Never Turn Your Back on Sparks – Trailer from IN-EDIT on Vimeo.

The 2017 Cinedelphia Film Festival presents the U.S. Premiere of Never Turn Your Back On Sparks!

Sparks have been creating idiosyncratic music of varying genres for almost 50 years now. Comprised of California-born brothers Ronald and Russell Mael, Sparks’ sound has consistently and organically evolved over the course of 23 albums, covering everything from glam rock to disco pop to electronic dance to their current status as experimental pop masters. Despite a rich body of work and decades’ worth of accolades from critics and peers alike, mainstream success has always alluded Sparks, possibly by their own devices, and thus they have properly earned their status as cult icons, complete with an obsessive and dedicated fanbase.

As he turns 50, filmmaker Pini Schatz sets out to explore his life-long obsession with the band Sparks (the brothers Ron and Russell Mael). Pini charts the impact of Sparks on his life while meeting with fellow Sparks’ fans, among them famous musicians, in Tel Aviv, London, Berlin, Rotterdam and New York. Structured as a personal quest by the filmmaker to prove that Sparks are the coolest underrated band in the history of popular music. This docu-comedy explores universal themes such as coping with aging and being an outsider, the importance of art in daily life, and the power of non-conformity.

Recognizable interview subjects include punk legend Jello Biafra, producer Tony Visconti, and songwriter Gemma Ray. A comedic documentary that explores the legacy of one of America’s great unsung musical duos and the impact they have had on the lives of their fans.

PLUS a 30 minute compilation of rare (unavailable online) Sparks footage from CFF director Eric’s personal collection (an obsessive Sparks fan himself). It’s also Eric’s birthday so expect a Sparks-themed cake.

Cinedelphia Film Festival : April 13-27, 2017
http://www.cinedelphiafilmfestival.com/

PhilaMOCA
531 N. 12th Street
http://www.philamoca.org/

Source: NEVER TURN YOUR BACK ON SPARKS – Tickets – PhilaMOCA – Philadelphia, PA – April 27th, 2017 | Ticketfly

In July of 1973, 22-year-old lesbian Olga Hepnarová plowed her truck into a crowd of people on a Prague sidewalk, killing eight and seriously injuring 12, most of them elderly. It was not an accident: as Hepnarova detailed in letters she had sent to newspapers prior to her crime, she was committing the mass murder as an act of revenge against a society that had cruelly bullied her throughout her life, and she intended her crime to serve as a warning to other oppressors that the downtrodden may occasionally strike back. Utterly remorseless and entirely sane, Hepnarová was found guilty and hanged less than two years later, the last woman ever executed in Czechoslovakia. I, Olga Hepnarova, the award-winning debut of Czech writer-directors Tomáš Weinreb and Petr Kazda, revisits this tragedy, transforming it into one of the most unforgettable European films of recent years — an unsparing, haunting first-person portrait of loneliness and alienation. The extraordinary Michalina Olszanska (also starring as a ravenous singing mermaid in another 2017 CFF title, The Lure) makes Olga one of the angriest, most misanthropic main characters to emerge in some time, yet one always feels compassion and empathy for her, and her revulsion towards humanity. The film’s spare aesthetic and striking black-and-white cinematography evoke the European arthouse classics of the 1950s and 60s, but with a starkness that feels quite raw and unique. — Travis Crawford

Read programmer Travis Crawford’s interview with the directors and star: http://calvertjournal.com/articles/show/5904/i-olga-hepnarova-michalina-olszanska-tomas-weinreb-petr-kazda-czech-film

Official Website: http://iolgahepnarova.com/

Cinedelphia Film Festival : April 13-29, 2017
http://www.cinedelphiafilmfestival.com/

PhilaMOCA
531 N. 12th Street
http://www.philamoca.org/

Source: I, OLGA HEPNAROVA – Tickets – PhilaMOCA – Philadelphia, PA – April 26th, 2017 | Ticketfly