Adolfas Mekas' HALLELUJAH THE HILLS (1963) on 16mm!

It’s time to get wintry and wacky as we warm up with a rarified screening of Adolfas Mekas’ (brother of Jonas) exuberant, experimental, pioneering HALLELUJAH THE HILLS (1963) – on glorious 16mm film, thanks to The Film-Makers' Cooperative!

An irreverent burst of anarchic energy that wowed attendees of the 1963 New York Film Festival, HALLELUJAH THE HILLS is a landmark film of the New American Cinema. Directed with improvisatorial flair by Adolfas Mekas, a co-founder of Film Culture magazine with his brother Jonas (WALDEN), HALLELUJAH… follows two wildly impulsive young men who are in love with the same woman (played by two different actresses). A slapstick love letter to cinema and wild spoof on art movies, this fiercely independent wonder laid the groundwork for all the free-spirited filmmakers to follow.

“The story, or what one can make of it, concerns two men, Jack and Leo, who are in love with Vera. For seven winters they camp near her Vermont house…Most of the film, however, is taken up with the highlights of the two boys in the snow-covered and beautifully photographed woods. The slapstick is as outrageous as the continuity is nonexistent,” wrote The Guardian’s Richard Roud.

Lensed in crisp black and white by underground experimental luminary Ed Emschwiller, upon its premiere the film was a breakout hit with audiences and critics alike – even those who detested experimental/art films! "Even avowed enemies of the New American Cinema, so called, were impressed by the film's lack of pretentions and its unexpected lyricism and Zen serenity in the midst of nervous parody," wrote Village Voice critic Andrew Sarris in his review.

A major hit at the ‘63 Cannes Film Festival, Jean Luc Godard – whose 1964 BAND OF OUTSIDERS was said to have been inspired by Mekas’ romp, wrote in Cahiers du Cinéma that Adolfas was “a master in the field of pure invention, that is to say, in working dangerously – ‘without a net.’ His film, made according to the good old principle – one idea for each shot – has the lovely scent of fresh ingenuity and crafty sweetness (with) physical efforts and intellectual gags boldly put together.”

A cinematic exclamation as joyous as its title, relentlessly goofy, and an utter thrill on beautiful 16mm film – join us for this rare screening as we sing HALLELUJAH THE HILLS!

Dir. Adolfas Mekas, 1963, 82 mins, USA, Unrated (Suggested PG), English, B&W, 16mm.

Very special thanks to Robert Schneider and The Film-Makers' Cooperative

Special thanks to Mikey Aguirre of See It On 16mm for projection

ABOUT ADOLFAS MEKAS

Adolfas Mekas was a Lithuanian-born filmmaker, writer, director, editor, actor and educator. With his brother Jonas Mekas, he founded the magazine Film Culture, as well as the Film-Makers Cooperative and was associated with George Maciunas and the Fluxus art movement at its beginning. He made several short films, culminating in the feature Hallelujah the Hills in 1963, which was played at the Cannes Film Festival of that year and is now considered a classic of American film.

ABOUT THE FILM-MAKERS' COOPERATIVE

The Film-Makers’ Cooperative is the first non-profit art organization devoted to the collection and dissemination of experimental film and media art. Founded in New York City in 1961 by a group of twenty-two pathbreaking experimental filmmakers and artists, the FMC supports, distributes, preserves, and exhibits artists and artworks from our collection spanning the history of the moving image. Numbering nearly 6,000 works (by 2,500 artists), FMC’s collection is one of the largest repositories of film and media art in the world.

TICKETS: $10 (In Person Event Only)
Please email [email protected] or phone 323-663-2167 with any questions.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Philosophical Research Society, 3910 Los Feliz Boulevard, Los Angeles, United States