Indie Memphis Film Festival

Directed by John Carpenter / 93 min.

In his 2010 book on the film, novelist Jonathan Letham writes, “No offense, but THEY LIVE is probably the stupidest film to ever take ideology as its explicit subject. It’s also probably the most fun.” Director John Carptenter’s golden age ran aground on the rocks of THEY LIVE in 1988, but what a glorious crash. Wrestler “Rowdy” Roddy Piper stars as Nada, a homeless construction worker drifting through the dark underside of the Reagan 80s. Soon after his arrival in Los Angeles, he gets a job as a day laborer at a construction site where he meets Frank Armitage (voiceover legend Keith David). After the shantytown where he is staying is destroyed by an army of riot-geared cops, Nada makes a startling discovery: a pair of sunglasses that allow him to see things as they really are. Earth is being controlled by alien invaders who have brainwashed the population using mind-controlling radio broadcasts and subliminal advertising. Even though the film was not commercially successful, it soon became infamous for Piper and David’s seemingly endless fight scene. But there is so much more to this sci-fi masterpiece than its slapstick middle passage. It is the perfect example of Jean-Luc Goddard’s dictum “It is a matter of making films politically; it is not a matter of making political films.”
~ C. Scott McCoy

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Directed by John Carpenter / 90 min.

The modern horror genre simply would not be the same without HALLOWEEN. Director John Carpenter’s 1978 movie began life as THE BABYSITTER MURDERS until he decided to set the film on All Hallow’s Eve. It is one of the most successful independent movies ever made, returning more than $70 million on a budget of $325,000. Jamie Lee Curtis stars as Laurie Strode who watches her friends brutally murdered as she is stalked by psychotic murderer Michael Myers. Curtis’ performance not only launched her own career as “Scream Queen” of the 80s, but also originated the horror archetype of The Smart Girl Who Lives. Heavily influenced by Hitchcock’s Psycho,  HALLOWEEN is credited with originating the slasher flick sub-genre, but it values suspense over the rivers of gore that its descendants would become infamous for. Just as scary today as with it debuted, HALLOWEEN began a decade-long hot streak for Carpenter that would include STARMAN, THE THING, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, and ELVIS.
~C. Scott McCoy

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Directed by Regina Russell / 109 min.

Frankie Banali and director Regina Russell are scheduled to attend and participate in a Q&A after the screening. 

An unlikely and surprisingly personal narrative to conquer the loss of a friend emerges from an odyssey about the rise, fall and resurrection of an 80's metal band. The career of Frankie Banali, drummer of Quiet Riot, took a major sideswipe when his singer and best friend Kevin DuBrow died in 2007. In 2010 and at a cross roads in his life, Banali has to forge ahead and make a new life for himself and his daughter. At times both utterly tragic, and downright hilarious, the film follows him going through the emotional feat of trying to fill the void left by Kevin and get the band back together one more time.

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Directed by Michael Lehmann / 103 min.

Michael Lehmann and screenwriter Daniel Waters are scheduled to attend and participate in a Q&A after the screening. 

Indie Memphis is proud to host this 25th anniversary screening of one of the most subversive films of the 1980, HEATHERS. Angsty teenage movies set in suburban high schools, like FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH and THE BREAKFAST CLUB, were a staple of the Me Decade. HEATHERS pukes all over the genre like a Heather cheerleader on drain cleaner. Winona Rider stars as Veronica, a popular girl who uses her wits to navigate Westerburg High School’s Darwinian social order. She secretly hates her three best friends, all named Heather, and when a mysterious, black-clad guy named J.D. (Christian Slater) transfers to her school, she finds herself drawn into a Bonnie and Clyde style killing spree of ingeniously faked suicides that play to her spiritually empty town’s every secret prejudice and public hypocrisy. “Dear Diary. My bullshit teen angst has a body count now.” Audiences were not ready for this merciless black comedy when it debuted in 1989, but it became a cult hit on home video and is now regarded as one of the greatest high school movies ever made.
~ C. Scott McCoy

Sponsored by Alarum Pictures and Modern Production Concepts

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Directed by Steve James / 170 minutes

Arthur Agee, William Gates, Sheila Gates and producer / cinematographer Peter Gilbert are scheduled to attend and participate in a Q&A after the screening. 

Indie Memphis is proud to host this special 20th anniversary screening of HOOP DREAMS, an epic chronicle of hope and faith which follows two ordinary inner-city kids who dare to dream the impossible — professional basketball glory. Filmed over a five-year period, the film follows young Arthur Agee and William Gates as they navigate the complex, competitive world of scholastic athletics while striving to overcome the intense pressures of family life and the realities of their Chicago streets.

Wildly regarded as one of the best documentaries of all time, HOOP DREAMS won the Audience Award when it premiered at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival. It went on to receive awards from the Producer’s Guild of America, the Independent Spirit Awards, the National Arts Club and the National Society of Film Critics, to name just a few.

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