La Pirogue, 2012, 87 mins, Directed by Moussa Touré.

An absorbing drama of 30 men (and one woman) who set out on an illegal 7-day voyage from the coast of Senegal to Spain – making the perilous journey in a pirogue, a boat resembling a vastly oversized dinghy. The men hail from different ethnic and religious backgrounds, sharing a common desire to build a better future. This compelling tale says as much about the universal nature of courage and perfidy as it does about the economic realities faced by so many of the world’s people. Not Rated. Programmed by Film Forum.

“A remarkably clear-eyed, quietly ambitious film.”
– A. O. Scott, The New York Times

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The Driver’s Seat, Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, 1974, digital projection, 102 mins / Introduced by Eric Banks / Screening at Light Industry on Tuesday, July 8

There have been great adaptations of weak novels and poor versions of powerful books. The Driver’s Seat was strangely neither. The 1970 Muriel Spark novella that the film was based on struggled to find support among the critics and at the cash register; the 1974 adaptation, directed by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, seemed to drop off the face of the earth. Its Italian producers couldn’t even settle on a title, releasing the film in Europe as Identikit, with its Sontag-y, Death Kit overtones (it would later be put out as Psychotic).

Right now there is a revival of interest in Spark’s work, and The Driver’s Seat warrants a second look. For all the campy pleasures of Italian art-house cinema in the early 1970s, this intense look at the death drive of an unmarried English woman on the verge of middle age——played to an over-the-top hilt by Elizabeth Taylor, herself undergoing a very public divorce from Richard Burton as the filming began——cloaks itself in mystery, much as the novel did.

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ALL OF THE FILM YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE IS REAL. NOTHING HAS BEEN STAGED.

So begins the 1982 shockumentary THE KILLING OF AMERICA, a film that, even among its mondo movie contemporaries, stands out as one of the grimmest and most infamous films ever produced. So much so, in fact, that to this day it remains effectively unreleased in The United States.

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Vintage shopping, hula-hooping, and puppies in pools. This Saturday and Sunday afternoons, the Williamsburg outpost of Artists & Fleas is hosting their first “Annual Cutest Pup in the Pool” contest. A winner will be crowned each afternoon and be the proud recipient of a sash and crown or bow. Bring your pup for a cool dip in the pool.

Here’s their invite info: Calling all pooches (and humans)! There’s fun for all ages and breeds all weekend long July 5-6 at Artists & Fleas.

-Stop by any time throughout the weekend to cool off in our puppy pool, and get your pup famous using #CutestPupinthePool

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The annual Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks celebration has been moved back to the East River for 2014, so find a rooftop, or make your way down to the waterfront via Kent Avenue. Grand Ferry looks like a great place to set yourself up; starting at noon, they’re offering $5 Brooklyn Summer Ales and $8 Grand Ferry burgers as part of their day-long festivities.

http://www.grandferrynyc.com/

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