The Charles Bukowski Tapes, Part I
(Barbet Schroeder, 1987, 120 min.)
(Note: Part II plays Tuesday, 3/23, 8:30 pm)
6:30 pm
The Firehouse Theatre
Admission $5

Presented in two parts, each composed of 26 vignettes of 3-4 minutes, The Charles Bukowski Tapes offers fans a close-up rarely seen. Filmed by director Schroeder while waiting for a go-ahead on the feature, Barfly, Bukowski ruminates and essays on women, writing, his childhood, NY agents, Hollywood, Henry Miller and his favorite bars among other topics. Filmed at Bukowski’s San Pedro house and other LA haunts, Bukowski, now finally famous, seems to fully enjoy the camera crew’s attention. Forget Factotum, forget Barfly – this is the genuine Chinaski.

The Biggest Picture presents a Big River Double Feature:
Big River
(Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, 2009, 30 min.) and
Big River Man
(John Maringouin, 2009, 94 min.)
8:30 pm
The Firehouse Theatre
Free

Big River, the new documentary by King Corn filmmakers Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, explores the ecological consequences of industrial agriculture. It is a companion to King Corn, screened at last year's James River Film Festival. Trading their combine for a canoe, the filmmakers set out to follow the trail of the pesticides and fertilizers used in the production of their one acre of corn – all the way from Iowa to the Gulf of Mexico. “A sharp and clever reminder that nothing ever really goes away, certainly not the soup of chemicals we’re pouring on our fields.” – Bill McKibben, author, educator, and environmentalist.

Big River Man, a winner at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, is about the world's greatest endurance swimmer – 52 year-old Martin Strel swims whole rivers to highlight their pollution to the world. A national hero in his native Slovenia, Martin attempts his greatest feat yet – to swim the entire length of the Amazon River, all while drinking two bottles of wine a day. Director Maringouin says he set out to make a documentary with an environmental message, “but that message got eclipsed by insanity.”