cult films

the strange thing about the johnsons
a dark domestic melodrama/satire about the ties that bind and the ties that really bind.
dir.: ari aster
2011 - 28 min.

lacinemateca:

plane crazy
1928
usa

the first mickey mouse cartoon to be produced by walt disney productions and the third to be released. the theatrical short marks the creation of mickey mouse, minnie mouse, and clarabelle cow. a silent version was previewed on may 15, 1928 in los angeles, but it failed to pick up a distributor. after producing a second cartoon, “the gallopin’ gaucho”, which also wasn’t released until later the following year, disney produced a third cartoon, “steamboat willie”, which was released on november 18, 1928. after the success of “steamboat willie”, disney officially released “plane crazy”with sound on march 17, 1929. this leads to some ambiguity as to which is the first mickey mouse cartoon, as “plane crazy” was the first to be produced and while “steamboat willie” was the first to be released. the walt disney company considers “steamboat willie” to be the debut of mickey mouse.

+: imdb

stanley kubrick: an animated filmography
by martin woutisseth
+: his blogspot

the skeleton dance

the clock strikes midnight, the bats fly from the belfry, a dog howls at the full moon, and two black cats fight in the cemetery: a perfect time for 4 skeletons to come out and dance a bit.

dir.: walt disney
animation / family / short
1929 

some facts:

- the 1st of walt disney’s silly symphony series.
- worried that he would be too dependent on mickey, walt disney wanted to diversify. carl w. stalling came up with the idea of producing “musical novelties” (which would later become “silly symphonies”). he even came up with the idea of the dancing skeletons for the 1st of the series (as a child he had seen an ad in “the american boy” magazine for a dancing skeleton and the image stuck with him).
- joseph barbera tells in his autobiography “my life in ‘toons: from flatbush to bedrock in under a century”, he saw “the skeleton dance” at the third balcony of the grand roxy theater in new york: “i saw it about 70 miles from the screen, but the impact on me was tremendous nevertheless. i saw these skeletons dancing in a row and in unison, and i asked myself: how do you *do* that? how do you make that happen?”
- “the skeleton dance” became the 1st cartoon that the cartay circle theater in los angeles ever showed.
- at the time, walt disney distributed his films through a company run by pat powers. but powers couldn’t sell it to distributors (who found the dancing skeletons odd and even gruesome). undeterred, disney was able to have the film screened at the carthay circle theater in los angeles, where it was a rousing success.

the raven 

chris black possesses a power that could lead to the destruction of the current regime, and they will stop at nothing to destroy him. 
the chase is on as chris runs for his life in this sci-fi thriller set in an alternate and futuristic los angeles.

(by the raven film)