Penelope Spheeris

Documents the making of BLOOD DOLLS, interviewing members of the cast and crew.

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A musical study of Los Angeles in the late 90s, where homeless teens roam the streets and profess to live a punk lifestyle of music, drugs, and flouting authority.

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One-time carny, bartender, and married 10 times, director Penelope Spheeris’ mother was an uncommon woman. In this sweet, funny, and moving video portrait, Spheeris gives us a vivid glimpse into the richness of her mother’s life and character. 35mm, color, 11 min. Director: Penelope Spheeris. 1998. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.

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A student gets his senses enhanced by an experimental drug. But abuse is not an option.

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When dignified Albert Donnelly runs for Governor, his team moves to keep his slow-witted and klutzy younger brother, Mike, out of the eye of the media. To baby-sit Mike, the campaign assigns sarcastic Steve, who gets the experience of a lifetime when he tries to take Mike out of town during the election.

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When nine-year-old Alfalfa falls for Darla, his "He-Man-Woman-Hating" friends attempt to sabotage their relationship.

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Mild-mannered dirt-poor hill-dweller Jed Clampett strikes it rich when oil is discovered on his property. At cousin Pearl's insistence, he moves his family to Beverly Hills to better enjoy his newfound wealth.

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Danger Theatre is an American half-hour comedy anthology series for television, produced by Universal Studios and originally aired on the American Fox network in 1993. With two exceptions, each half-hour-long show consisted of two comedy segments, each a spoof of a familiar action/anthology format. The style of the comedy was somewhat similar to that of films like Airplane! and TV shows like Police Squad! Robert Vaughn, most familiar to audiences from his role on The Man from U.N.C.L.E., was the host for each episode, introducing to camera each fifteen-minute segment with mock earnestness. The jokes ranged from humorous or preposterous dialogue to visual gags and slapstick designed to poke fun at the serious dramatic formats being lampooned. Danger Theatre only ran for seven episodes before cancellation, but was syndicated beyond the United States, airing in the United Kingdom on the BBC in 1994.

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The adventures of two amiably aimless metal-head friends, Wayne and Garth. From Wayne's basement, the pair broadcast a talk-show called "Wayne's World" on local public access television. The show comes to the attention of a sleazy network executive who wants to produce a big-budget version of "Wayne's World"—and he also wants Wayne's girlfriend, a rock singer named Cassandra. Wayne and Garth have to battle the executive not only to save their show, but also Cassandra.

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Documentery from 1991 where The 2 Live Crew, Chuck D (Public Enemy), Too Short, Ice-T, Geto Boys, H.W.A. drop real talk on different topics.

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A look at the Travis Walton abduction

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A short documentary accompanying the first EP released by Lifers Group, a rap crew that grew out of the Lifers Group Juvenile Awareness Program — a youth crime prevention program founded in East Jersey State Prison in 1976 and made famous by the documentary Scared Straight! Released in 1991 and directed by Penelope Spheeris, the 29-minute documentary was nominated a 1992 Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video, but the group's members were disallowed by prison officials from attending the ceremony.

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Three novels - three dramatic stories in the walls of the women's prison. The first story - a brand new, first went to prison inmates. The second - about a mother whose son has ceased to go to prison for visits. The third - about the experiences of women on the eve of its release.

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A video portrait of 2 Live Crew as they fought to release their album "Banned in the USA" during the censorship crisis of the late 80s and early 90s that ultimately resulted in the "PARENTAL ADVISORY EXPLICIT CONTENT" sticker. This 49-minute documentary was directed by Penelope Spheeris.

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An entertaining combination of heavy-metal rockers and female mud wrestlers hosted by Jessica Hahn.

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Elvira introduces six programmes celebrating the rock phenomenon of deathless appeal - heavy metal.

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An exploration of the heavy metal scene in Los Angeles, with particular emphasis on glam metal. It features concert footage and interviews of legendary heavy metal and hard rock bands and artists such as Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Megadeth, Motörhead, Ozzy Osbourne and W.A.S.P..

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Two punks from the big city, traveling across the country in a Volkswagen bug, embrace the western ethos when they must take revenge against a group of rednecks for killing their friend in this lighthearted road movie. Along the way, they enlist the help of a young woman who runs a wrecking service.

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Roy and Bo leave their small town the weekend after graduation for a short road trip to LA. Soon, they find themselves lashing out and leaving a trail of bodies behind them. The violence escalates throughout.

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A mother goes to Hollywood to find her runaway daughter. She discovers that the girl has become involved in the pornography industry, and goes to the police to get help in finding her.

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When household tensions and a sense of worthlessness overcome Evan, he finds escape when he clings with the orphans of a throw-away society. The runaways hold on to each other like a family until a tragedy tears them apart.

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The Los Angeles punk music scene circa 1980 is the focus of this film. With Alice Bag Band, Black Flag, Catholic Discipline, Circle Jerks, Fear, Germs, and X.

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Picking up the story first presented in I Don’t Know (1970), Hats Off to Hollywood (1972) brazenly and brilliantly mixes documentary reality with fully staged recreations/reimaginings of episodes in the lives of Jennifer and Dana, a loving, bickering couple who challenge the notion of homonormativity. Drugs, poverty, disease, bigotry and prostitution all figure into this disarmingly candid and often hilarious film, a remarkable work that is the apotheosis of director Spheeris’ early work, and a luminous signpost leading directly to The Decline of Western Civilization (1979-1997). Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

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A truly major work, I Don’t Know observes the relationship between a lesbian and a transgender person who prefers to be identified somewhere in between male and female, in an expression of personal ambiguity suggested by the film’s title. This nonfiction film – an unusual, partly staged work of semi-verité – is the first of Spheeris’s films to fully embrace what would become her characteristic documentary style: probing, intimate, uncompromising. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2014.

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Made in an environment and at a time when frequent and gratuitous images of nude women permeated the work of her male counterparts, director Penelope Spheeris produced this intimate and sensual observation of a woman bathing. The appearance of Spheeris’ credit at the beginning of the film seems to ask the question: how does voyeurism change when we know the voyeur is actually a voyeuse? 16mm, b/w, 6 min. Director: Penelope Spheeris. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2014.

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An unfinished archival short, in which the titular substance plays a key role in determining an outmoded man’s role in a changing society. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2013.

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Two years before Peter Watkins’ Punishment Park (1971), director Penelope Spheeris takes the McCarran Act to its inevitable next step and shows us—via an early use of mockumentary—what the U.S. might be like if potential subversives were simply locked up en masse before they had a chance to subvert anything. 16mm, color, 12 min. Director: Penelope Spheeris.1969. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2016.

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A white man goes on trial for having raped a black woman.

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Synthesis is director Penelope Spheeris' first film, made in 8mm Kodachrome while she was a student at UCLA. In a seemingly near-future control room devoid of people, various readouts and calculations suggest that humankind is not altogether compatible with the grand scheme of the universe. 1968. Color.

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At a pivotal moment for gender equality in Hollywood, successful women directors talk about their art, lives and careers.

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A chronicle of the long career of American filmmaker Roger Corman, the most tenacious and ingenious low-budget producer and director in the US film industry, a pioneer of independent filmmaking and discoverer of new talent.

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Legendary director Lloyd Kaufman, President of Troma Entertainment and Creator of the Toxic Avenger, reveals 40 years worth of maverick cinematic know-how in Direct Your Own Damn Movie! Lloyd offers you the magic key to operating outside the film studio system as well as providing you with the roadmap to script writing, pre-production, casting, managing your set, post-production and the secrets of selling you movie!

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The story of American film criticism.

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Aaron Roman is a teenager with cerebral palsy who dreams of starring in a big-time action movie. When his father grants Aaron his wish for his eighteenth birthday, he experiences the reality a bit hard to manage.

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A documentary on the Z Channel, one of the first pay cable stations in the US, and its programming chief, Jerry Harvey. Debuting in 1974, the LA-based channel's eclectic slate of movies became a prime example of the untapped power of cable television.

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A retrospective on the decade of decadence that features interviews with Vince Neil, George Lynch and others. Subjects include: bands hanging flyers on the Sunset Strip, Vince Neil’s car crash and Grunge taking over MTV and the airwaves.

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A documentary on the glam metal scene in Los Angeles in the 1980s. It features interviews with Vince Neil, Sebastian Bach, Dee Snider and more. Topics covered include: Hanging flyers on the Sunset Strip, Vince Neil’s crash and the rise of grunge.

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A couple who both work at wedding receptions encounter complications when they decide to marry.

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An entertaining combination of heavy-metal rockers and female mud wrestlers hosted by Jessica Hahn.

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Interviews with personalities including John Mellencamp, Spike Lee, Lou Reed, Roseanne Barr, David Byrne, George Michael and more, as they reflect on the 1980s.

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Documentary about women in the film industry. Numerous notable actresses and female directors share their thoughts.

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An exploration of the heavy metal scene in Los Angeles, with particular emphasis on glam metal. It features concert footage and interviews of legendary heavy metal and hard rock bands and artists such as Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Megadeth, Motörhead, Ozzy Osbourne and W.A.S.P..

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The Los Angeles punk music scene circa 1980 is the focus of this film. With Alice Bag Band, Black Flag, Catholic Discipline, Circle Jerks, Fear, Germs, and X.

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Jared Martin plays an aspiring film maker obsessed with the idea of Christ as a woman, and tries to film his vision with Sondra Locke as his subject. 'Based' on a song by Leonard Cohen.

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Set in Los Angeles, Brothers tells the story of Vince, a brooding, mustachioed stud who’s visited by his kid brother Rick, a soldier serving in Vietnam. During Rick’s stay, the two siblings slowly confront their mutually hidden desires.

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A ski instructor tries to teach a bunch of insanely eccentric people how to ski while dealing with everyone wanting his attention.

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An undercover cop cruises the streets of Hollywood looking for girls to pimp out.

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UCLA Student Film, Preserved by the UCLA Film and Television Archive. A man and his wife suffer under the monotony of everyday life with work at an insurance company and unhappy marriage.

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When household tensions and a sense of worthlessness overcome Evan, he finds escape when he clings with the orphans of a throw-away society. The runaways hold on to each other like a family until a tragedy tears them apart.

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The Los Angeles punk music scene circa 1980 is the focus of this film. With Alice Bag Band, Black Flag, Catholic Discipline, Circle Jerks, Fear, Germs, and X.

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A pushy, narcissistic filmmaker persuades a Phoenix family to let him and his crew film their everyday lives, in the manner of the ground-breaking PBS series "An American Family".

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Albert Brooks goes to a research institute to find out why people don't like him and how he can change that. Saturday Night Live, Season 1 Episode 9

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Albert Brooks is sick and stuck in bed. Saturday Night Live, Season 1 Episode 7

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Super mid-season replacements to failed shows in a network's super season. Saturday Night Live, Season 1 Episode 4

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Albert places an ad in a newspaper expressing a desire to perform a heart bypass & gets to live his dream of being a heart surgeon for one day. Saturday Night Live, Season 1 Episode 3

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Albert Brooks introduces himself to the audience through showing them his home movies from childhood & attempts and fails at doing candid-camera style pranks. Saturday Night Live, Season 1 Episode 2

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A late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. The show's comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, and features performances by a musical guest.

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Albert Brooks presents a mockumentary in which he presents several shocking news stories. Saturday Night Live, Season 1 Episode 1

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A truly major work, I Don’t Know observes the relationship between a lesbian and a transgender person who prefers to be identified somewhere in between male and female, in an expression of personal ambiguity suggested by the film’s title. This nonfiction film – an unusual, partly staged work of semi-verité – is the first of Spheeris’s films to fully embrace what would become her characteristic documentary style: probing, intimate, uncompromising. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2014.

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