Free outdoor movies on September 27 and October 4!

TWO FREE OUTDOOR FILM SCREENINGS CELEBRATE BAM/PFA'S COMING MOVE TO DOWNTOWN BERKELEY; SCREENINGS OF BAY AREA-BASED CLASSICS HAROLD AND MAUDE AND INVASION OF THE BODY SNATACHERS WILL TAKE PLACE ON THE CRESCENT LAWN ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE NEW BAM/PFA BUILDING SITE

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Berkeley, CA, August 12, 2013-The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) has announced that it will host a pair of free outdoor movies adjacent to the site of BAM/PFA's future home in Downtown Berkeley on consecutive Fridays in late September/early October. Copresented by the Downtown Berkeley Association, Endless Summer Cinema will feature a pair of seventies cult classics set in the Bay Area-Berkeley-based director Philip Kaufman's intelligently creepy allegory of Watergate-era paranoia, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Hal Ashby's darkly funny, but tender tale of an unlikely cross-generational romance, Harold and Maude.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) will have audiences squirming on September 27. A remake of the 1956 film about the perils of mass conformity, it follows a health inspector (Donald Sutherland) who uncovers the existence of a growing species of “pod people” inhabiting the bodies of human clones hiding among us in plain sight. Audiences will seek the embrace of their dearest neighbors not out of fear, but tenderness during our October 4 program, Harold and Maude (1971). The story of a death-obsessed teen (Bud Cort) and his romantic devotion to a fun-loving septuagenarian (Ruth Gordon) is a touching black comedy that only gets better with age.

“We ‘re excited to present another series of free outdoor screenings across the street from our future home, especially with construction now fully underway,“ says BAM/PFA Director Lawrence Rinder. “In just a couple of years, engaging events like this will be an almost daily opportunity in our new downtown location.”

”We are delighted to be partnering with BAM/PFA,” adds DBA CEO John Caner. “And we think the Crescent lawn overlooking the new downtown BAM/PFA site will be a marvelous setting. And what better timing than during our wonderful extended Bay Area summer?”

Endless Summer Cinema events will take place on the Crescent lawn at the West Gate of the UC Berkeley campus, where Oxford and Center Streets meet. Shorts and other surprises begin at 7:30 p.m. for each event, with the feature films screening at 8 p.m. Patrons are encouraged to bring their own blankets and chairs, and arrive early and eat at one of the many downtown restaurants. Also, Bittersweet Cafe (www.bittersweetcafe.com) and Cakes and Purls (www.cakesandpurls.com) will be offering tasty treats and drinks on the Crescent prior to and during each screening.

Endless Summer Cinema Calendar
Friday, September 27, 7:30 p.m.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers Philip Kaufman (U.S., 1978)
Bay Area paranoia abounds in this remake of the 1956 classic cloner, where extraterrestrial “pod people” are breeding conformity in a culture immersed in the unconventional. Filmed in San Francisco, with Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, and Jeff Goldblum. Preceded by Hardware Wars, a riotous mock movie trailer, featuring the galactic antics of Fluke Starbucker, Ham Salad, Darph Nader, Princess Anne Droid, and Augie “Ben” Doggie.

Friday, October 4, 7:30 p.m.
Harold and Maude Hal Ashby (U.S., 1971)
This cult favorite, a dark comedy from the counter-culture (shot in the Bay Area) with music by Cat Stevens, follows death-obsessed Bud Cort, a twenty-year-old who falls for the ageless charms of seventy-nine-year-old Ruth Gordon, a quirky anarchist who has thrown inhibition to the wind. Preceded by Quasi at the Quackadero, an award-winning psychedelic hand-drawn animation about a slightly demented duck who visits a zany amusement park.

Credit
Endless Summer Cinema is supported by the UC Berkeley Chancellor's Community Partnership Fund. Special thanks to our media sponsor Berkeleyside

More Online
For updates visit bampfa.berkeley.edu/film

About BAM/PFA
Founded in 1963, the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) is UC Berkeley's primary visual arts venue and among the largest university art museums in terms of size and audience in the United States. Internationally recognized for its art and film programming, BAM/PFA is a platform for cultural experiences that transform individuals, engage communities, and advance the local, national and global discourse on art and ideas. BAM/PFA's mission is “to inspire the imagination and ignite critical dialogue through art and film.”

BAM/PFA presents approximately fifteen art exhibitions and 380 film programs each year. The museum's collection of over 16,000 works of art includes important holdings of Neolithic Chinese ceramics, Ming and Qing Dynasty Chinese painting, Old Master works on paper, Italian Baroque painting, early American painting, Abstract Expressionist painting, contemporary photography, and video art. Its film archive of over 14,000 films and videos includes the largest collection of Japanese cinema outside of Japan, Hollywood classics, and silent film, as well hundreds of thousands of articles, reviews, posters, and other ephemera related to the history of film, many of which are digitally scanned and accessible online.

Website: bampfa.berkeley.edu

About the Downtown Berkeley Association
Downtown Berkeley Association is a nonprofit membership organization and the Owner's Association for the new Property-Based Business Improvement District (PBID), representing 187 property owners and approximately 680 of their merchant and business tenants. The purpose of the PBID is to create and sustain a vibrant and prosperous City Center by: 1) Producing a consistently clean, welcoming, and attractive Downtown experience; 2) Attracting and retaining new businesses; 3) Cultivating a fun and vibrant Downtown “living room;” 4) Enhancing property values, sales, and occupancies; 5) Helping Downtown businesses compete locally and regionally. The district encompasses 25 blocks bounded by Delaware, Oxford/Fulton, Dwight, and MLK Jr. Way.

Website: downtownberkeley.com

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