November discussion: The Trap

  • November 21, 2021 1:06 am

From Viscera

This month we’ll be watching Adam Curtis’s three part documentary, The Trap: What Happened to Our Dream of Freedom? from (dusts off label) 2007! Curtis examines positive versus negative freedom with examples ranging from the Austrian school of economics to R.D. Laing and anti-psychiatry to neoliberalism and the occupation of Iraq.

If you’ve never watched an Adam Curtis feature you’re in for a treat!

We’ll be meeting in Clark Park on Sunday, November 28th, from 1-3 barring us finding somewhere congenial and heated – meet near the chess tables.

You can find the documentary on YouTube (or elsewhere) – each part is one hour, and we’ll be discussing all three!

HAYMARKET Documentary Film Screening

  • April 23, 2021 1:50 am

from Instagram

Photo by The Wooden Shoe on April 22, 2021. May be an image of 3 people and text that says 'A DOCUMENTARY FILM HAYMARKET THE BOMB, THE ANARCHISTS, THE LABOR STRUGGLE. Wooden Shoe Books Presents: HAYMARKET Documentary Film Screening by FILMADRIA Follow'.
We’re back on our bullshit! May 1st 7:30pm! Get your tickets on our website in the calendar section! ~ Online screening of Haymarket, a brand new feature length documentary followed by discussion with the director Adrian Prawica~

Movie Screenings At James Talib Dean Camp

  • June 29, 2020 12:52 pm

from Twitter

A whole week of black revolutionary cinema programming for the unhoused comrades at James Talib Dean encampment in Philly – come through and watch these great movies! And support the camp’s demands for housing and freedom from the police #blacklivesmatter

[@ the James Talib Dean Camp 
(22nd St + Ben Franklin Parkway)
[Von Colln Memorial Field]
Screenings will start around 9:15pm and will be followed by other films TBA
Sunday 6/28
Let The Fire Burn
Malcolm X (1972)
 
Monday 6/29
Coconut Revolution
Che (pt1)
 
Tuesday 6/30
Cuba Africa Revolution
Burn!
 
Wednesday 7/1
Squatters
Black and Blue
 
Thursday 7/2
At The River I Stand
Out The Way
 
Friday 7/3
Concerning Violence
The Spook Who Sat By The Door]

Hunt for the Wilderpeople: a watch party for Food Not Bombs

  • April 14, 2020 2:04 am

from Facebook

Wednesdays @ 7PM, cinéSPEAK hosts an online watch party, featuring incredible cinematic works from around the world to raise $ for organizations doing vital work in our region and beyond.

THIS WEEK: HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE (2016) –a brilliantly comedic coming-of-age x buddy adventure film from Kiwi writer-director Taika Waititi
**now streaming on Kanopy — see below for instructions**

THIS WEEK’S FEATURED ORG: Food Not Bombs Solidarity they ‘cook for, serve/share food, work with and support homeless or hungry people; save and use food that the capitalist system regards only as a commodity; food that would be otherwise discarded.’

—
LOGISTICS:
DATE: WEDNESDAY APRIL 15, 2020
ZOOM PARTY LIVE @ 7PM **must register to receive link**
FILM BEGINS @ 7:30PM
POST-FILM ZOOM HANG to-follow

—
ADMISSION: FREE!
**As you’re able, PLEASE $UPPORT by DONATING directly to Food Not Bombs Solidarity–>
CashApp: $FNBSolidarity
PayPal: FNBSolidarity@protonmail.com

—
TO PARTICIPATE:
You will need to:
1. Activate your Kanopy account–>
**FREE** with Philadelphia Free Library card https://freelibrary.kanopy.com
**Don’t have your physical library card? Look it up here–> https://catalog.freelibrary.org/MyResearch/ForgotCard

2. Decide how you will watch–>
**If you’re watching from your computer, follow this URL–> https://freelibrary.kanopy.com/video/hunt-wilderpeople-0
**If you’re watching on Apple tv, Roku, Amazon Fire Stick or other mobile device, search for and download the Kanopy app.

3. Register for the event–> via ticket link on this page
4. Grab your movie snacks/drinks + come hang!

We will:
1. Email the Zoom link to all registered guests @ 6:15PM
2. Start the Zoom party @ 7PM

—
ABOUT THE FILM:
Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
Written & Directed by: Taika Waititi
Running Time: 1hr 41 min

A boy (Julian Dennison) and his foster father (Sam Neill) become the subjects of a manhunt after they get stranded in the New Zealand wilderness.

WATCH THE TRAILER HERE: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tICv8QH3oM0

**CONTENT WARNING: fatphobic humor, animal death (with graphic images of blood), grief around parental death and a joke with pedophilic innuendo

Anarchy Afternoons: Unistʼotʼen Camp

  • February 18, 2020 6:13 pm

from Facebook

During this week’s open hours, we are going to be watching short films about the Unistʼotʼen Camp.

To our north, this month has witnessed an explosion of actions intended to “shut down Canada” with blockades of rail lines cancelling passenger service trains across the country and paralyzing freight shipment. In the cities, protests have blocked streets, highways, and bridges. The present wave of resistance can be traced to the Unistʼotʼen camp’s decade-long battle against proposed pipelines in unceded Wetʼsuwetʼen territory. We will watch films and discuss this history to get a clearer picture of what has been happening.

For more information on recent events: https://itsgoingdown.org/from-sea-to-sea-train-blockades-colonialism-and-canadian-rail-history/

3:00 open hours
4:00 films

[February 21 3-6pm at A-Space 4722 Baltimore Ave]

Anarchy Afternoons: La Haine

  • January 30, 2020 7:13 am

from Facebook

Anarchy Afternoons is the name for the regular open hours at A-space. Lately, we have been watching movies in addition to the open hours/Kaffeeklatsch. This week we are watching the classic (1995) French film called La Haine (“Hate”).

Released 10 years before the famous 3-week long riots in Paris in 2005, this film depicts a group of friends in the Parisian suburbs in the aftermath of a riot. The plot revolves around the discovery of a cop’s missing gun and the possibility of revenge for the police brutality that sparked the previous day’s riot. It’s a fictional depiction of 20 hours in the life of the Parisian suburbs inspired by actual events and common experiences.

While La Haine is a very different kind of “Suburb Film” (and very different understanding of suburb) than Over the Edge, it seemed like a good follow-up film.

Open Hours 3:00pm
Film 3:45

[January 31 at A-Space 4722 Baltimore Ave]

Anarchy Afternoons: Over the Edge

  • January 23, 2020 1:56 pm

from Facebook

Based on late-70s sensational journalism intended to vilify suburban youth, this movie explores what young people can do in a world designed for the interests and profits of bougie adults. The suburbs in Over the Edge are alienating, inhibiting, and completely unlike the spaces of childhood innocence found in other teen films of the era. The movie imagines a group of suburban teens that discover the means to resist, to fight their parents, the school, the police. It’s as if the filmmakers asked themselves what it would be like if the Italian/German Autonomist movement spontaneously emerged in American suburbs. Over the Edge is a fantasy of teenage rebellion that shatters the image of suburban civility and complacency. We are going to watch it this week because why not?

For more (spoiler-filled) info on the movie: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wdz5bb/over-the-edge-134-v16n9

Open Hours begins at 3:00pm
Film at 3:30
Note: Open Hours will end early this week at 5:30 instead of 6

[January 24 at A-Space 4722 Baltimore Ave]

Touch the Sky: Stories, Subversions, & Complexities of Ferguson

  • January 4, 2020 1:13 am

from Facebook

A new video collage reflecting on the raw moments of the 2014 Ferguson riots. A film for the wild ones, the anarchists, and the dreamers…

More info: https://touchthesky.noblogs.org/

110 minutes followed by a short discussion

[January 11th 7-9PM at Wooden Shoe Books 704 South St]

Anarchy Afternoons presents Bee Movie

  • December 18, 2019 1:13 am

from Facebook

Someone said Bee Movie had anarchist themes. We are going to screen this movie for no other reason than to find out. And maybe it’s funny?

It’s the last Anarchy Afternoon of the year!

Open hours begins at 3:00
Movie at 3:30

[December 20th at A-Space 4722 Baltimore Ave]

Anarchy Afternoons: Greece 2008 films

  • December 10, 2019 8:50 pm

from Facebook

On December 6, 2008, Greek police shot and killed Alexandros Grigoropoulos, sparking widespread riots. These riots unfolded in the wake of the financial crash that year and were fueled by a large anarchist milieu centered around the Exarcheia neighborhood in Athens.

This Friday we will watch films about these events and learn more about the anarchists in Greece. We will also discuss the present situation in Greece, which has seen a slew of police raids of squats in recent months.

Films include “Potentiality for Storming Heaven,” Sub.media clips, and others.

Open Hours 3pm
Films 3:30

[December 13 at A-Space 4722 Baltimore Ave]

Anarchy Afternoons: Breaking the Spell (1999 Seattle WTO doc)

  • December 1, 2019 12:18 pm

from Facebook

It’s been 20 years so, this week, we are going to look back at the Battle of Seattle aka the 1999 Seattle WTO protests. We will be watching the classic documentary Breaking the Spell and a few shorter videos.

For many anarchists in North America, the events in Seattle signaled a new phase of street action. The actions in Seattle informed and inspired anarchist engagement with the anti-globalization movement and other demonstrations in North America for years after. Not to mention that the tactics developed in this period still shape anarchist activity 20 years later.

We will watch this documentary and discuss the events in 1999 to consider what is still relevant now. What can we get from taking another look at this stage of anarchist organizing? Is there any remaining untapped potential or lessons still to be learned?

Anarchy Afternoons begins at Friday 3:00pm
Documentary 3:30
Shorter film clips 5-6pm

[December 6 at A-Space 4722 Baltimore Ave]

Anarchy Afternoons: The First Umbrella

  • September 8, 2019 8:03 pm

from Facebook

This week we will be hanging out at A-space open hours as usual with coffee and snacks. Also we will be watching Umbrella Diaries: the First Umbrella, a documentary on the origins of the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong of 2014.

Protests in Hong Kong continue even after the withdrawal of the extradition bill as american anarchists continue to follow the events, debate their relationship to it, and learn from the innovative tactics. We will be watching this documentary to understand a bit more about the context and history behind the current protests.

Open Hours begin at 1pm
Film begins at 3:00
Intermission at 4:00
Second half at 4:30

[September 13 from 1PM to 6PM at A-Space Anarchist Community Center]

Anarchy Afternoons: back from hiatus w/ 2 films

  • September 3, 2019 7:15 pm

from Facebook

This week we will be watching 2 short videos from Sub.Media. One concerns the age old question “What is Violence?” The other is the timely back-to-school episode “Learning to Resist,” looking at student movements.

The main aim of Anarchy Afternoons is to function as regular open hours at A-space, an anarchist social center. There is usually coffee, snacks, zines to read, and people to talk to.

After a summer hiatus, we are returning to our regular open hours this Friday with more emphasis on programming and intentional discussion. Each week, we will be either watching videos, discussing a reading, or (occasionally) having short presentations. Beyond this week, there is no fixed schedule so if you have ideas for content, please share.

Open Hours begin at 1pm//Videos begin around 3pm

[September 6 from 1PM-6PM at A-Space Anarchist Community Center]

Trouble screening: Land and Freedom

  • August 26, 2019 9:53 pm

from Facebook

Trouble 21 looks at anti-colonial struggles in Turtle Island and Palestine

From the genocidal aftermath of Columbus’ accidental “discovery” of the New World, to the ever-deeper encroachments of Israeli settlements into the West Bank — five hundred years of European colonialism has cast a long shadow over this world. Colonization, in its supreme arrogance, carved up the globe according to the imperial logic of accumulation, imposing artificial borders on foreign lands and seeking to subjugate restive native populations through religious indoctrination and force of arms. But despite their military superiority, ideological warfare and constant recourse to savage brutality, colonial regimes have consistently failed to crush the will of colonized people to fight back. And the reason for this is simple. Occupation breeds resistance.

Anarchists, especially those of us who have never experienced the sharp edge of colonization, have much to learn from those waging this resistance. We also have a principled imperative to align ourselves with those facing acute forms of state violence and dispossession. To this end, this episode of Trouble draws on two examples of contemporary anti-colonial struggle – those waged by the Palestinians and the Mohawks of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy against their respective oppressors, the Israeli and Canadian settler-colonial states, in hopes of drawing out lessons and increasing our capacity for producing meaningful solidarity.

[August 28 from 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM at Wooden Shoe Books and Records 704 South St]

Screening of Quiet Storm: Technology & Social Control

  • March 28, 2019 12:49 am

from Instagram

We’ll be screening the latest Trouble episode from @sub.media Tuesday April 2nd at 8pm. It’s titled, “Quiet Storm: Technology & Social Control”

[Wooden Shoe Books 704 South St]