Summer Shorts: Sci-Fi TV Movies

Relics and Forgotten Gems Curated from the Reserve Film and Video Collection

Wednesdays in August we’re bringing some of New York’s finest film experts to the Steven A Schwarzman Building, where they'll present one-time-only movie nights that they’ve curated from the Library for the Performing Arts’ 60-plus-year-old collection of 16mm films. Get out of the heat and watch wonderful and strange docs, shorts, tv movies, and features selected and presented in-person by curators from the Library for the Performing Arts, Alamo Drafthouse, Maysles Documentary Center, and the Criterion Collection.

August 30th’s program is curated and presented in-person by Cristina Cacioppo, chief programmer at the Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn. She has picked a double feature of two vintage TV movies, one based on a story by Ray Bradbury and the other by Isaac Asimov:

• “The Electric Grandmother” (1981, dir. Noel Black)


• “The Ugly Little Boy” (1977, Learning Corporation of America)
  Full descriptions below

“The Electric Grandmother” (1981)
Starring Maureen Stapleton. Based on a story by Ray Bradbury. A recently widowed father hires an electric grandmother to care for his three children. When the grandmotherly robot arrives from Mr. Fantoccini's workshop, she amazes the family with her unusual skills which include pouring beverages with her finger and hanging wash from a kite. The young daughter alone remains unimpressed until the grandmother acts on her promise that, "I'll always be here when you need me.

"The Ugly Little Boy" (1977)
Based on a short story by Isaac Asimov, a group of scientists bring a Neanderthal child through time to their futuristic world, 40,000 years advanced. To watch over him, they select a nurse whose career has been characterized by an absence of emotional attachments. In spite of herself, the nurse sympathizes with the primitive creature's subjection to laboratory tests and tries to surmount communication barriers. As the scientists prepare to send the child back in time, the nurse makes a climactic decision.

Don't miss the rest of the series:

• August 9: New York Essence


• August 16: Youth Run Wild


• August 23: Curated by Edo Choi
  

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Registration does not guarantee admission. For free events, we generally overbook to ensure a full house. All registered seats are released 15 minutes before start time, so we recommend that you arrive early.