What to Expect

Curated by our resident film nerds: Each month brings a carefully selected gem from the world of cinema’s hidden corners. Think surrealist masterpieces, haunting silent films with live musical accompaniment, and underground treasures that challenge perspectives and expand minds.

The evening unfolds as more than just a screening. Arrive early for pre-film discussions where our curators share insights and context. After the credits roll, dive deeper into post-screening conversations that explore themes, techniques, and the lasting impact of these remarkable works.

Of course, no proper film night is complete without snacks and sips to fuel the experience and discussions.

June Screening: El Topo, (1970) directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky

Considered to be the beginning of the “Midnight Movie,” Alejandro Jodorowsky’s mind-bending odyssey, El Topo (1970) is part spaghetti western and part spiritual acid trip.

The film follows El Topo, a violent gunslinger, who rides a mystical desert on horseback with his young, naked son, Hijo. After stumbling upon a ravaged village, he avenges the slaughter and claims the gang leader’s mistress, Mara, for himself. Mara refuses to love El Topo unless he proves himself the greatest gunfighter. To accomplish this, he abandons Hijo to a group of monks and embarks on a violent, spiritual journey across the desert to confront four legendary “gun masters.”

Full of haunting, bizarre, and beautiful imagery. Jodorowsky was a part of the Panic Movement, a chaotic response to surrealism’s mainstream acceptance in the 1960s. This movement aimed to shock audiences and disrupt societal norms. Combine that with Jodorowsky’s personal mysticism, and you get El Topo. A film that rejects normal/linear storytelling in favor of the subconscious, the irrational, and the symbolic. El Topo is a hallucinatory experience, a bizarre, dreamlike meditation on ego, religion, and the futility of violence. Ironically, despite all of that, El Topo marks the beginning of Jodorowsky’s impact on the cultural mainstream, which can be seen to this day, in the existence of the Midnight Movie to his famously unmade adaptation of Dune that influenced and created the visual identity of sci-fi cornerstones like Star Wars, the Alien franchise, and The Fifth Element.

As usual, we will be discussing the film and the music afterward with drinks and nibbles.

We look forward to seeing you at AND Film Club!

Doors open at 6 pm / Program rolls at 6:30 pm

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Come curious, leave inspired.