Self
Investigates the politics of cinematic shot design, and how this meta-level of filmmaking intersects with the twin epidemics of sexual abuse/assault and employment discrimination against women, with over 80 movie clips from 1896 - 2020.
Self
The greatest cult horror and science fiction films of all-time are studied in vivid detail in the second volume of Time Warp. Includes groundbreaking classics like "Night of the Living Dead," and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," and sci-fi gems such as "Blade Runner," and "A Clockwork Orange."
Self
From "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" to "The Big Lebowski" and everything in between, this fascinating deep-dive documentary begins its celebration of the greatest cult movies of all-time discussing the birth of the midnight movie.
Self
Equal parts personal essay, intense rumination, and playful satire, this movie laments the death of the American Video Store while it searches for the missing human element in today's digital landscape.
Herself
At a pivotal moment for gender equality in Hollywood, successful women directors tell the stories of their art, lives and careers. Having endured a long history of systemic discrimination, women filmmakers may be getting the first glimpse of a future that values their voices equally.
Director
A pretty psychiatrist is saved from an accident by a man who, after hitting his head on a rock, believes he is Santa Claus. As she nurses him back to health at her institute, he brings the spirit of Christmas to the hospital.
Self - Filmmaker
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.
Director
An anthology of five short films exploring the impact of breast cancer on people's lives.
Director
Ben's fiancée has her heart set on an expensive dream wedding, but her father, Jack, has secretly gambled away all his money. When Ben discovers he has a talent for exotic dancing, Jack pushes him to moonlight as a stripper to finance the wedding.
Herself
The story of American film criticism.
Herself
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.
Producer
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.
Director
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.
Self
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.
Director
Brian Cruver, an ambitious 26-year-old lands a job at Enron. As he assimilates to the company's get-rich-quick mantra, spending sprees and wild corporate "gatherings" become the norm. But when Enron files for bankruptcy, Cruver discovers he's just a pawn in a failing game of corporate greed--one that made the rich richer...while the rest lost everything.
Director
Penelope Spheeris presents an amazing chronicle of the travelling musical carnival known as OZZfest, the most successful summer concert tour for the last five years. Complete access to incredible material sends this documentary film into the realm of pure entertainment. Unforgettable moments from zealous religious protesters, outrageous fans and the guys (and girls) backstage provide an insightful view into the soul of white, middle-class America. A stunning and sometimes disturbing glimpse of a cultural movement, this film is sure to be a reference for historians for decades to come. This comment on Middle America skates the line between your worst nightmare and the best time you’ve ever had. Features interviews with, and performances by BLACK SABBATH, SYSTEM OF A DOWN, SLIPKNOT, PRIMUS, ROB ZOMBIE, GODSMACK and more.
Director
Documents the making of BLOOD DOLLS, interviewing members of the cast and crew.
Director
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.
Director
A student gets his senses enhanced by an experimental drug. But abuse is not an option.
Director
The Decline of Western Civilization III is a 1998 documentary film directed by Penelope Spheeris that chronicles the 'gutter punk' lifestyle of homeless teens in Los Angeles.
Director
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.
Screenplay
When nine-year-old Alfalfa falls for Darla, his "He-Man-Woman-Hating" friends attempt to sabotage their relationship.
Director
When nine-year-old Alfalfa falls for Darla, his "He-Man-Woman-Hating" friends attempt to sabotage their relationship.
Producer
Jed Clampett and kin move from Arkansas to Beverly Hills when he becomes a billionaire, after an oil strike. The country folk are very naive with regard to life in the big city, so when Jed starts a search for a new wife there are inevitably plenty of takers and con artists ready to make a fast buck
Director
Jed Clampett and kin move from Arkansas to Beverly Hills when he becomes a billionaire, after an oil strike. The country folk are very naive with regard to life in the big city, so when Jed starts a search for a new wife there are inevitably plenty of takers and con artists ready to make a fast buck
Director
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.
Director
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.
Director
A look at the Travis Walton abduction
Director
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.
Director
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.
Director
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.
Nicky's Mom
A couple who both work at wedding receptions encounter complications when they decide to marry.
Herself
An entertaining combination of heavy-metal rockers and female mud wrestlers hosted by Jessica Hahn.
Director
An entertaining combination of heavy-metal rockers and female mud wrestlers hosted by Jessica Hahn.
Herself
Interviews with personalities including John Mellencamp, Spike Lee, Lou Reed, Roseanne Barr, David Byrne, George Michael and more, as they reflect on the 1980s.
Self
Documentary about women in the film industry. Numerous notable actresses and female directors share their thoughts.
Director
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..
Director
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.
Screenplay
At Camp North Pines for Boys, the campers, led by the charismatic Franklin Reilly, stage a revolt against the strict owner, Mr. Warren, and lock him and the rest of the counselors up and take over the camp for themselves. But the revolt soon spirals out of control as the boys also lead a takeover of the nearby girls camp as well. Then, Mr. Warren is accidently killed trying to escape. Soon friction happens between the two boys and girls camps, while one camper, a certain Donald Poultry, tries to get the word out and unseat Franklin as the leader.
Director
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.
Director
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.
Screenplay
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.
Director
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.
Producer
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.
Writer
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.
Director
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.
Producer
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".
Producer
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
Producer
Albert Brooks is sick and stuck in bed.
Saturday Night Live, Season 1 Episode 7
Producer
Super mid-season replacements to failed shows in a network's super season.
Saturday Night Live, Season 1 Episode 4
Producer
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
Producer
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
Producer
Albert Brooks presents a mockumentary in which he presents several shocking news stories. Saturday Night Live, Season 1 Episode 1
Margo, Logan's Film Group
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.
Penny
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.
Director
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).
Writer
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.
Director
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.
Star the Witch
A ski instructor tries to teach a bunch of insanely eccentric people how to ski while dealing with everyone wanting his attention.
Director
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.
Director
Shit (1969) Never completely finished during its original production, this snarky comic piece was rediscovered in director Penelope Spheeris’ vaults in 2010 and preserved “as is.” The titular substance plays a key role in determining an outmoded man’s role in a changing society. 16mm, color, 4 min. Director: Penelope Spheeris. 1969.
Director
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.
Director
A white man goes on trial for having raped a black woman.
Director
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.
Director
An early short film by Penelope Spheeris about a boy enjoying the age-old pleasures of making a wish on a dandelion.
