorbet in the form of THE CRAMPS LIVE, in honor of front man Lux Interior, who died this February. This infamous performance, captured on grainy VHS and passed around on bootleg among music fanatics for years, features the psychobilly pioneers putting on a show for the inmates of Napa State Mental Hospital, and is a chaotically beautiful and riveting artifact of one of the greatest bands in the world, and the transcending power of rock 'n' roll. "Someone told me you guys were crazy, but y'all look alright to me..."

All Feral Cinema screenings will be shown at the United States Art Authority (a part of the Spider House/I Luv Video compound on 2908 Fruth Street) & will be projected on the large screen using our state-of-the-art projector & exemplary new sound system. Doors will open at 8 p.m. so you can get your drink on & the actual films will be shown at 8:30 p.m., with an intermission for giveaways, more drinking, bathroom breaks & some expert-only trivia contests. Feral Cinema screenings cost $5, but a season pass allowing the bearer into the Austin Underground Film Festival, Psych Fest & all Feral Cinema showings will be available for an insanely low price from the AUFF website & both I Luv Video locations.

These are going to be very cool events & hopefully they'll become an integral part of Austin's amazing film CULTure.

Visit www.iluvvideo.com www.austinchronicle.com or www.austinundergroundfilm.