my gaze///yr gaze is beyond excited to announce that for our next screening Melinda McDowell will be presenting the rarely screened 1972 treasure her brother Curt McDowell directed and starred in along with George Kuchar called "Wieners & Buns Musical"
sunday oct 2nd / 6pm / free at alley cat books
Melinda McDowell presents…
Curt Mcdowell's WIENERS & BUNS MUSICAL starring Curt McDowell & George Kuchar
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Melinda McDowell, actress and sister of the late Curt McDowell has lectured extensively o...
my gaze///yr gaze is beyond excited to announce that for our next screening Melinda McDowell will be presenting the rarely screened 1972 treasure her brother Curt McDowell directed and starred in along with George Kuchar called "Wieners & Buns Musical"
sunday oct 2nd / 6pm / free at alley cat books
Melinda McDowell presents…
Curt Mcdowell's WIENERS & BUNS MUSICAL starring Curt McDowell & George Kuchar
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Melinda McDowell, actress and sister of the late Curt McDowell has lectured extensively on Curt's work. Not only has she kept his spirit and work alive for a new generation but her presence also radiates with an authenticity, integrity, sweetness, and free spirit that all those near her feel.
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Curt McDowell (1945-1987), “A filmmaker, actor, visual artist, and writer, McDowell arrived in San Francisco in the mid-1960s to attend the San Francisco Art Institute in the painting department and quickly changed course to become a filmmaker to work with George Kuchar, within a period that witnessed the Summer of Love, gay liberation, and the onset of AIDS, to which he succumbed at the age of 42. He directed over 30 films, celebrating sex as well as genre riffing and autobiographical narratives that bear the influences of Jack Smith’s lush, DIY camp aesthetic, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s explosive melodrama, and Nan Goldin’s glimpses of countercultural bohemia" (The Tenderloin Museum).
When McDowell passed of AIDS in 1987, he left behind his entire life’s work—including films, paintings, and scrapbooks—which first were protected under Curt McDowell Foundation and later were placed under the care of his sister, Melinda, when the Foundation no longer existed. The Academy Film Archive recently launched a program to restore Curt McDowell’s complete collection of films.
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my gaze///yr gaze is curated by irwin swirnoff.
irwin swirnoff (b. pheonix 1977, lives in the bay area) received his mfa from the san francisco art institute, and teaches in the cinematic arts & visual/public arts department at cal state university monterey bay as well as the media studies dept of the university of san francisco.
using film, photography, creative writing, and his background in zine & d.i.y. culture, he creates intimate work with a queer sensibility, exploring intimacy, longing, loss, desire, physicality, sexuality, and the constant struggle to remain in the here and now. a longtime dj, he hosts the popular weekly radio show sleeves on hearts which airs on san francisco community radio and he served as the music director at kusf 90.3fm in san francisco.
irwin's work has been shown throughout the united states and europe at festivals like outfest, the new york film fest, frameline, seattle queer film festival, toronto inside out, etc. he's been featured in the new york times, sf weekly, maximum rock n roll, punk planet, and the bold italic.
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my gaze///yr gaze is a queer film series that happens on the first sunday of the month at alley cat books in the mission in san francisco. the series is always free and believes in the importance of creating spaces for queer community and culture that isn't about money or commerce