Crosstown theater to do weekly movie series
Somewhat underutilized since its January opening, the Crosstown Theater at Crosstown Concourse will launch a weekly series of movie screenings on May 2 that organizers plan to continue for as long as possible.
The first eight movies — a mix of new releases, art films and cult classics — will be “loosely themed around music,” said Justin Thompson, director of film and video production for Crosstown Arts, the organization that manages the theater.
Even so, the films represent a wide variety of styles and types: Subject matter includes disco, William Eggleston and the Monkees.
“We are going to be intentionally all over the map with what we program,” Thompson said.
Or, to quote the wordier mission statement that will be on the Crosstown Arts website for the series: “The Crosstown Arts Weekly Film Series is an art house style film series showcasing a diverse collection of independent, international, historically significant, artistic, experimental, cult, underground and documentary features.”
A multi-purpose 425-seat “black box” venue constructed on the north side of the “vertical village” of the Crosstown Concourse complex, the Crosstown Theater has hosted a handful of public dance, film, music, theater and education events since its official January opening, but has yet to establish itself as a place that attracts return patrons. The film series will represent the venue’s first attempt at regular weekly programming.
The theater was constructed to function as much as a movie house as a liveperformance venue. The theater is equipped with a 36-by-19-foot screen, state-of-the-art sound design and a Barco 4K projection system (the same technology used in Malco theaters).
The movies will screen at 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays, so as not to compete with Indie Memphis, which hosts screenings every Tuesday and Wednesday. Admission is $5. (Some weeks no movie will screen, due to the scheduling of a concert or some other event.)
Thompson — who is curating the series with Crosstown Arts event coordinator Courtney Fly — said the Crosstown Theater will host movie events in addition to its weekly film series. He said he hopes that such Memphis film organizations as Indie Memphis and Outflix will use the theater for events.
Here is the schedule for what is billed as “Series #1” in the “Crosstown Arts Weekly Film Series”:
❚ May 2: “Satan & Adam.” A new documentary about the decades-long partnership of the unlikely Harlem street-corner blues duo of Sterling “Mr. Satan” Magee, a black Mississippi-born one-man-band, and Adam Gussow, a white New York-born and Ivy Leagueeducated harmonica player.
❚ May 9: “Memphis Bi-centennial Boogie” with the Blueshift Ensemble. A one-night-only happening, this “visual mediation on the history of the city” pairs found historic footage from the Memphis Public Libraries into a collage that will be accompanied by improvised live music performed by the local Blueshift Ensemble.
❚ May 16: “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains.” Diane Lane, Laura Dern and Marin Kanter star as the members of the title teenage punk band in this 1982 cult favorite directed by longtime entertainment mogul Lou Adler. The cast includes Paul Simonon of The Clash; Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols; Brent “Data” Spiner; and Ray Winstone.
❚ May 23: “Stranded in Canton.” Famed photographer William Eggleston shot this infamous and once long-unseen video document of woozy Memphis decadence, artistry and anomie, circa 1974, which local author/filmmaker Robert Gordon sculpted into a 76minute assemblage in 2005. Among the musicians who appear are Alex Chilton and outlaw country singer Jerry Mcgill.
❚ June 6: “Thank God It’s Friday.” The hit disco musical from 1978, with a cast that includes Jeff Goldblum, Debra Winger, The Commodores and Donna Summer, who performs “Last Dance,” which won that year’s Academy Award for Best Original Song.
❚ June 13: “Suburbia.” Between the career high points of the epochal punk documentary “The Decline of Western Civilization” and the blockbuster schwing of “Wayne’s World,” Penelope Spheeris directed this 1984 Roger Corman-produced coming-of-age drama about suburban California punks.
❚ June 20: “American Pop.” Rebel cartoonist Ralph Baskhi (the X-rated “Fritz the Cat”) directed this ambitious 1981 animated drama that attempts to chronicle the evolution of popular music in the 20th century by following four generations of a music-making immigrant family.
❚ July 11: “Head.” Directed by Bob Rafelson and written by Rafelson and actor Jack Nicholson (the two would find greater recognition when they collaborated on “Five Easy Pieces”), this surreal comedy-musical vehicle for the Monkees was a critical and box-office disaster that hastened the group’s demise; the cast includes Sonny Liston, Frank Zappa, Victor Mature and Annette Funicello. R.I.P. Peter Tork.