SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
FASSBINDER FINALE! Monday, December 6, 2021 through Friday, December 10, 2021
LOCATION: The Secret Movie Club Theater, 1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90021
IMPORTANT NOTE: We'll be screening 3 episodes a night of Fassbinder's epic 15 hour Berlin Alexanderplatz from Monday, Dec 6, 2021 through its stunning conclusion Friday, December 10, 2021. Audience can buy the week-long ticket (recommended) or can buy for individual nights if they are unable to make the entire event. Each night, we'll have beer and wine on tap and we're going to do our best to also have some schnitzel and biergarten food available as well.
This is Fassbinder's magnum opus. We're doing this.
*Please note entrance/parking is actually in the back of the building. Make a right on Wilson Street, then a right behind the building. We’re the first set of black steps after the big gate. We’ll have staff to help guide/park you.
Mon, Dec 6, 2021 7:30pm Berlin Alexanderplatz Episodes 1-3 (adapt/dir by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Janus, West Germany, 201mns)
Tues, Dec 7, 2021 8pm Berlin Alexanderplatz Episodes 4-6 (adapt/dir by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Janus, West Germany, 178 mns)
Wed, Dec 8, 2021 8pm Berlin Alexanderplatz Episodes 7-9(adapt/dir by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Janus, West Germany, 175 mns)
Thurs, Dec 9, 2021 8pm Berlin Alexanderplatz Episodes 10-12 (adapt/dir by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Janus, West Germany, 179 mns)
Fri, Dec 10, 2021 8pm Berlin Alexanderplatz Episodes 13-14 (adapt/dir by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Janus, West Germany, 171 mns)
IMPORTANT NOTES:
***Starting November 4th, 2021 ALL AUDIENCE will be required to show proof of vaccination at the door. PLEASE HAVE YOUR VIRTUAL OR PHYSICAL VACCINATION CARD READY BEFORE ENTERING THE THEATER. If you have a religious exemption, please have proof of a negative COVID test within 3 days of the screening.
***ALL GUESTS WILL BE TAKEN THROUGH PROTOCOLS PRIOR TO ENTERING THEATER SO EVERYONE CAN HAVE A FUN AND SAFE TIME.
***EVERYONE WILL STILL BE REQUIRED TO WEAR MASKS INDOORS WHEN NOT EATING/DRINKING CONCESSIONS IN THEIR ASSIGNED SEATS.
HOW TO:
1)PLEASE BRING AND BE READY TO WEAR A PROPER MASK AT ALL TIMES INSIDE THE THEATER AS A SAFETY PRECAUTION.
2)PRE-ORDER ANY CONCESSIONS OR MOVIE MERCHANDISE you would like from the additional Add-Ons. You can pick up all concessions & merchandise at our tables in our lobby prior to the screening.
We will be able to sell concessions & merchandise at the theater. But it will make everything much quicker and easier if you pre-order!
3)PLEASE BE AWARE THAT ANYONE EXHIBITING COVID OR FLU LIKE SYMPTOMS AT THE DOOR, WILL BE OFFERED COMPLIMENTARY TICKETS TO A FUTURE SHOW AND ASKED TO RETURN WHEN HEALTHY. So please, if you’re feeling sick, just write us at community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer your complimentary tickets to a future screening when you’re healthy. Let’s all do our part to beat this thing so we can go back to the complete movie going experience!
For most of his working life, Rainer Werner Fassbinder had talked about his desire to adapt Germany's great 1920's modernist novel Berlin Alexanderplatz by Alfred Doblin: first as an epic TV mini-series. Then AGAIN as a feature film in a totally different style and approach.
He finally got to do a variation of the above in 1980 turning out a TV mini-series in 14 parts, running 15 hours, meant to be viewed as a single feature film, with a final two hours unlike anything that had preceded it in the first 13 hours.
This is one of THE great cinematic works.
Berlin Alexanderplatz tells the story of everyman Franz Biberkopf (Biberkopf literally translates as "Stupidhead") who, newly released from prison, tries to get his life back on track in late 1920's Berlin. But before he knows it, he's slowly sliding back into crime, drink, and descent.
Many later pointed out that Berlin Alexanderplatz (named after a famous square in Berlin) anticipated in many ways just the kind of people-working class, disaffected, frustrated-who would form the backbone of the German public who helped Hitler rise to and seize power.
This is certainly not a fact lost on Fassbinder. But Berlin Alexanderplatz is much more then even the story of how decent people can make horrible decisions or lay the groundwork for societal ills. Written in a modernist style almost impossible to translate (much like James Joyces' Ulysses), Berlin Alexanderplatz is also a formal puzzle that Fassbinder was eager to crack. And crack it, he does, by giving each episode its own unique feel. Fassbinder translates into different cinema approaches the effect the book had of different literary approaches chapter to chapter.
And much like David Lynch's Twin Peaks, Ingmar Bergman's Scenes of a Marriage and Fanny & Alexander, Krysztof Kieslowski's Dekalog, and Lars Von Trier's The Kingdom Parts I & II, Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz transcends both TV AND CINEMA to become something even more powerful. Cinema on television. It's near impossible to describe. It must be experienced.
The entire series builds to a 2 hour finale that must be seen to be believed. One of the boldest, most unexpected, shocking creative decisions ever happens here and only a filmmaker at the height of their powers with the confidence in both their storytelling and cinematic craft would dare to make it.
Let's do this. Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz.
Best always,
Craig Hammill
35mm Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FOR OUR IN-DOOR THEATER SCREENINGS
REFUNDS:
We can offer refunds up to 24 hours before showtime. Please request a refund through Eventbrite and we will process ASAP. After that, no refunds. Sorry.
However if something last minute comes up and you can’t make the screening, for whatever reason, just write us at: community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening.
HELPFUL SECRET MOVIE CLUB (1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, LA, CA 90021) THEATER PARKING TIPS:
We recommend that you park just outside our theater. Remember our theater is actually in a beautiful street art alleyway in the back of the 1917 Bay Street building. You get to our entrance by taking a right on Wilson, then a right behind the building. We are the first set of black steps on the right after the big gate.
There is, however, free parking all around the theater on Wilson and Bay Streets.
HOW CAN WE STAY ON TOP OF NEWLY ANNOUNCED 35MM SCREENINGS, EVENTS, ETC?
You can follow us on Facebook: @secretmovieclub35mm or Instagram/Twitter: @secretmovieclub
You can also subscribe to our weekly email newsletter by writing us at community@secretmovieclub.com and using the header “SUBSCRIBE ME TO NEWSLETTER”.
HOW CAN I CONTACT YOU IF I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:
You can always email us at community@secretmovieclub.com with any other questions, concerns, thoughts, recommendations.