PhxArt + FilmBar Present Films in the Garden

Beginning Feb. 12, Phoenix Art Museum will partner with local indie cinema FilmBar to present independent, art-house films in the Museum’s Dorrance Sculpture Garden. The PhxArt + FilmBar Present Films in the Garden series will showcase eight films over four months and provides an opportunity for audiences to experience critically acclaimed, niche films in a socially distanced way. 

Capacity for each viewing is limited to 50 people to ensure 6 feet of physical distancing, and face masks must be worn over the mouth and nose at all times. Food and drink are not provided nor permitted, with the exception of water bottles. Tickets are $12 for PhxArt Members and FilmBar Unlimited-ish Members and $15 for the general public. All proceeds benefit Phoenix Art Museum and FilmBar.  

PHXART + FILMBAR PRESENT FILMS IN THE GARDEN SCHEDULE 

El Topo Feb. 12, 13 | 6:30 p.m.

Originally released in 1970, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo quickly caught the imagination of movie audiences and sparked the Midnight Movie phenomena, catalyzed by an endorsement from John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Classic Americana and avant-garde European sensibilities collide with Zen Buddhism and the Bible in this independent film featuring master gunfighter and mystic El Topo (played by writer/director Jodorowsky), who tries to defeat sharp-shooting rivals on a bizarre path to allegorical self-awareness and resurrection. (Jordorosky, 125 min, NR) 

In the Mood For Love Feb. 25, 26, 27 | 6:30 p.m.

It’s Hong Kong, 1962, and Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung Man-yuk) have moved into neighboring apartments on the same day. Their encounters are formal and polite—until a discovery about their spouses creates an intimate bond between them. Director Wong Kar Wai’s story of longing and romance unfolds with a heart-aching musical soundtrack and exquisitely abstract cinematography by Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee Ping-bin. (Wong, 98 min, PG) 

A Hard Day’s Night March 11, 12, 13 | 7 p.m. 

Just one month after exploding onto the U.S. scene with their Ed Sullivan Show appearance, John, Paul, George, and Ringo began working on a project that would bring their revolutionary talent to the big screen. A Hard Day’s Night features The Beatles bandmates playing cheeky, comic versions of themselves and captures the moment they officially became the singular, irreverent idols of their generation. Directed by Richard Lester and featuring iconic pop anthems, including the title track, Can’t Buy Me Love, and I Should Have Known Better, this film reconceived the movie musical and influenced the modern music video. (Lester, 87 min, G) 

Touki BoukiMarch 24, 26 | 7 p.m.

Mixing the surreal and the naturalistic, Djibril Diop Mambéty paints a vivid, fractured portrait of Senegal in the early 1970s. In this fantasy-drama influenced by the French New Wave, two young lovers long to leave Dakar for the glamour and comforts of France, but their escape is beset by complications both concrete and mystical. Simultaneously dazzling, manic, and meditative, Touki Bouki is widely considered one of the most important African films ever made. (Mambéty, 85 min, NR) 

Black Orpheus April 8, 9, 10 | 7:30 p.m.

Winner of the Academy Award for best foreign-language film and the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or, Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus (Orfeu negro) brings the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice to the 20th-century madness of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro. With its ravishing, epochal soundtrack, this film kicked off the bossa nova craze that set hi-fis across America spinning. (Camus, 100 min, PG) 

La Strada April 29, 30 | 7:30 p.m. • May 1 | 7:30 p.m.

Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina) is sold by her mother into the employ of Zampanò (Anthony Quinn), a brutal strongman in a traveling circus. When Zampanò encounters an old rival in high-wire, his fury is provoked to its breaking point. Federico Fellini directs this film that launched him and Masina (his wife) into international stardom. (Fellini, 108 min, NR) 

Gimme Shelter | May 13, 14, 15 | 7:30 p.m. 

Considered the greatest rock film ever made, this landmark documentary follows the Rolling Stones on their notorious 1969 U.S. tour, including when 300,000 members of the Love Generation collided with a few dozen Hells Angels at San Francisco’s Altamont Speedway. (Maysles, 91 min, NR) 

Tokyo Drifter | May 27, 28 | 7:30 p.m. 

This jazzy gangster film directed by Seijun Suzuki weaves the story of reformed killer Tetsu, who tries to go straight only to be called back to Tokyo to help battle a rival gang. With stylized violence, trippy colors, and anything-goes vibes, Tokyo Drifter is a brilliantly excessive example of 1960s Japanese cinema. (Suzuki, 82 min, NR) 


PhxArt + FilmBar Present Films in the Garden

Through May 28

Phoenix Art Museum, 1625 N. Central Ave., Phoenix

For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

About Perrine Adams

Perrine Adams is the Managing Editor of The Red Book and Lifestyle Editor for Frontdoors Magazine.

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