Secret Cinema: 4 ARTISTS
Schedule
Thu, 13 Nov, 2025 at 08:00 pm
UTC-05:00Location
The Rotunda | Philadelphia, PA
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On Thursday, November 13, the Secret Cinema will return to the Rotunda with a brand new program: 4 ARTISTS will showcase short documentary profiles of four famous creators, each working in different art forms: Igor Stravinsky, Gordon Parks, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. and Woody Allen.There will be one complete show at 8:00 pm. Admission is free (as are all programs in the Rotunda's monthly "Bright Bulb Screening Series").
As always -- still -- Secret Cinema programs are shown using 16mm (not video, not digital) FILM projected on a giant screen.
4 ARTISTS will include:
STRAVINSKY (1966, Producer: David Oppenheim) - CBS News made many excellent films on a wide-range of subjects in the 1960s, including this look at Igor Stravinsky, one of the most important, revolutionary composers of the 20th century. Still quite busy at age 83, we follow as he is greeted by cowboys in Texas and applauded by Pope Paul VI at a Warsaw concert. Also seen are Benny Goodman (who adds clarinet to a jazz piece Stravinsky wrote), George Balanchine and Alberto Giacometti, in a lavish documentary that literally follows its subject around the world.
THE WEAPONS OF GORDON PARKS (1968, Dir: Warren Forma) - Gordon Parks is best known as a pioneering Life magazine photographer who captured scenes of poverty and black life in America from the 1940s through the 1970s. But the polymath Parks was also an accomplished composer, author, poet, and filmmaker (he directed THE LEARNING TREE, SHAFT, and several other shorts and features). His book A CHOICE OF WEAPONS forms the basis of this film. Parks reads passages about his hard early life on the soundtrack, while we see him working and relaxing in his comfortable suburban home.
KURT VONNEGUT, JR.: A SELF-PORTRAIT (1975, Dir: Harold Mantell) - The celebrated author of SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE and BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS recalls his childhood, discusses his creative process and literary influences, and philosophizes about his future and whether he'll ever be able to write another novel (spoiler: he wrote several after this film). Director Harold Mantell specialized in short films about creative types -- he also made documentaries about e.e. cummings, Federico Fellini, Jorge Luis Borges, and…
WOODY ALLEN: AN AMERICAN COMEDY (1977, Dir: Harold Mantell) - Filmed around the time of ANNIE HALL, the critically-lauded breakthrough film that won Allen his first Academy Awards, for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay (he was also nominated for Best Actor). Long before he became a controversial figure, Woody talks candidly about his already substantial career, reflecting on writing jokes for television, writing plays, stand-up comedy, and finally filmmaking. We also see him playing clarinet at home, walking around New York, and talking to an audience of fans (in a foreshadowing of his 1980 film STARDUST MEMORIES?).
SECRET CINEMA WEBSITE: https://www.thesecretcinema.com
THE ROTUNDA WEBSITE: https://www.therotunda.org
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Where is it happening?
The Rotunda, 3300 Chancellor St, Philadelphia, PA 19104, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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