UNDEAD
Thursday, November 12th
Doors at 8pm; movie starts at 8:30pm
Free

Due to a plethora of circumstances we are rescreening UNDEAD for your viewing pleasure!

You might have seen the British take on the “zombie comedy” in Shaun of the Dead and may be looking forward to seeing the recently acclaimed American film Zombieland, but this Thursday Betalevel will show you how the Australians serve it up with 2003’s Undead.

But don’t let the promise of Aussie slapstick fool you! Those are just the flourishes on what is the bloodiest, gore-filled, limb-strewn zombie film ever made in “the Land Down Undead.”

Chandni Chowk to China
Thursday, October 1
Doors at 8pm; movie starts at 8:30pm
Free

You know, sometimes we really have to get creative when writing these event descriptions. We know why we decide to organize our events, what makes them interesting, exciting, fun, but it is not always that easy to convey that information to you, our audience. So we often have to cook up some sort of clever anecdote or perplexing metaphor or historical curiosity in an attempt to get you as excited about what’s coming up as we are.

And then there’s Bollywood Night.

When, most of the time, all one has to do is give an accurate description of the plot and it is so crazy wack funky in itself that no further cleverosity is required. Case in point: this week’s movie, Chandni Chowk to China.

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it:

“Sidhu (Akshay Kumar) is a lowly vegetable cutter at a roadside food stall in the Chandni Chowk section of Delhi. He longs to escape his dreary existence and looks for shortcuts with astrologers, tarot card readers, and fake fakirs, refusing to believe in himself despite his foster father, Dada’s (Mithun Chakraborty), best efforts. When two strangers from China claim him as a reincarnation of a famous war hero and want to bring him to China, Sidhu, thanks to devious translations by his con-man buddy Chopstick (Ranvir Shorey), believes he will be taken to an exotic land and feted as a hero. In actuality, the men want him to rid their village of the vicious smuggler Hojo (Gordon Liu).

“Sidhu blissfully sets forth to China with Chopstick. Along the way he meets Sakhi (Deepika Padukone), the Indian-Chinese spokesmodel known as Ms. Tele Shoppers Media, or Ms. TSM, who is travelling to the land of her birth, of her presumed-dead father, and of her twin sister, Suzy. Suzy, also known as the femme fatale Meow Meow, works for Hojo, not knowing Hojo tried to kill her father….”

Right?

Special Work-in-Progress Preview Screening

Saturday, June 6th at 8pm

Free

In 1990, before the First Gulf War, Mounir, a mute and sheltered Saddam Hussein body-double, loses his job and moves to Los Angeles in search of a new start. But once the real Saddam invades Kuwait, making international headlines, Mounir learns the truth about the Iraqi dictator and vows to shed his Saddam persona forever. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know how to be anyone else. 

Exposed to the wonders of his new world, Mounir journeys through the streets of Los Angeles and American life on a strange quest to rediscover the love, adoration and happiness he once knew.

GENRE: Dark comedy
RUNNING TIME: 85 min.

ARTISTIC STATEMENT:

I was interested in this question: If the one thing that gives you meaning in life and defines who you are is taken away, what are you left with? In that respect, Mounir’s changed perspective of Saddam, and by extension, himself, is what drives him to find happiness by any means necessary. Mounir is mute and serves as a cipher to the confusing and sometimes absurd world around him. The film explores social phenomena such as our obsession with celebrity and trends of random violence.

BIO:
Patrick Epino was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and started making narrative and experimental short films during his undergraduate years at the University of Chicago. He later received his MFA in Cinema from San Francisco State University. His films SPUNK and VOID have screened at numerous festivals around the world. 

Mr. Sadman, his first feature film, was an official selection of the IFP Narrative Rough Cut Labs and was also a finalist for the inaugural $50,000 IFP Finishing Grant. With this film Patrick was selected by the film magazine, The Independent, as one of its “10 Filmmakers to Watch in 2009”.

He lives in Los Angeles.

LINKS:

http://mrsadman.com/
http://patrickepino.com/

TRAILER: