Though industry critics are saying that the Summer Movie Season is lacking this year, they haven’t seen Movie Madness’ July line-up of truly amazing classes. They’ll be exploring bigger budget Hollywood films to independent foreign cinema, while celebrating iconic queer ancestors and shining a spotlight on the delightfully bizarre. July also sees the return of two of their incredibly popular What Is…? classes. To top it all off, there’s a very special guest instructor.
Starting at the top is Eddie Mueller, the host of Turner Classic Movies Noir Alley, who is also a filmmaker. In a special class Sunday, July 21, 12 pm, Muller will present his 2008 short film, The Grand Inquisitor, a twisted take on San Francisco’s most notorious series of unsolved crimes, and discuss his inspiration and process as a filmmaker.
Four single session classes take place, beginning right away Monday, July 1, 6:30 pm with What Is Costume?, exploring the important part costume plays in the visual language of film. Up next is The Wonders, Tuesday, July 2, 6:30 pm, looking at Italian writer-director Alice Rohrwacher’s semi-autobiographical 2014 film of the same name. One more early July single session takes place Wednesday, July 3, 6:30 pm. Central Station and the Revival of Brazilian Cinema explores the cathartic narrative of 1998’s Central Station, which functions as a modern fairy tale, and will discuss its place in the cinematic traditions of the Brazilian film aesthetic. The final single session class, What is Movie?, takes place Saturday, July 27, 11 am. The lecture class will provide a basic introduction to film appreciation and theory, introducing key concepts and vocabulary.
There are also four, four-session classes running Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday evenings during July, starting at 6:30 pm. WTF Was That?! Cult Favorites Edition fills the Monday slot; Our Iconic Queer Ancestors: Tab Hunter explores the 1950s matinee idol Tuesdays; Twisted Genius: David Fincher is an expiration of the filmmaker’s journey and spans two different eras of his career on Wednesdays and on Thursdays, Edgar Wright: From Cult Comedies to Peak Geek follows the director’s journey from cult filmmaker to blockbuster director. Each class will look at a different film each week.
For class details and to register, visit moviemadness.org/about/mmu. Classes are limited to 18 participants each so register as soon as possible to prevent missing out.