Curt McDowell Tribute at Roxie Theater

Curt McDowell Tribute (1 Night Only)
Tuesday
September 2, 2014
6:30pm

In an attempt to ride the coattails of EROS/ON [ 2nd floor projects ] San Francisco’s exhibition featuring four Bay-Area artists in Bay Area Now 7 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Roxie is honored to present two incredibly rare features by beloved avant-garde filmmaker, Curt McDowell.

TABOO: THE SINGLE AND THE LP
One of McDowell’s most ambitious (and most ambiguous) films, TABOO is mixture of documentary and psychodrama featuring a series of sexually charged vignettes inspired by a piece of graffiti found inside a toilet stall at the Maritime Museum. Though none of the film’s action ever reaches a level of genuinely explicit sexuality, the anticipation of its doing so haunts the film’s tense 22-minute running time. With George Kuchar, Marion Eaton, Fahed Martha, and Melinda McDowell. 1981. Digital. 22 mins.

SPARKLES TAVERN
Shot in 1976, but not released until 1985, this underground queer feature takes place at the titular bordello run by a brother and sister with a defiantly conservative mother. Then moms gets a visit from a fairy (a literal fairy) and gets some sex-positive schooling. A film by Curt McDowell. Starring Melinda McDowell, Marion Eaton and George Kuchar. 1985. Digital. 120 mins.

EROS/ON unites the work of four Bay Area artists (Daniel Case, Nicolaus Chaffin, Johnny Ray Huston, the late Curt McDowell) in a provocative dialogue concerning the erasure of queer lineage. Through photography, sculpture, film, and writings, these artists engage “heritage” to illuminate the emotional-political perspectives on the complex longing for an unfractured history. AIDS, institutional erasure, censorship, and fear have dictated in/visibility, coupled with the current economic climate stressing the Bay Area’s queer/artist communities shrinking stable ground to maintain roots.