GRINDHOUSE GALS:
EXPLOITATION FILMS DIRECTED BY WOMEN
A WOMAN'S TORMENT 1977
A tribute to REPULSION by Roberta Findlay (SNUFF, TAKE ME NAKED, FANTASEX), A WOMAN’S TORMENT is a one-of-a-kind blend of melodrama, sex, and proto-slasher. Featuring a moody classical soundtrack from Walter Sear (LET’S SCARE JESSICA TO DEATH and the U.S. versions of THE BEYOND and ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST.)
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Don Compton and his wife Frances are struggling in their marriage. Frances’s mentally ill sister Karen lives with them, and is taking a toll on their romance. As such, the Comptons consider having her committed to an asylum. Karen runs away, taking refuge in an empty house on a remote beach -- but her grip on reality diminishes, giving way to increasingly violent delusions and an ever-growing bloodlust. Screening the director's preferred R-Rated Cut.
Thursday, March 27
Director: Roberta Findlay​
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Starring: Crystal Sync, Jake Teague, Tara Chung
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Runtime: 84 min., USA
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Language: English
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THE NAPA STATE TAPES W/ FILMMAKER MIKE PLANTE
The Mutants at Napa State
June 13, 1978
black and white, 22 minutes
Directed by Joe Target Rees
Remastered from the original 1⁄2” open reel video tape by Dino Everett at the Punk Media Research Collection, University
of Southern California, HMH Foundation Moving Image Archive.
We Were There to Be There
2021, documentary about the Napa State show
color and black and white, 27 minutes
Directed by Mike Plante and Jason Willis
The Cramps at Napa State
June 13, 1978
black and white, 23 minutes
Directed by Joe Target Rees
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THE CRAMPS & THE MUTANTS: THE NAPA STATE TAPES 1978
On June 13, 1978, the soon-to-be legendary rock band The Cramps went to play Napa State, a psychiatric hospital in the small town of Napa in Northern California. Opening for them was The Mutants, an eclectic septet of art school punks from nearby San Francisco. Also in the van was seminal Bay Area art collective Target Video, there to capture the show using one of the first video cameras available to the public, democratizing a medium controlled by mainstream media outlets.
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What resulted may be the most unique punk show ever, as the two bands played for the residents at the hospital, a rehabilitation facility that was skimming the danger of being shut down by former California Governor Ronald Reagan.
Here for the first time ever: the long lost tape of The Mutants playing at Napa State and the full tape of The Cramps’ show, both unedited and fully remastered from the original reel-to-reel videotape. In between the shows is We Were There To Be There, a new short documentary about how the Napa State show happened and its lasting effect.
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Featuring an in-person Q&A with filmmaker Mike Plante!
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Tuesday, April 8
SACRAMENTO PUBLIC LIBRARY FILM GROUP: DESPERATELY SEEKING SOMETHING
Director: Susan Siedelman​
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Starring: Susan Berman, Brad Rijn, Richard Hell
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Runtime: 93 min., USA
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Language: English
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SMITHEREENS 1982
We're partnering with the Sacramento Public Library to bring you the Film Group: Desperately Seeking Something, a series of three monthly film viewing and discussion events. We hope to bring people together to inform our viewing of film by reading excerpts from the book Desperately Seeking Something: A Memoir About Movies, Mothers, and Material Girls before the film.
Please plan to come prepared. We will discuss the outlined reading listed in each program description. Library staff will lead a discussion about the film and reading following the film screening. This series is for adults only (18+) and registration via the library's site is required.
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A vibrant time capsule of the gritty East Village and its young Eighties punk life, SMITHEREENS earned much praise and even competed for the Palme d'or — making it one of America’s trailblazing indies before the movement kicked into high gear at the end of the decade.
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Wild teen Wren (Susan Berman) trades NJ for NYC, where she hopes to join what's left of punk culture. She hangs out with fellow transplant Paul (Brad Rijn), but he's too safe for her tastes — which run to narcissistic rockers. She finds one in Eric (punk icon Richard Hell), about to cut a record in LA. Before long, Wren plans to accompany Eric out west, but it's clear she's trusted the wrong person.
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SMITHEREENS marked the directorial debut of Susan Siedelman, whose career includes DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN (featuring Madonna) and charming mob comedy COOKIE. Here, she turns all the dyed hair, striped shirts, checkered miniskirts, and dingy street settings into an snapshot of a subculture teetering on oblivion.
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