John Lennon championed him, Dennis Hopper used him and Marilyn Manson loves him. Alejandro Jodorowsky is one of cinema's most controversial and influential filmmakers. In 1968 his scandalous debut FANDO Y LIS caused a riot in Mexico. His ultra-violent underground hit EL TOPO dragged the hippy generation into the '70s, single-handedly invented the American Midnight Movie phenomenon and transformed its creator into a counterculture icon. With THE HOLY MOUNTAIN, his pop-alchemical follow-up, Jodorowsky tore apart the very fabric of film. After 35 years in the wilderness, the maverick visionary is back to shock and bedazzle audiences all over again.
EL TOPO
It was the landmark cult film that began the whole Midnight Movie phenomena of the counterculture crazy 1970's. EL TOPO was the most talked about, most controversial quasi-Western head trip ever made, transforming the way risk-taking audiences, seeking mainstream Hollywood alternatives, watched edgy underground films. Classic Americana and avant-garde European cinema sensibilities meet Zen Buddhism and the Bible as master gunfighter and cosmic mystic El Topo (played by writer/director Alejandro Jodorowsky) must defeat his four sharp-shooting rivals on an ever-increasingly bizarre path to allegorical self-enlightenment and surreal resurrection.
THE HOLY MOUNTAIN
The scandal of the 1973 Cannes Film Festival, writer/director Alejandro Jodorowsky's flood of sacrilegious imagery and existential symbolism is a spiritual quest for enlightenment pitting illusion against truth. The Alchemist (Jodorowsky) assembles together a group of people from all walks of life to represent the planets in the solar system. The occult adept's intention is to put his recruits through strange mystical rites and divest them of their worldly baggage before embarking on a trip to Lotus Island. There they ascend the Holy Mountain to displace the immortal gods who secretly rule the universe.
FANDO Y LIS
Banned in Mexico, a permanent cause celebre, surrealist 'fabulador' Alejandro Jodorowsky's unique career began with this bizarre tale of corrupted innocence, sadomasochistic love and unattainable paradise. Created from hazy memories of the controversial Fernando Arrabal play he staged in Paris, Jodorowsky's sublime freak-out follows impotent Fando (Sergio Kleiner) and his paraplegic sweetheart Lis (Diana Mariscal) searching for the enchanted city of Tar where spiritual ecstasy resides. The astonishing road trip takes them through urban rubble, scalding deserts, treacherous mountains, their own pasts and close encounters of the weirdest kind in Jodorowsky's seminal, signature work of startling provocation and incendiary art.
LA CONSTELLATION JODOROWSKY
Who is Alejandro Jodorowsky? Director Louis Mouchet’s expansive documentary unravels some of the mysteries surrounding the cult director, poet, agitator and spiritual teacher. Produced in 1994 this documentary shines a light on the man behind some of the most important and surreal films of the last century. For a director whose work often needs to be seen to be believed this documentary needs to be seen to understand. Close associates of Jodorowsky shed much needed light his work, including the aborted version of Dune. Interviewees include collaborators like comic legend Jean ‘Meobius’ Giraud and playwright and fellow Panic Movement found Fernando Arrabal; former tutor and mime establishment Marceau Marceu; and, famous fans such as Peter Gabriel.
