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UNITED STATES | 78 minutes | 2018

Shot when she was just 18, Barbara Rubin’s orgiastic Christmas on Earth (1964) shocked NYC's thriving underground film community. A mythical Zelig of the Sixties, she introduced Andy Warhol to the Velvet Underground, Bob Dylan to the Kabbalah, and Allen Ginsberg to life on a farm. For years, 95-year-old filmmaker Jonas Mekas has saved all of Barbara’s letters and cherished her memory. Working with Mekas’ footage and other rare footage from the 1960’s, the documentary uncovers the impact that Barbara Rubin had on an underground world that was dominated by men, and reveals how and why one of the freest spirits of the sixties disappeared into legend. It’s a fascinating portrait of a groundbreaking woman who truly believed that film could change the world.

Q&A with the filmmaker

Programs

Thursday October 11, 2018

Program #186
21:45
Cinéma du Parc 1

Saturday October 13, 2018

Program #244
19:30
Cinémathèque - Salle Fernand-Seguin

Chuck Smith

No biography

"Forrest Bess: Key to the Riddle", 1999
"The Snowflake Man", 2009

distribution and credits

  • Camera Andy Bowley
  • Music Lee Ranaldo
  • Cast Richard Foreman, Amy Taubin

contact

  • Chuck Smith Productions

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Gems

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Tears held suspended, and released.

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