Kevin Scanlon

Davy Rothbart

One of the fascinating Angelenos featured in L.A. Weekly's People 2013 issue. Check out our entire People 2013 issue here.

Davy Rothbart sits at a picnic table in Elysian Park with a Discman in his pocket. Someone actually stopped him on the street recently while he was traveling on a book tour and said, "That must be the last Discman in New York!" Rothbart shrugs telling this story. Gadgets and tech aren't really his thing. "I guess I'm just a lo-fi person," he says.

Rothbart, 38, is many other things — a writer, documentary filmmaker, This American Life contributor and creator of Found magazine, a print publication that pieces together stray letters, lists, drawings and photos.

Most people would have migrated Found over to a Tumblr by now. Not Rothbart. He's a literary slow cooker in a world of microwave media.

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Bobby Martin

Directors Maria Demopoulos and Jodi Wille in the lobby of the Standard, with a Source Family-inspired fabric sculpture by Elena Stonaker

It was not your typical happy hour on the Sunset Strip. Last Thursday, the Standard Hotel hosted the L.A. premiere of The Source Family, a documentary by Jodi Wille and Maria Demopoulos. In honor of the 1970s Hollywood commune portrayed in the film, which is the first feature for both directors, the lobby was swathed in colorful fabrics and bedecked with flowers. Psychedelic music snaked through the speakers while longhaired boys and girls milled about, dressed in their flowing finest. In a glass case behind the counter, two young women lounged and did yoga poses, much to the obvious bemusement of the tourists who stood by with rolling suitcases, waiting to check in.

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Photo by Keith Black / HOIXIOH

Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner and Robert Trachtenberg at Paley Center

Mel Brooks doesn't think he's an American master.

That's someone like Mark Twain or Ernest Hemingway, says the creator of the funniest farting scene in the history of film.

But Susan Lacy, executive producer of PBS' American Masters series, thought differently, and convinced Brooks to dispense with his modesty just this once.

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Copyright Nan Goldin, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery

Nan Goldin's paired photographs, called Chimera (2013)

This week, an alien-inspired concert/party happens at an iconic bowling alley, and two artists make intricate renderings of mystery plants.

5. The art star with the bloody head
In Happy Song for You, the short film made by artists Stanya Kahn and Llyn Foulkes in 2011, Foulkes appears with blood dripping down his face and a bandage over his eyes, like the gory figures in the paintings he made in the 1970s and '80s. The camera also lingers over craggy rocks, dirt and funny toys, all things that might appear in a Foulkes artwork. This will screen along with other films, such as a 1959 short starring Foulkes as a deranged, eccentric artist, when the Hammer continues its months-long series of Foulkes programming with a "Starring Llyn" night. 10899 Wilshire Blvd.; Tues., May 14, 7:30 p.m. (310) 443-7000, hammer.ucla.edu.

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Galaxy Quest

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*More L.A. Weekly Film Coverage

Friday, May 10

The second annual touring Czech That Film Festival makes a pit stop at Los Angeles, bringing seven films over five days between today and June 3. Starting off the festival is writer-director Zdenek Jiráský with his first feature, Flower Buds, at the Billy Wilder Theater. Preceded by an opening reception at 7:30 p.m., this winner of four Czech Lions (their version of the Oscar) sees the gradual deterioration of the Hrdina family as they cope -- comedically -- with the bleak reality of their small-town life. A Q&A with Jiráský will follow the screening.

In Hollywood, the Linwood Dunn Theater hosts The Real Indies: A Close Look at Orphan Films, showing previously neglected movies that have been revived for this two-day event. The series opens with Portrait of Jason, Shirley Clarke's 1967 documentary about a gay African-American houseboy in New York, at 8 p.m.

At midnight, "Never give up, never surrender!" Galaxy Quest, the Star Trek parody that reached cult-classic status, screens at the Vista Theatre. Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman play stars of a once-popular TV show who get caught in a case of truth being stranger than fiction when they encounter real aliens at a fan convention.

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Comrade Kim Goes Flying

By Doug Cummings

Comrade Kim Goes Flying is one of the most unique and entertaining features at this year's Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. The first fiction feature shot in North Korea and co-produced by both Western and North Korean companies, it sidesteps current political tensions to offer a spunky comedy about a female coal miner (Kim Yong Mi) who dreams of becoming a circus acrobat. The film screens Sunday, May 5 at 5:45 PM at CGV Cinemas.

A few days after its two female leads appeared on stage at the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, its British co-producer, Nicholas Bonner, spoke with us about the production. Bonner has lived in Beijing for 20 years, where he operates Koryo Tours, an independent company that organizes travel and cultural exchanges with North Korea. He's been producing documentaries in the country for the last several years, but this is the first North Korean fictional film he's done.

How many features a year does North Korea produce?

Well, they say twenty but it's probably closer to ten to fifteen on 35mm. In the '80s it was more, but certainly in the '90s and '00s it was less, perhaps only three or four titles a year. Now that they've gone digital in the last year, they're making more; it's picking up again.

We started showing Comrade Kim Goes Flying in North Korea in February. Our North Korean producer emailed me and told me her neighbor saw it one day and went back the next to see it again. So if that's the test, it passed. It's now showing around the country.

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Melly Lee

The many faces of Quentin Lee

Quentin Lee has been called a "Gaysian" filmmaker, representing two significant minorities in the industry. He both exemplifies and defies Asian stereotypes, impressively obtaining degrees from three top universities but then dedicating himself to the arts instead of the sciences. And through a series of defining moments -- often coinciding with the first day of school -- Lee has become a prolific writer-producer-director, with four of his films, old and new, coming to L.A. screens this month.

Born in Hong Kong in 1971, Lee knew, from the age of twelve, that he wanted to come to America and attend UCLA's film school, but it took a while to get there. He started making his first films with his parents' camera when he was thirteen. When his father realized that Lee was serious about pursuing the arts, his only major concern was that he didn't have the contacts to help Lee get a leg up in the industry -- not the reaction one would expect from a culture that stereotypically pushes its children to become doctors, lawyers or businessmen.

At the time, Lee was just grappling with the issue of how to get to America in the first place. But when Lee was fifteen, the family moved to Montréal "because Hong Kong was turning over to China in 1997 and there was huge panic in the 80s," he says. "Because, in the 80s, China was very Communist and repressive, so everybody in that generation [was] planning to immigrate to Australia, Canada or [the] U.S."

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Claire Danes plays a woman with bipolar disorder on Homeland

Hollywood has a checkered history of covering mental health and substance abuse, reaching bottom with Nightmare on Elm Street. A young Johnny Depp played the killer as a schizophrenic, imprinting that image of mental illness on millions.

To counteract such stigma, the Entertainment Industry Council puts on an awards show to recognize writers, producers and performers for "the accurate depiction of substance abuse and mental illness." On April 25, the 17th annual PRISM Awards were held at the Beverly Hills Hotel, with an airing of the show set for September on FX.

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Gene Schiavone

Eifman Ballet in Rodin

This week's dance events include the return of Dance Camera West dance film festival and Eifman Ballet's sensual bio-ballet Rodin.

See also:
*5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week
*Our Latest Theater Reviews
*Our Calendar Section, Listing More Great Things to Do in L.A.

5. A moving and movable Dance Film Fest
L.A.'s internationally recognized festival of dance on film, Dance Camera West, begins with this year's events moving among downtown's Music Center, West L.A.'s Getty Center, Santa Monica's Annenberg Beach House and mid-Wilshire's L.A. County Museum of Art. This year's theme Get Wet is carried out with a live performance involving a water feature at most venues prior to the screening of festival films. Parties on the opening and closing days as well as the screenings offer multiple chances to chat with the filmmakers. For a complete listing of events and venues go to www.dancecamerawest.org. At the Music Center, 135 N. Grand Ave., dwntwn.; Thurs., May 2, 7 p.m.; $15; Reception at 9 p.m., $20; Also at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), 5905 Wilshire Blvd., mid-Wilshire; Fri., May 3, 3 p.m., 5 p.m.; 7:30 p.m., $15. 323-857-6000, www.lacma.org. Also at The Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Drive, W.L.A.; Sat., May 4, 4 p.m., free. 310-440-7330, www.getty.edu/museum/. Also at Annenberg Community Beach House, 415 Pacific Coast, Santa Monica; Sun., May 5, 5 p.m., $20 afternoon, panel discussion free with reservation. 310-458-4904, www.annenbergbeachhouse.com. For a complete listing of events, venues & tickets go to www.dancecamerawest.org.

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Coraline

See also:
*More L.A. Weekly Film Coverage
*5 Artsy Things to Do in L.A. This Week

Friday, May 3

On Friday, Aisha Tyler (The Talk) and Rob Schneider will host the 14th annual Golden Trailer Awards at the Saban Theater; the pre-party  starts at 6:30 p.m. Don your cocktail-party attire for a night that honors those who have the power to make crappy movies look amazing: the movie trailer makers. With 16 categories, including Best Summer 2013 Blockbuster Trailer (we're rooting for Man of Steel), the award show will be a breezy 90 minutes, with a post-party afterward. Tickets are $135 for general admission, but if you go with a group, you get a slightly discounted price.

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