Alejandro Jodorowsky At The Museum Of Art And Design

Iconic Chilean Director and Mystic Alejandro Jodorowsky will be having a mini-retrospective of his career at the Museum of Art and Design beginning on September 23.

Not to be missed.

Film Series "Blood into Gold: the Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky" introduces the filmmaker's oeuvre to a new audience with Jodorowsky in attendance.

(Photo by Bruno Torturra)

 New York, NY (August 18, 2010) - The cult cinema of the 81-year-old, Chilean-born filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky emerges from the underground at the Museum of Arts and Design this fall in its latest film series, running from September 23 - specially timed for the fall equinox - through October 8, 2010. Influenced by his work as a pantomime, theater director, philosopher, playwright, comic book artist, as well as his spiritual training in Zen Buddhism, shamanism, and the occult, Jodorowsky's films eschew traditional narratives, arcs and character tropes. The six films showcased in "Blood into Gold: the Cinematic Alchemy of Alejandro Jodorowsky" depict dream worlds, brimming with symbols and steeped in mysticism, floating and colliding with the Surrealist concepts of anarchy and randomness - filtered through the hazy, acid-colored lens of psychedelia. At once jarring, beautiful, baffling, alluring, and absurd, Jodorowsky's work pushes the medium's boundaries - provoking the audience's intellect, senses, and emotions. Abkco Music & Records joins MAD as the co-presenter of this series.

Films shown include:

Fando y Lis (Fando and Lis) (1967), the journey of Fando and his paraplegic girlfriend through a desolate, post-apocalyptic landscape in search of the mythical city of Tar, caused a full-scale riot when it premiered at the Acapulco Film Festival.

El Topo (The Mole) (1970), an allegorical tale about a violent gunfighter and his quest for enlightenment, this film is littered with bizarre characters and religious imagery, while being highly regarded as a classic Acid Western.

Holy Mountain (1973), Jodorowsky plays the Alchemist in this multi-part symbolic story centered around the ascent on a mountain that merges Heaven and Earth, funded by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, an underground hit that screened in many international film festivals.

La Cravate (1957), the director's first work, once thought lost, is a silent short based on a Thomas Mann novella.

A RARE MASTER CLASS BY ALEJANDRO JODOROWSKY

On Saturday afternoon, September 25, Jodorowsky will lead an intimate master class in the museum. This seminar-style program will provide insight into Jodorowsky's thinking on the power of film and art, with attention given to art-making as a means to personal and spiritual enlightenment.

Note: The Master Class is currently at capacity.

Movie tickets are: $10 general admission, $7 for MAD museum members and students with valid ID.

The MAD Theater is located on the below street level of MAD at 2 Columbus Circle at 59th Street.
For more information about the series, go to
madmuseum.org.