The Garden & The Theatre: Two Films by Zoe Beloff

The world premiere of two films by Zoe Beloff: Josephine the Singer or the Mouse People and Life Forgotten.

Doors open 6:00pm

Josephine the Singer or the Mouse People 6:30pm

Intermission 7:00pm

Life Forgotten 7:30pm

Garden Reception 8:30pm

Zoe Beloff in attendance!

LIFE FORGOTTEN
Set in New York’s Lower East Side in the early years of the twentieth century, the film centers on a real storefront cinema, Frank Seiden’s Variety Theater. Here silent movies were anything but. Frank and his sons improvised dialog for the films and sang Yiddish ballads to an audience that didn’t hesitate to join in or argue back. It was a welcoming space for women and the film follows a group of radical young garment workers who gather here to figure out how to fight for women’s rights and change their world. 50 minutes. Digital projection.

JOSEPHINE THE SINGER OR THE MOUSE PEOPLE: The film is a work of remembrance. It asks but does not answer the question how does everyday art bring people together? One by one, the community that is the Mouse People, recite the text of Franz Kafka’s short story in quiet places on New York’s Lower East Side. The film presents Josephine’s story, as something transmitted across time, something that comes from inside the body of an oppressed people; spoken alone, summoned mysteriously, at the edge of consciousness. Why was it that Josephine’s voice so captivated them? 34 minutes. Digital projection.

This activity is part of the series In the Theater of the Garden funded in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the Velaslavasay Panorama Enthusiast Society.