March 8–15, 2001

movies

Screen Picks

The week in repertory film, TV and video.

by Sam Adams

94 Years and 1 Nursing Home Later

Philadelphia Stories

(Tuesdays at 9 p.m., WYBE-TV Ch. 35. Premieres Mar. 13)

This 14-week series of one-hour programs, featuring new works from such local filmmakers as Cheryl Dunye, Michael O’Reilly, Big Tea Party and Termite TV, as well as rarely-broadcast films by the likes of Robert Mugge and Eugene Martin, offers a sweeping (if not, of course, comprehensive) overview of Philadelphia filmmaking past and present. The most ambitious series of its kind in recent memory, Stories includes commissioned and partly-funded works as well as those, like Mugge’s Amateur Night at City Hall: The Story of Frank L. Rizzo, which have nearly slipped out of memory. (As a bonus, the 75-minute film is being broadcast in its entirety for the first time on North American TV, though you’ll have to watch three weeks in a row starting April 10 to see the whole thing). The series kicks off March 13 with Laurel Greenberg’s 94 Years and 1 Nursing Home Later, a documentary focusing on Greenberg’s "Meemom," and Greetings from Africa, by The Watermelon Woman ’s Dunye. Unfortunately, there’s currently no complete schedule on WYBE’s website, but highlights include: Big Tea Party’s FDR State Park (March 27) and ACT UP Philadelphia (June 26); Termite TV’s Life Stories from Philadelphia (April 10 and May 1); Eugene Martin’s Invisible Cities (June 5) and Michael O’Reilly’s In the Shadow of the Shortest Saint (April 10). But diversity and new experiences are surely the point here, so pick a week and tune in, even if the names aren’t familiar.

	Dangerous Acts

Israeli Film Festival

(March 10 – 17, various locations, 610-291-3715, www.iffphila.com)

Ranging from the Art Museum to a Day School in Wynnewood, the Israeli Film Fest (see Repertory Film for a complete listing) likewise ranges in subject matter, from Family Secrets and Dangerous Acts, two dark-tinged films written by Shemi Zarhin (who will introduce screenings on Saturday and Sunday) to the documentaries Fortuna and Company Jasmine (both Tuesday) which explore the plight of North African Jews and female military cadets.

Burning Down the House: Taking Women Out of Their Place

(March 9 –March 11, 8 p.m., Community Education Center, 3500 Lancaster Ave., 215-387-1911, www.libertynet.org/cec)

The CEC’s 12th Annual Feminist Film and Video Festival presents three nights of films rated XX. According to curator Tiffany Naiman, this year’s title comes from an overriding "bad girls" theme, about "women that don’t fit into the idea of the family, and being domestic — women who don’t fit in, or choose not to fit in." In the case of opening night’s Lizzie Borden: Hash and Rehash, that might be an understatement. Other films include 900 Women (also Friday), about female convicts in Louisiana; Motherhood on Trial: The Tragedy of Susan Smith (Saturday); and Daughters of War (Sunday), a profile of a 17-year-old Peruvian woman who’s both a mother and gang leader.

PIFVA Open Screen

(Mar. 12, 7 p.m., Prince Music Theater, 1412 Chestnut St., 215-569-9700, www.princmusictheater.org)

Hey, remember these guys? Slowly coming back to life after a couple of years on life support, the Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association presents its first open screen in a good long while. The free screening includes June Fortunato’s Adele’s Way, about a young girl’s struggle with her Alzheimer’s-afflicted father, and James DiFonzo’s Tall Boyz, about friends caught in a neighborhood drug war.

The Narrow Margin

(March 13, 7:30 p.m., Chestnut Hill Free Library, 8711 Germantown Ave., www.armcinema25.com/tuesdaynights.html)

An unpretentious B-movie noir which somehow managed an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay, Margin was directed by Richard Fleischer, son of animation pioneer Max Fleischer. Short, brutal and to the point, it’s developed a reputation over the years for being among the best of the uncomplicated noirs.