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(Helmut Herbst, 2006, Germany, 61 minutes)On a shortlist with Belladonna of Sadness and Fantastic Planet as one of the most surreal, psychedelic and truly cosmic animated features ever made, German director Helmut Herbst’s utterly insane The Cathedral of New Emotions follows a commune of Berlin stoners and intellectuals who get set adrift in space in 1972 in a packing container clutched in a giant flying hand. A true hallucinogenic space freakout if there ever was one: imagine Ralph Bakshi animating an R-rated version of John Carpenter’s Dark Star. In other words: set the controls for the heart of the sun.
In German with English subtitles.
Showing with: “Asparagus” (Suzan Pitt, 1979, USA, 19 minutes)
Missouri native Suzan Pitt, a December 2006 guest of the Webster Film Series, completed this legendary work of experimental animation just in time for it to play on a program with David Lynch’s then-new Eraserhead as it became a runaway midnight movie success. B. Ruby Rich called “Asparagus” “one of the most important works of imagination seen in some time,” and animator and animation historian John Canemaker has called it “one of the most lavish and wondrous animated shorts ever made.”
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
470 E Lockwood Ave, Webster Groves, MO, United States, Missouri 63119
