Rob Nilsson's 9 @ Night
Cinema of the Forgotten

"Nilsson's films are beautiful, exciting, imaginative, unfamiliar-- and outside of that, very good." - John Cassavetes

For the first time on the West Coast, Bay Area filmmaker Rob Nilsson presents the complete 9 @ Night, a series of nine feature films he produced over the last decade in collaboration with the Tenderloin yGroup, an inner-city acting and production workshop Nilsson developed in the San Francisco Tenderloin. With a "Direct Action" aesthetic influenced by the pioneering work of John Cassavetes, and a structure inspired by Krzysztof Kieslowski's Decalogue, the nine black-and-white films have individual and independent stories, but they share recurring characters and interrelated themes.

"For 30 years, San Francisco-based Rob Nilsson has been serving as the conscience and agent-provocateur of low-budget American independent filmmaking," writes critic and historian Ray Carney, who also observes that Nilsson "has devoted his cinematic career to presenting the sorts of sociological realities, interpersonal interactions and emotional transactions that have been screened out of big-budget, mainstream American film."

"Notwithstanding the nitty-gritty ‘realism' of the street-world Nilsson has chosen for the milieu for his series," continues Ray Carney, "It is critical to recognize that his real subject is not externals but internals- not characters' physical, but their emotional states of loss and deprivation"

Rob Nilsson received the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1979 for his first feature Northern Lights (co-directed with John Hanson), and also won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1988 Sundance Film Festival for Heat and Sunlight. As part of his "Direct Action" approach, he has been an innovator in his exploration of digital technology. Other acclaimed films by Nilsson include On the Edge, Signal 7 and Chalk, and he is currently editing Imbued, featuring Stacy Keach.

Seven of the films in the 9 @ Night series had their world premieres at the Mill Valley Film Festival from 2000 through 2007. Director Rob Nilsson, collaborators and cast members will appear at many of the Rafael screenings to answer questions. Please note that it is not necessary to view these films in this particular order.

Noise
Friday, September 5, 6:45
Sunday, September 7, 9:00
In the first of the 9 @ Night series, convicted counterfeiter Ben Malafide (Robert Viharo) gets out of prison after 20 years and ends up in the Tenderloin. Seeking the bare essentials to make ends meet, he confronts the Information Age, a barrage of images and noises that offer neither knowledge nor heart. With Paige Olson, Edwin Johnson. (US 2002) 80 minutes.

Used
Friday, September 5, 9:00
Monday, September 8, 6:45
Certain he's been betrayed, Malafide (Robert Viharo) leaves his lover and hops freights to Reno to find a Cherokee healer he met in prison named People T. Joined by a black homeless man named Johnny (Edwin Johnson), they set out into the desolate beauty of the Nevada desert. (US 2007) 84 min.

Attitude
Saturday, September 6, 2:15
Monday, September 8, 9:00
Spoddy (Michael Disend) is the arrogant owner of an automotive "chop shop" who discovers he is HIV positive. Rejected by those he's used, he finds sanctuary with the people he has always despised, the homeless. (US 2003) 109 min.

Singing
Saturday, September 6, 4:30
Tuesday, September 9, 6:45
Estranged from his longtime girlfriend, suburban accountant Perry (James Carpenter) wanders into the Tenderloin at night and is drawn into a series of dangerous and erotic encounters. With Barbara Jasperson, Domenique Lozano. (US 2000) 75 min.

Stroke
Saturday, September 6, 6:45
Tuesday, September 9, 9:00
Johnny (Edwin Johnson), now working for Malafide, finds and rescues Phil (Teddy Weiler), an aging Beat poet who has had a stroke. Ray Carney writes: "In Stroke (a punning title), the touch of a woman's hand, the kindness of a friend, or the sound of a voice can give the hopeless fleeting hope." (US 2000) 95 min.

Scheme C6
Saturday, September 6, 9:00
Wednesday, September 10, 6:45
Bid (Cory Duval) is a self-styled rebel on a motorcycle determined to prove to his father Qually (Bruce Marovich), a 30-year veteran of the San Francisco Police Department, that he can live outside the law, without family, friends or even a place to stay. With Monica Cortes Viharo, David Fine. (US 2001) 97 min.

Need
Sunday, September 7, 2:15
Wednesday, September 10, 9:00
Jane (Marianne Heath) is a stripper, her mother Lou (Brette McCabe) an aging prostitute defying the pimps. Petite (Diane Gaidry) robs johns, and Francesca (Gabriel Maltz Larkin) manages an escort service. In a profession that thrives on fantasy and martyrdom, these four women struggle to hold on to their reasons for caring for each other. Producer: Beth LaDove (US 2005) 97 min.

Pan
Sunday, September 7, 4:30
Thursday, September 11, 6:45
Ex-convict Pan (Kieron McCartney) tries to father a group of street people in a homeless encampment by the railroad. Into their lives comes Bobby (Nighttrain Schickele), a lonely latchkey kid who follows Pan out there. Critic David Templeton writes: "Pan makes heartrending visual poetry out of the iconic images of trains and railroad tracks... " (US 2006) 96 min.

Go Together
Sunday, September 7, 6:45
Thursday, September 11, 9:00
The culmination of the series takes self-referential and expressionistic curves, as a couple (Denny Dey and Michelle Anton Allen) struggle with the survival of both their marriage and the failing Oakland art cinema they own... ironically showing the 9 @ Night movies. Homeless gather in the alleys, and the theater itself wants to speak to them. (US 2007) 100 min.

Related Events:
Pre-Opening Celebration
Honoring Faithful Fools Street Ministry
Thursday, August 28, 6:30
Delancey Street
600 Embarcadero Street

Information & RSVP: www.citizencinema.net

9 @ Night Series
August 29-September 4
Roxie Theater
3117 16th Street
San Francisco
www.roxie.com