ISSUE #95
BEAM FROM THE BOOTH | GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY
[EDITED BY: GRIFFIN SHERIDAN & SPENCER EVERHART]
Hello and welcome back to an all-new installment of BEAM FROM THE BOOTH brought to you by GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!
To start, thank you to everyone who joined us for our General Assembly meeting last week! The GRFS committee found it exciting, cathartic, and — of course — helpful to hear directly from some of our fellow community members. We are already hard at work tinkering with all the ideas and feedback discussed at the event, and we can’t wait to see what comes from them.
TONIGHT (3/31) at 8pm, THE MAN FROM ANOTHER PLACE: A DAVID LYNCH RETROSPECTIVE continues with our screening of his feature debut, ERASERHEAD (1977).
While we are technically two films into the series, tonight’s event marks the start of our trek through the rest of Lynch’s filmography in chronological order. And with it, we are excited to reveal our special Lynch Retrospective PUNCH CARDS!
Every screening in our retrospective will count towards your chance to win a year of free GRFS movies! Similar to what we did with our Summer of Sequels series last year, those who attend tonight’s screening of Eraserhead will receive a punch card. From there, you can collect a new punch for each screening in our The Man From Another Place series. If you have a full card by the time we reach our Inland Empire screening in August, you’ll be eligible in the drawing for a year’s worth of free movies, as well as other great prizes! Don’t miss out, join us tonight to start your journey!
Now, as we stand on the precipice of April, check out what exciting events we have coming up this month.
COMING UP IN APRIL 2025…
APRIL 9th: THE ELEPHANT MAN
[THE MAN FROM ANOTHER PLACE: A DAVID LYNCH RETROSPECTIVE]
Dr. Frederic Treves (Anthony Hopkins) discovers Joseph (John) Merrick (John Hurt) in a sideshow. Born with a congenital disorder, Merrick uses his disfigurement to earn a living as the "Elephant Man." Treves brings Merrick into his home, discovering that his rough exterior hides a refined soul, and that Merrick can teach the stodgy British upper class of the time a lesson about dignity. Merrick becomes the toast of London and charms a caring actress (Anne Bancroft) before his death at 27.
APRIL 13th: NO OTHER LAND
No Other Land (Academy Award winner/best documentary feature) made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective shows the destruction of the occupied West Bank's Masafer Yatta by Israeli soldiers and the alliance which develops between the Palestinian activist Basel and Israeli journalist Yuval.
APRIL 14th: THE SHORT FILMS OF DAVID LYNCH
[THE MAN FROM ANOTHER PLACE: A DAVID LYNCH RETROSPECTIVE]
Join us for new 2K digital restorations of six short films by Lynch: Six Men Getting Sick (1967), The Alphabet (1968), The Grandmother (1970), The Amputee, Version 1 and Version 2 (1974), and Premonitions Following an Evil Deed (1995).
APRIL 22nd: GRFS PITCH NIGHT
[FREE SOCIAL EVENT]
This event is an opportunity for filmmakers to pitch their scripts/concepts to a group of their peers in order to get feedback and begin forming crews to bring their stories to life. A projector and screen will be provided by Wealthy Theatre for each presentation but is not required in order to present.
Please note that there only 5 spots available to pitch. If you would like to attend the event as an audience member - please select "audience member".
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Tickets for all events— and more— are available now at GRFILM.ORG
Tell your friends. We hope to see you there!
SUBMIT TO OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT
A friendly reminder that submissions are OPEN for our next Open Projector Night event!
Open Projector Night is our celebration of independent filmmaking with connections to Michigan. Each event showcases a feature-length program of shorts from across a wide variety of styles, genres, and mediums. If you have a short that was made in Michigan, inspired by Michigan, had crew members from Michigan — whatever it may be — we highly encourage you to submit to OPN through our Film Freeway page, where you can also find additional details about submissions.
The submission deadline is set for APRIL 25th, and the event is currently slated to take place on the evening of JUNE 4th.
UPCOMING EVENTS
ERASERHEAD (Lynch, 1977)
WHAT: Part of THE MAN FROM ANOTHER PLACE: A DAVID LYNCH RETROSPECTIVE. In Lynch’s feature debut, Henry resides alone in a bleak apartment surrounded by industrial gloom. He discovers that an earlier fling left a woman pregnant, he marries the expectant mother and has her move in with him. Things take a decidedly strange turn when the couple's baby turns out to be a bizarre lizard-like creature that won't stop wailing.
WHEN: TONIGHT! Monday, March 31st, 8:00pm
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
THE ELEPHANT MAN (Lynch, 1980)
WHAT: Part of THE MAN FROM ANOTHER PLACE: A DAVID LYNCH RETROSPECTIVE. Born with a congenital disorder, Joseph Merrick uses his disfigurement to earn a living as the "Elephant Man.” His rough exterior hides a refined soul, which he uses to teach the stodgy British upper class of the time a lesson about dignity.
WHEN: Wednesday, April 9th, 8:00pm
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
NO OTHER LAND (Abraham, Adra, Ballal, Szor, 2024)
WHAT: Made by a Palestinian-Israeli collective, this Academy Award winning documentary shows the destruction of the occupied West Bank's Masafer Yatta by Israeli soldiers and the alliance which develops between the Palestinian activist Basel and Israeli journalist Yuval.
WHEN: Sunday, April 13th, 2:00pm
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
And so we’ve arrived at the end of another BEAM FROM THE BOOTH! We appreciate you taking the time to read it and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to get each issue in your inbox every week, and stay up-to-date on all things GRFS.
Plus, join us on social media! We’d love to chat with everyone and hear YOUR OWN thoughts on everything above (you can also hop in the comments section below).
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Look for ISSUE #96 in your inbox NEXT WEEK!
Until then, friends...
