March In Bloom

At the beginning of March the gardens of Egypt are really wonderful; on the lawns, anemones, annual and perpetual flowering pinks, chrysanthemums, violets, zinnias, periwinkles, snapdragons, mignonette, pansies, petunias, narcissi, and jonquils, etc., etc., blend their innumberable colours with the green of the Zapania nodiflora and the shrubs...The aloes, the agave attach themselves on rocky slopes. On the banks of the water-courses the blue lotus and the papyrus revive antique reminiscences. 
- Five Months at Cairo & in Lower Egypt, 1883

OPUNTIA, a film by David Fenster (In Attendance)
Co-Presented by Cactus Store
Doors Open 6:30 P.M., Event Starts 7:00 P.M.
Tickets $14 General Admission / $12 VPES Members

In 1528 Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca crossed the Gulf of Mexico on a raft made of melted armor and slaughtered horses. Over the next eight years, he walked across what is now the American Southwest and Northern Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. Experiences with various Native American groups transformed him from conquistador to shamanic healer. When he returned to Spain he wrote La Relación, a chronicle of his experiences in the "New World” and the first European book devoted completely to North America.

Tracing his route and the physical markers of his journey, OPUNTIA imagines his spiritual transformation along the way. Artist David Fenster uses psychics, mediums and poetic techniques to channel the struggles of Cabeza de Vaca as he wanders from Florida all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Writer/Director/Cinematographer David Fenster will be in attendance to introduce the film and discuss with viewers during a post-screening garden reception. 

The Cactus Store will also be in attendance to discuss & sell their latest book Xerophile: Cactus Photographs from Expeditions of the Obsessed, a selection of over five hundred photographs of the rarest and most spectacular plants on earth.

This production is made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs, by the California Arts Council, a state agency, and by the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

Forthcoming...
 

Saturday, March 31st, 2018 - Velasalvasay Panorama Open House
Sunday, April 1st, 2018 - Banana Moonshine Salon Special: An April Fool's Day Affair
Friday, April 6th, 2018 - A World Redrawn: Eisenstein and Brecht in Hollywood - Three Films by Zoe Beloff