Cinema of rock at the Anthology Film Archives this month

["Viva Las Vegas" at the Anthology Film Archives this month]

A rockin' month-long series kicks off tonight over at the Anthology Film Archives on Second Street at Second Avenue.

Here's a quick overview:

This extensive film series — inspired by David E. James’s extraordinary book, “Rock ‘N’ Film” — ranges from major and minor studio productions to independent documentaries and avant-garde projects. Borrowing its structure from the successive chapters of “Rock ‘N’ Film,” this series functions as a kind of illustrated edition of James’s definitive book, and demonstrates how intertwined the cinema and popular music have been since the inception of rock ‘n’ roll.

Among the titles playing during August:

Richard Brooks
"BlackBoard Jungle"

Fred F. Sears
"Rock Around the Clock"

George Sidney
"Viva Las Vegas"

Richard Lester
"A Hard Day's Night"

Michael Wadleigh
"Woodstock"

Donald Cammell & Nicolas Roeg
"Performance"

Albert Maysles, David Maysles & Charlotte Zwerin
"Gimme Shelter"

Mel Stuart
"Wattsstax"

D.A. Pennebaker
"Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars"

Find more details about the films and the schedule here.