Check out one of the tracks from the score to the Flaming Lips' film Christmas on Mars, only just unveiled this morning:
"Space Bible With Volume Lumps" [Stream] | Pitchfork
CHRISTMAS ON MARS is now being screened at unique venues in select cities around the country (see press release below for upcoming dates -- recently updated!!) and will be available on DVD on November 11th, 2008. (The score will also be available on CD on this date, too.) CHRISTMAS ON MARS opened theatrically in New York City on September 12, 2008, presented in a custom-designed cinema at the KGB Complex at 85 East Fourth Street, screening in high-definition video and the custom designed Zeta Bootis Mega Supersonic Super-Sound Surround System, which The LIPS created for the film. CHRISTMAS ON MARS will screen at unusual show times, the first of which have been have been announced (and some have already sold out) on Christmas on Mars: A Fantastical Film Freakout Featuring the Flaming Lips (Cinema Purgatorio). Show times will include 7am and 9am screenings, so audience members can go to Mars before they get to work, as well as some traditional evening show times. Screenings in many more cities are planned and being announced frequently, so be sure to check Christmas on Mars: A Fantastical Film Freakout Featuring the Flaming Lips (Cinema Purgatorio) for the most recent schedule updates!
Check out the trailer for CHRISTMAS ON MARS: . You can also check out an interview with Wayne Coyne at , or download hi-res images and screen grabs from the film at Picasa Web Albums - Cinema PurgatorioAnd of course, there's tons more info at both http://cinemapurgotorio.com/ and The Official Flaming Lips Website !
Christmas on Mars: A Fantastical Film Freakout Featuring The Flaming Lips
2008. 82 mins, in High-definition video
Directed by Wayne Coyne and George Salisbury
Released by Warner Bros. Records / The Flaming Lips / Cinema Purgatorio
CHIRSTMAS ON MARS is the directorial debut of Wayne Coyne, lead singer and front man for THE FLAMING LIPS. Coyne co-directed with George Salisbury, an audiovisual technician who works with the band. Coyne constructed much of the set - representing Mars - in his Oklahoma City backyard. The film does indeed take place during Christmastime on Mars, as the colonization of the Red Planet is underway. But when an oxygen generator and a gravity control pod malfunction, Major Syrtis (The Lips' Steven Drozd) and his team (including the Lips' bassist Michael Ivins) fear for the worst. Syrtis hallucinates about the birth of a baby, and many other strange things. Meanwhile, a compassionate alien superbeing (Coyne) arrives, inspiring and helping the isolated astronauts. Also appearing in the film are the band's road drummer Kliph Scurlock, manager Scott Booker, and many other familiar figures from The Lips' community.
In production since 2001, CHRISTMAS ON MARS finally premiered in May at the Sasquatch! Music Festival in Washington State. Two weeks later, The Lips screened the movie in Oklahoma City, during the deadCenter Film Festival, within a revivalist preacher tent under a storming sky. Before the screening began, the audience sat in total darkness within the tent for half an hour, as the storm passed over head. "In attendance at that screening was Cinema Purgatorio's Ray Privett, who had come to see the movie and to carve out a deal. Privett has been a fan of the Lips since the 1990s; in 2005, Privett had presented the documentary THE FEARLESS FREAKS FEATURING THE FLAMING LIPS at New York City's Pioneer Theater, where he then worked. After two months of correspondence, THE FLAMING LIPS, Warner Bros. Records, and Cinema Purgatorio finally made an arrangement.
"I am thrilled and honored to work with THE FLAMING LIPS on this amazing project. I have been tracking this movie for a long time. Finally this summer, FEARLESS FREAKS director Bradley Beesley put me in touch with The LIP'S manager Scott Booker, a famously visionary manager from whom I have already learned a lot. With a lot of hard work, Scott, Warner Bros., and I carved out an eccentric approach to sharing the film with THE FLAMING LIPS fans and others across the country. We have many challenges - after all, this is a (mostly) black and white science fiction film, in high-definition video, made by a rock and roll band. However, with our combined efforts, and also the Lips' amazingly supportive fanbase - it's gonna be awesome."
Ray Privett established Cinema Purgatorio in 2007. Privett has ten years of experience working with filmmakers, producers, and venue administrators to find unconventional ways of reaching today's film audiences. For four years he was distribution coordinator at Chicago's Facets Multi-Media, and four years as Programmer and General Manager of the Pioneer Theater in New York City. Recently Cinema Purgatorio collaborated with the International Film Circuit and Kino International on the release of four films made by Lech Majewski, the artist and filmmaker honored in 2006 with a rare, full mid-career retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. Two other upcoming projects are with writer and director Victor Varnado: The Awkward Kings of Comedy, a documentary about nerdy African-American comedians; and Roboto Supremo, a giant robot movie featuring Be Kind Rewind filmmaker Michel Gondry as the mayor of Final Tokyo.
CONFIRMED UPCOMING SCREENING DATES:
Madison, Wisconsin: The Orpheum, October 21-24
Waterville, Maine: Railroad Square Cinema, October 24
Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Brattle, October 31-November 9
Omaha, Nebraska: Film Streams / Ruth Sokolof Theater, October 31
San Francisco, California: The Roxie, October 31-November 2
Bremen, Indiana: Bremen Theatre, November 5
Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Cinematheque, November 8-9
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: National Mechanics & Marvelous Records, November 10-14
Columbus, Ohio: Landmark Gateway Theater, November 14-15
Denver, Colorado: Landmark Esquire Theatre, November 14-15
Seattle, Washington: Northwest Film Forum, November 21-22
Hartford, Connecticut: Real Art Ways, November 21-23
Minneapolis, Minnesota: Landmark Uptown Theatre, November 22
Kansas City, Missouri: Screenland, November 22-23
Jacksonville, Florida: Fuel in Five Points, November 27
Tucson, Arizona: The Loft, December 5-11
Chicago, Illinois: The Music Box, December 5-6
Bellingham, Washington: Pickford Cinema, December 5-6
St. Louis, Missouri area: Webster University Film Series, December 12-14
Roanoke, Virginia: Grandin Theatre, December 14-15
Albuquerque, New Mexico: The Guild, December 19-20
Los Angeles, CA - release date (11/11)
"Space Bible With Volume Lumps" [Stream] | Pitchfork
CHRISTMAS ON MARS is now being screened at unique venues in select cities around the country (see press release below for upcoming dates -- recently updated!!) and will be available on DVD on November 11th, 2008. (The score will also be available on CD on this date, too.) CHRISTMAS ON MARS opened theatrically in New York City on September 12, 2008, presented in a custom-designed cinema at the KGB Complex at 85 East Fourth Street, screening in high-definition video and the custom designed Zeta Bootis Mega Supersonic Super-Sound Surround System, which The LIPS created for the film. CHRISTMAS ON MARS will screen at unusual show times, the first of which have been have been announced (and some have already sold out) on Christmas on Mars: A Fantastical Film Freakout Featuring the Flaming Lips (Cinema Purgatorio). Show times will include 7am and 9am screenings, so audience members can go to Mars before they get to work, as well as some traditional evening show times. Screenings in many more cities are planned and being announced frequently, so be sure to check Christmas on Mars: A Fantastical Film Freakout Featuring the Flaming Lips (Cinema Purgatorio) for the most recent schedule updates!
Check out the trailer for CHRISTMAS ON MARS:
Christmas on Mars: A Fantastical Film Freakout Featuring The Flaming Lips
2008. 82 mins, in High-definition video
Directed by Wayne Coyne and George Salisbury
Released by Warner Bros. Records / The Flaming Lips / Cinema Purgatorio
CHIRSTMAS ON MARS is the directorial debut of Wayne Coyne, lead singer and front man for THE FLAMING LIPS. Coyne co-directed with George Salisbury, an audiovisual technician who works with the band. Coyne constructed much of the set - representing Mars - in his Oklahoma City backyard. The film does indeed take place during Christmastime on Mars, as the colonization of the Red Planet is underway. But when an oxygen generator and a gravity control pod malfunction, Major Syrtis (The Lips' Steven Drozd) and his team (including the Lips' bassist Michael Ivins) fear for the worst. Syrtis hallucinates about the birth of a baby, and many other strange things. Meanwhile, a compassionate alien superbeing (Coyne) arrives, inspiring and helping the isolated astronauts. Also appearing in the film are the band's road drummer Kliph Scurlock, manager Scott Booker, and many other familiar figures from The Lips' community.
In production since 2001, CHRISTMAS ON MARS finally premiered in May at the Sasquatch! Music Festival in Washington State. Two weeks later, The Lips screened the movie in Oklahoma City, during the deadCenter Film Festival, within a revivalist preacher tent under a storming sky. Before the screening began, the audience sat in total darkness within the tent for half an hour, as the storm passed over head. "In attendance at that screening was Cinema Purgatorio's Ray Privett, who had come to see the movie and to carve out a deal. Privett has been a fan of the Lips since the 1990s; in 2005, Privett had presented the documentary THE FEARLESS FREAKS FEATURING THE FLAMING LIPS at New York City's Pioneer Theater, where he then worked. After two months of correspondence, THE FLAMING LIPS, Warner Bros. Records, and Cinema Purgatorio finally made an arrangement.
"I am thrilled and honored to work with THE FLAMING LIPS on this amazing project. I have been tracking this movie for a long time. Finally this summer, FEARLESS FREAKS director Bradley Beesley put me in touch with The LIP'S manager Scott Booker, a famously visionary manager from whom I have already learned a lot. With a lot of hard work, Scott, Warner Bros., and I carved out an eccentric approach to sharing the film with THE FLAMING LIPS fans and others across the country. We have many challenges - after all, this is a (mostly) black and white science fiction film, in high-definition video, made by a rock and roll band. However, with our combined efforts, and also the Lips' amazingly supportive fanbase - it's gonna be awesome."
Ray Privett established Cinema Purgatorio in 2007. Privett has ten years of experience working with filmmakers, producers, and venue administrators to find unconventional ways of reaching today's film audiences. For four years he was distribution coordinator at Chicago's Facets Multi-Media, and four years as Programmer and General Manager of the Pioneer Theater in New York City. Recently Cinema Purgatorio collaborated with the International Film Circuit and Kino International on the release of four films made by Lech Majewski, the artist and filmmaker honored in 2006 with a rare, full mid-career retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. Two other upcoming projects are with writer and director Victor Varnado: The Awkward Kings of Comedy, a documentary about nerdy African-American comedians; and Roboto Supremo, a giant robot movie featuring Be Kind Rewind filmmaker Michel Gondry as the mayor of Final Tokyo.
CONFIRMED UPCOMING SCREENING DATES:
Madison, Wisconsin: The Orpheum, October 21-24
Waterville, Maine: Railroad Square Cinema, October 24
Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Brattle, October 31-November 9
Omaha, Nebraska: Film Streams / Ruth Sokolof Theater, October 31
San Francisco, California: The Roxie, October 31-November 2
Bremen, Indiana: Bremen Theatre, November 5
Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Cinematheque, November 8-9
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: National Mechanics & Marvelous Records, November 10-14
Columbus, Ohio: Landmark Gateway Theater, November 14-15
Denver, Colorado: Landmark Esquire Theatre, November 14-15
Seattle, Washington: Northwest Film Forum, November 21-22
Hartford, Connecticut: Real Art Ways, November 21-23
Minneapolis, Minnesota: Landmark Uptown Theatre, November 22
Kansas City, Missouri: Screenland, November 22-23
Jacksonville, Florida: Fuel in Five Points, November 27
Tucson, Arizona: The Loft, December 5-11
Chicago, Illinois: The Music Box, December 5-6
Bellingham, Washington: Pickford Cinema, December 5-6
St. Louis, Missouri area: Webster University Film Series, December 12-14
Roanoke, Virginia: Grandin Theatre, December 14-15
Albuquerque, New Mexico: The Guild, December 19-20
Los Angeles, CA - release date (11/11)
