Danny Williams Double Feature
A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory
and Danny Williams: Factory Films
Thursday, November 11, 6:45PM
Location: Frenetic Theater, 5102 Navigation
Tickets Available at www.cinemartsociety.org

As part of the Live Cinema at Frenetic Theater from Houston Cinema Arts Society, the Houston Cinema Arts Society will present this double feature of films about Danny Williams.

At 6:45PM, Director Esther Robinson will present A Walk into the Sea: Danny Williams and The Warhol Factory.  Director Esther Robinson's personal inquiry into the truth behind her Uncle Danny Williams' mysterious 1966 disappearance dismantles the Warhol myth-making machine, allowing a deeper examination of the human fragility on which Andy Warhol's empire was built. Virtually unknown today, Danny Williams was Andy Warhol's lover, a filmmaker and the designer of the Velvet Underground Exploding Plastic Inevitable lightshow. In 1966, he went home to his family in Massachusetts after being ousted by Warhol and his group. After dining with his family, he drove away in his mothers car and was never seen again. A Walk Into the Sea quietly reveals the story of an extraordinary talent abandoned by two dysfunctional families: one uptight and traditional, the other bohemian and legendary. A Walk into the Sea won the coveted Teddy Award for Best Documentary at the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival and has screened all over the world.

Then at 8:45PM, there will be a screening of Danny Williams: Factory Films, three of Williams' films, intimate experimental portraits of Warhol Factory luminaries including Edie Sedgwick, Andy Warhol and the earliest known footage of the Velvet Underground, are screened in their entirety, with live music accompaniment by A Walk Into The Sea composer T. Griffin and his partners in the Quavers, Catherine McRae and Dennis Cronin. The 70-minute program includes Williams Factory Film, which features amazingly intimate footage of Andy Warhol along with other factory stars and Harold Stevenson part 1 and 2, which showcases an incandescent Edie Sedgwick. The Velvet Underground Rehearses is the earliest known footage of the VU, and stars the impossibly young-looking band rehearsing at the Factory. For the luminous 40-minute film Harold Stevenson parts 1 and 2, T. Griffin and Catherine McRae have created a score for guitar, violin, samples and walkman. They have looked to the music that electrified The Factory in 1966 and created an immersive, oceanic abstraction of bubblegum pop, LaMonte Young-inspired drones and, of course, The Velvet Underground.

Note: A ticket will get you into either or both shows of this double feature.

The following two nights, Aurora will co-sponsor the remaining Live Cinema at Frenetic Theater performances by Sam Green and Brent Green.  This program in the series is not an Aurora Picture Show event so Aurora members do not get into this event for free.