Few directors have made as great an impact with as few motion pictures as the late GEORGES FRANJU.
A lifelong film enthusiast, in 1936, he co-founded The Cinémathèque Française in Paris. Still open in 2015 for daily screenings, it contains one of the world’s largest archives of movies and film-related memorabilia.
He got his start as an actual filmmaker in the late ‘40s, by making a series of controversial documentaries which were highly influenced by the Surrealist art movement.
That love of the surreal would go on to inform all of his subsequent narrative features – some of which were nominally posited as either “horror” movies or “fantastical” films, such as the indelible classics EYES WITHOUT A FACE (1959) and JUDEX (1963), both of which the PFS has screened over the past decade to thrilled audiences.
In honor of Franju’s rare talent and devotion to the realm of cinema, we’ll now screen one of his least-known efforts – the final film he directed, NUITS ROUGES,or, as it is known in English-speaking countries, SHADOWMAN.
Both obscure and great, campy fun, this bizarre crime thriller was originally shot in 1973 for French television. In fact, the 105-minute cut we’ll screen is a feature film length version of a much longer televised mini-series.
It was trimmed down to allow SHADOWMAN to be released to theaters around the world, for folks who did not have access to French or Italian television. However, it was not widely distributed and quickly forgotten, save for diehard fans of either superhero or caper films.
The negatives to the full-length miniseries seems to have long ago vanished, so this theatrical feature seems to be all that remains of Franju’s final movie.
SHADOWMAN tells the story of an arch criminal and master of disguise known as “the man without a face” and his beautiful female assistant, who are in pursuit of the fabled treasure of the mythic order of The Knights Templar.
It’s a hoot and a half.
We’ll proudly screen the best quality print of the incredibly psychotronic film known to exist (in its original and proper aspect ratio), in spoken French, with new and improved English subtitles.
Plus, the Bean will have special discounts on both Craft Beer and Organic Wine for anyone 21 and older, as well as their usual great selection of all sorts of award-winning vegetarian cuisine, pastries, desserts and Fair-Trade Coffees and Teas.
Don’t you dare miss it!
We’ll also be raffling off some rare DVDs and other cool prizes from the PFSarchives before the show.
So, make sure to bring a few extra bucks with you for Raffle Tickets…
$7 admission for Ages 14+!
Seating at 7:30pm / Show starts at 8:00pm
For over a decade now, The Psychotronic Film Society of Savannah has been repeatedly named the BEST LOCAL FILM SERIES in annual reader polls. ThePFS of SAV shows obscure and/or underappreciated films from around the world every Wednesday at the Sentient Bean (and occasionally on other nights as well). Whether extremely well-made or “so bad they’re good,” their selections are always rare, unique and memorable.
TO SUBSCRIBE NOW TO THEIR FREE EMAIL NEWSLETTER FOR UPDATES ON ALL PFS of SAV SCREENINGS (including those not held at The Bean),JUST EMAIL YOUR FULL NAME AND REQUEST TOpsychotronicfilms@hotmail.com (YOUR INFO WILL NEVER BE SHARED)!