Tuesday, April 30, 2019

The Challenge (2017) Directed by Yuri Ancarani

(Part of The Mini Mini Series: Sportz)

Doors 7:00 PM / Start 7:30 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

Italian visual artist Yuri Ancarani’s exquisite documentary enters the surreal world of wealthy Qatari sheikhs with a passion for amateur falconry. The opulence of this Middle Eastern gas state is on full display as the men race SUVs up and down sand dunes, fly their prized falcons around on private jets, and take their pet cheetahs out for desert spins in their souped-up Ferraris. The result is a film jaw-dropping not only for its displays of wealth, but for the pure cinematic beauty that won Ancarani the Filmmaker of the Present award at the 2016 Locarno Film Festival. (70 min)

Free with $5 suggested donation

Sunday, April 28, 2019

The Anniversary Show (Screening + Fundraiser)  

Rio Bravo (1959) Directed by Howard Hawks

Doors 7:00 PM / Start 7:30 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

Tickets: $25 - https://riobravo60th.eventbrite.com

Drinks/Snacks by Longfellow

Poster by Peter Van Hyning

The Anniversary Show is The Mini’s new monthly fundraiser celebrating films that reach significant historical milestones in 2019. Support our mission by attending these special ticketed events, which include themed drinks and snacks. Our April program presents Rio Bravo, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2019. 

When gunslinger Joe Burdette (Claude Akins) kills a man in a saloon, Sheriff John T. Chance (John Wayne) arrests him with the aid of the town drunk, Dude (Dean Martin). Before long, Burdette's brother, Nathan (John Russell), comes around, indicating that he's prepared to bust his brother out of jail if necessary. Chance decides to make a stand until reinforcements arrive, enlisting Dude, an old cripple named Stumpy (Walter Brennan) and baby-faced cowboy Colorado Ryan (Ricky Nelson) to help. (141 min)

 Thursday, April 25, 2019

Pumping Iron (1976) 

Directed by George Butler & Robert Fiore

(Part of The Mini Mini Series: Sportz)

Doors 7:00 PM / Start 7:30 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

Groundbreaking docudrama, Pumping Iron, provides a compelling portrayal of the bodybuilding industry in the mid-1970. As the film’s central figures prepare themselves for the 1975 Mr. Olympia competition in Pretoria, South Africa, a spotlight is shined on this rather niche sport. World-famous, five-time Mr. Olympia champion, “the one and only Arnold Schwarzenegger” is at the forefront of the film. Contestants compete in a tight-knit community, simultaneously supporting and taunting one another in a battle to be the best, to stand at the top of the number-one platform. (85 min)

Free with $5 suggested donation

 Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Hyper-muscularity & Femininity on Film; A Screening of Media Portrayals of Women Bodybuilders from the 1980s and 1990s aka The Most Awesome Female Muscle Celebration In The World

Curated by Rachel Rampleman

Co-presented with the Weston Art Gallery

(Part of The Mini Mini Series: Sportz)

Doors 7:00 PM / Start 7:30 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

This selection of obscure and riveting clips was culled from Women's Physique World's extensive documentary archive of 80s-90s women's bodybuilding competitions and post-competition interviews (as well as curious staged encounters with the women in hotel rooms wearing only wigs, bikinis, and pumps - and clips from the afore mentioned 1995 NYC celebration), and the movie Pumping Iron II: The Women, a 1985 "documentary" about female bodybuilding which focuses on several women as they prepare for and compete in the 1983 Caesars World Cup, and addresses the (still ongoing in 2019) argument of how much muscle is too much muscle when it comes to judging professional women bodybuilders - which has never been an issue in the men's competitions. (80 min)

In conjunction with Rachel Rampleman’s Oh! You Pretty Things exhibition on view at The Weston Art Gallery April 19 - June 16, 2019.

Free with $5 suggested donation

Thursday, April 18, 2019

Dangerous Acts Starring the Unstable Elements of Belarus (2013) Directed by Madeleine Sackler 

Cinema at the Center: The Belarus Free Theater - Artivism vs. Activism

Co-presented by the Contemporary Arts Center in junction with This Time Tomorrow

Doors 6:15 PM / Start 6:45 PM @ CAC (44 E 6th St, Cincinnati, OH 45202)

The Belarus Free Theatre was established in a spirit of opposition to the country's president. When a number of democratic challengers arose in the presidential elections of 2010, the rigged vote returned President Lukashenko to his reign, and a younger generation of people in Belarus became angrily aware that they had known nothing other than a culture of censorship and fear. Opposition candidates were imprisoned, their families intimidated, demonstrations were crushed; this documentary shows how in the year that followed, a theatrical company orchestrated their response. (76 min)

Presented by Drew Klein and Valentine Umansky, CAC

Free with $5 suggested donation

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Hardface (2018) Directed by Mark Hood

(Part of The Mini Mini Series: Sportz)

Doors 7:00 PM / Start 7:30 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

For over thirty years, the Falcone family has run a boxing program for youth escaping life on the streets, hoping for a shot as professional fighters. Richard ‘Hardface’ Mason is the driving force behind this feature-length documentary as fighter-turned-trainer at Cincinnati’s struggling Northside Boxing Gym. Shot on 16mm film, Hardface explores the enduring bond between fighter and trainer, providing an inside look at the amateur boxing experience.Director Mark Hood in attendance! (83 min) 

Also screening Sunday, April 14, 2019

Free with $5 suggested donation

 Sunday, April 14, 2019

Hardface (2018) Directed by Mark Hood

(Part of The Mini Mini Series: Sportz)

Doors 7:00 PM / Start 7:30 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

For over thirty years, the Falcone family has run a boxing program for youth escaping life on the streets, hoping for a shot as professional fighters. Richard ‘Hardface’ Mason is the driving force behind this feature-length documentary as fighter-turned-trainer at Cincinnati’s struggling Northside Boxing Gym. Shot on 16mm film, Hardface explores the enduring bond between fighter and trainer, providing an inside look at the amateur boxing experience.Director Mark Hood in attendance! (83 min) 

Also screening Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Free with $5 suggested donation

Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Skate Vids - Night #2

(Part of The Mini Mini Series: Sportz)

Doors 7:00 PM / Start 7:30 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

For Skate Vids Night #@, The Mini is showcasing videos made by local skate crews spanning three generations. These will include Solid’s Take Five (1997), Satellite 13’s Happily Divided (2006) and Instrument’s Nooks and Crannies (2015).

Skate videos do more than showcase the athletic prowess of skateboarders. They capture, through an abundance of attitude and cinematic craft, the spirit of skateboarding. The genre first emerged in the 1980s with charming albeit amateurish works like “The Search for Animal Chin.” But it wasn’t until the advent of consumer grade camcorders in the 90s that the form reached stylistic maturity, coming to define that decade’s visual zeitgeist. Since then, skate videos have expanded into a global movement borrowing freely from the narrative, documentary and experimental film traditions while in turn influencing everything from video games to Hollywood blockbusters. Despite having entered the pop culture lexicon, though, skate videos remain DIY creations: in addition to landing tricks onscreen, members of a skate crew pull double duty as cinematographers and editors. One common technique is to use skate decks as makeshift dollies. It is no surprise, then, that skate videos boast acrobatic camerawork worthy of an action flick. Hard-hitting one moment, balletic the next, these overlooked cinematic gems find meaning in motion.

Free with $5 suggested donation. Half of the proceeds raised on both nights will go to the Newport DIY skate park.

Photo by Chris Luessen.

ATTN: SKATERS

Bring your used skateboards and equipment to Tuesday night’s screening and they will be donated to skaters in Nairobi, Kenya. Our friends in Nairobi are trying to build a skate scene but desperately need gear. Every little bit helps! In addition, half of all monetary donations will go to the Newport DIY skate park.

Sunday, April 7, 2019

Skate Vids - Night #1

(Part of The Mini Mini Series: Sportz)

Doors 7:00 PM / Start 7:30 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

For Skate Vids Night #1, filmmakers Andy Licardi and Joe Castrucci are screening two classics from the genre—Habitat's Mosaic (2003) and Alien Workshop's Memory Screen (1991)—as well as never before seen footage from the Alien Workshop archive.

Skate videos do more than showcase the athletic prowess of skateboarders. They capture, through an abundance of attitude and cinematic craft, the spirit of skateboarding. The genre first emerged in the 1980s with charming albeit amateurish works like “The Search for Animal Chin.” But it wasn’t until the advent of consumer grade camcorders in the 90s that the form reached stylistic maturity, coming to define that decade’s visual zeitgeist. Since then, skate videos have expanded into a global movement borrowing freely from the narrative, documentary and experimental film traditions while in turn influencing everything from video games to Hollywood blockbusters. Despite having entered the pop culture lexicon, though, skate videos remain DIY creations: in addition to landing tricks onscreen, members of a skate crew pull double duty as cinematographers and editors. One common technique is to use skate decks as makeshift dollies. It is no surprise, then, that skate videos boast acrobatic camerawork worthy of an action flick. Hard-hitting one moment, balletic the next, these overlooked cinematic gems find meaning in motion.

Free with $5 suggested donation. Half of the proceeds raised on both nights will go to the Newport DIY skate park.

Photo by Chris Luessen.

 Saturday, April 6, 2019

Lil’s + Lils - Films for Kids

Doors 10:30 AM / Start 11:00 AM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

Enjoy a selection of short films for children. The screening includes animated films from all over the world that are either in English or without dialogue. Arrive early to enjoy free snacks and free coffee from Iris BookCafe. Fun for all ages! (30 min)

Free with $5 suggested donation

 Thursday, April 4, 2019

A Beautiful Game Curated by Astria Suparak and Brett Kashmere

In conjunction with the Sports issue of INCITE: Journal of Experimental Media and A Non-Zero-Sum Game series

(Part of The Mini Mini Series: Sportz)

Doors 7:00 PM / Start 7:30 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

Sports are a canvas(/screen) for personal, regional, and national projections – they are a proxy war, a fantasy, a public record, an airing of grievances, and a realm in which ideals can be realized. Sports create moments that sear into the communal memory and replay over and over, truncated and mangled over time, some parts burnished and others buried. The short video art compilation features: The national soccer teams of Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico; Pittsburgh Pirates; Boston Celtics; Inuit high kick; U.S. Figure Skating; Mansfield Senior Tygers. (60 min)

Showing work by: Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, James Blagden, Miguel Calderón, Anil Dash, Kevin Jerome Everson, Ana Hušman, Paper Rad, Pied la Biche, Lisa Young 

Free with $5 suggested donation

Tuesday, April 2, 2019 

Inquiring Nuns (1968) Directed by Gordon Quinn 

(Part of The Mini Mini Series: Generations)

Doors 7:00 PM / Start 7:30 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

In the politically fraught climate of Chicago in 1968, two young nuns crisscross the city in order to ask strangers the question, "Are you happy?" The answers vary: "Happiness is the absence of fear," "Avoiding people," "Raspberries," "Joy in knowing Christ." They meet a lonely girl, a happy mother, young lovers, hippie musicians, a sociologist and even character actor Stepin Fetchit. The humor and sadness of these honest encounters lift the film beyond its conceit into a serious and moving inquiry into contemporary society and the circumstances under which people examine their lives. (66 min)

Free with $5 suggested donation

 Sunday, March 31, 2019

Zagreb Animation: Old School, New School and Spring Break

Presented by the UC Center for Film and Media Studies

Doors 7:00 PM / Start 7:30 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

The program features a selection of classic films from the Zagreb School and recent favorites from the program at the Animafest Zagreb festival. The short films reflect traditions, new approaches, and a particularly Croatian outlook. In honor of Spring Break, the selection features a loose thematic connection to beaches, islands, and swimming. (70 min)

Presented by Todd Herzog, UC Center for Film & Media Studies

Free with $5 suggested donation

 Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Short Films by John Wiese 

Co-presented with No Response

Doors 7:00 PM / Start 7:30 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

John Wiese is an artist and composer living between Los Angeles and Cleveland. From his experiments with recording as a teenager, he has since gone on to work in the world of contemporary sound art as well as the international experimental scene. As a performer and recording artist, his expertise in composition, texture, and experimentation with sound confirm his reputation of being one of the most original and innovative artists in experimental music. This collection of short video and films by the artist explore the use of sound in documentation, art piece, visual-sound, and dramedy. Exclusive to screenings, this is a very rare opportunity to view this collection of work. John Wiese in attendance! (60 min)

Free with $5 suggested donation

Sunday, March 24, 2019

The Anniversary Show (Screening + Fundraiser)  

Being There (1979) Directed by Hal Ashby

Doors 7:00 PM / Start 7:30 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

Tickets: $25 - https://beingthere40th.eventbrite.com

Drinks/Snacks by Joe Trame

Poster by Peter Van Hyning

The Anniversary Show is The Mini’s new monthly fundraiser celebrating films that reach significant historical milestones in 2019. Support our mission by attending these special ticketed events, which include themed drinks and snacks. Our March program presents Being There, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2019. 

“In one of his most finely tuned performances, Peter Sellers plays the pure-hearted, childlike Chance, a gardener who is forced into the wilds of Washington, D.C., when his wealthy guardian dies. Shocked to discover that the real world doesn’t respond to the click of a remote, Chance stumbles into celebrity after being taken under the wing of a tycoon (Melvyn Douglas, in an Oscar-winning performance), who mistakes his protégé’s horticultural mumblings for sagacious pronouncements on life and politics, and whose wife (Shirley MacLaine) targets Chance as the object of her desire. Adapted from a novel by Jerzy Kosinski, this satire, both deeply melancholy and hilarious, is the culmination of Hal Ashby’s remarkable string of films in the 1970s, and a carefully modulated examination of the ideals, anxieties, and media-fueled delusions that shaped American culture during that decade.” - Criterion (130 min)

 Friday, March 15, 2019

Cinci Cinema Click

7:00 PM - 9:00 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

A simple gathering of local filmmakers looking to meet other cinematographers, producers, motion-artists, and anything in-between. Cinci Cinema Click invites filmmakers of all stages (from living room to full-scale production) to organically learn from one another, share resources, and just hang out. Potluck style and BYOB!

Thursday, March 14, 2019

306 Hollywood (2018)

Directed by Elan + Jonathan Bogarín 

(Part of The Mini Mini Series: Generations)

Doors 7:00 PM / Start 7:30 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

When siblings Elan and Jonathan Bogarín lose their grandma, they face a profound question: When a loved one dies, what do we do with everything they left behind? Turning documentary on its head, the Bogarín’s embark on a magical-realist journey that transforms Grandma’s cluttered New Jersey home into a visually exquisite ruin where tchotchkes become artifacts, and the siblings become archaeologists. With help from physicists, curators, and archivists, they excavate the extraordinary universe contained in a family home. (94 min)

Free with $5 suggested donation

-Also screening  Tuesday, March 12, 2019

 Tuesday, March 12, 2019

306 Hollywood (2018)

Directed by Elan + Jonathan Bogarín 

(Part of The Mini Mini Series: Generations)

Doors 7:00 PM / Start 7:30 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

When siblings Elan and Jonathan Bogarín lose their grandma, they face a profound question: When a loved one dies, what do we do with everything they left behind? Turning documentary on its head, the Bogarín’s embark on a magical-realist journey that transforms Grandma’s cluttered New Jersey home into a visually exquisite ruin where tchotchkes become artifacts, and the siblings become archaeologists. With help from physicists, curators, and archivists, they excavate the extraordinary universe contained in a family home. (94 min)

Free with $5 suggested donation

-Also screening Thursday, March 14, 2019

Sunday, March 10th -- SCREENING - Raising Adults (Season 2)

(Part of The Mini Mini Series: Generations)

Raising Adults was created, written/ produced and also *lived* by Brittany Wagner & Kait Staley. It’s a story told in the Midwest’s Cincinnati but a struggle that’s real well-beyond it, and what’s more? - it was actually filmed here! (60 min)

*Doors 7:00 PM / Start 7:30 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.
*Q&A following screening; FREE Raffle following Q&A!

Raising Adults is a dark comedy web series about two girls raising their crazy disabled parents, just trying to grow up themselves. Think Broad City meets It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia with the family struggle in Shameless. Raising Adults is more than a two-white girl comedy about learning, f*cking up and commiserating along the way!

Follow Britt & Kait, who help their parents pursue disability support with little support of their own. Managing bills & healthcare just scratch the surface of the sh*t they reluctantly do for the ones they love. Overworked & unemployed, the two endure the pains of the process and of growing up while bonding over family dysfunction like editing threatening letters to politicians for Dad OR dumpster diving with Mom. Their “normal” is anything but!

Free with $5 suggested donation

Saturday, March 9, 2019

Lil’s + Lils - Films for Kids

Doors 10:30 AM / Start 11:00 AM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

Enjoy a selection of short films for children. The screening includes animated films from all over the world that are either in English or without dialogue. Arrive early to enjoy free snacks and free coffee from Iris BookCafe. Fun for all ages! (30 min)

Free with $5 suggested donation

 Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1972) - 16mm

Directed by Jonas Mekas

Co-presented with the Miami University Department of Art and Film Studies Program

(Part of The Mini Mini Series: Generations)

Doors 7:00 PM / Start 7:30 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

Jonas Mekas (1922 - 2019) was widely acknowledged as a pioneer in the genres of diary and essay film, as well as an influential critic, film programmer, and organizer, who was instrumental in the emergence of a diverse avant-garde cinema scene in postwar America. He was also someone who has stressed in numerous interviews the crucial role that his experience during World War II and status as a displaced person after the war played in shaping his artistic vision. Released in 1972, Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania was Mekas’ second diary film, which narrates through highly personal footage and voiceover the Mekas brothers’ visit to their native Lithuanian village of Semeniškiai in 1971 after a 27-year absence. -NGA (82 min)

Free with $5 suggested donation

Sunday, March 3, 2019

Madeline’s Madeline (2018) Directed by Josephine Decker

(Part of The Mini Mini Series: The Female Frame)

Doors 7:00 PM / Start 7:30 PM @ The Mini - 1329 Main St.

Madeline got the part! She’s going to play the lead in a theater piece! Except the lead wears sweatpants like Madeline’s. And has a cat like Madeline’s. And is holding a steaming hot iron next to her mother’s face – like Madeline is. Madeline (newcomer Helena Howard) has become an integral part of a prestigious physical theater troupe. When the workshop's ambitious director (Molly Parker) pushes the teenager to weave her rich interior world and troubled history with her mother (Miranda July) into their collective art, the lines between performance and reality begin to blur. The resulting battle between imagination and appropriation rips out of the rehearsal space and through all three women’s lives. Writer/director Josephine Decker has long been an independent filmmaker to admire, utilizing a welcome expressionistic approach that imbues her subjects with a vibrant sense of urgency. Anchored by a virtuoso performance from newcomer Helena Howard, whose powerful screen presence commands attention, Decker’s film displays a rare sensitivity for capturing the messy struggles of discovering a sense of one's self that defies easy narrative categorization. (94 min)

Also screening: Thursday, February 28, 2019 

Free with $5 suggested donation