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6621    ST.   Claude    ave.   arabi,   la     70032
(504) 352-1150                  rene@zeitgeistnola.org​

"Something for and against everybody"
 Zeitgeist is a non-profit, art house cinema that was founded in New Orleans in November 1986.
We installed 3 UV air-scrubbers in our ventilation system for your safety.  Masks are required.  We are social distancing. Our theatre and lounge is professionally cleaned and sanitized by Jani-King of New Orleans.  Check out our new Dolby sound system.
See two or more films on the same night and save $4
purchase advanced film tickets here
[TICKETS]
Wednesday, October 28th: 
in the Zeitgeist Theatre

Closed due to weather

We will be open again on Thursday, October 28:

​6:30 pm - HAM ON RYE
(like John Hughes on LSD)
An offbeat subversion of the coming-of-age genre, the film features an expansive ensemble cast, including actors Lori Beth Denberg, Danny Tamberelli, Aaron Schwartz, and Clayton Snyder.

8:10 pm - SHITHOUSE
 2020s biggest surprise! An incredibly honest & pleasant Linklater-esque college romance that depicts the struggles of leaving the familiar embrace.
Opens October 26
6:30PM
HAM ON RYE by Tyler Taormina
[TICKETS]  [TRAILER]
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​Ham on Rye, a coming-of-age comedy centered on the nervous excitement of youth and the strange horror of entering adulthood uses an expansive ensemble of over one hundred performers, including non-actors, musicians, 90's Nickelodeon child stars, and more, to explore a suburban community’s relationship with a prom-like ritual and the decay of the human spirit. It begins with the crowd-pleasing spirit of a John Hughes movie and fades slowly into an off-kilter dystopia with the energy of Dazed and Confused.  Starring Haley Bodell, Cole Devine, Audrey Boos, Gabriella Herrera, Adam Torres, Sam Hernandez,  Luke Darga, Blake Borders, Timothy Taylor, Greg Falatek, Laura Wernette, David Croley Broyles, Henry Nolin, Hal Rothwell, Grant McLellan, Dan Jablons. With Special Appearances by Lori Beth Denberg, Danny Tamberelli, Clayton Snyder and Aaron Schwartz. 

8:10PM
SHITHOUSE
[TICKETS] [TRAILER]
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​Lonely college freshman Alex (writer/director Cooper Raiff) has closed himself off from his peers, who all appear to have this whole “college thing” figured out. But everything changes one night when Alex takes a leap and attends a party at Shithouse – a legendary party fraternity – where he forges a strong connection with Maggie (Dylan Gelula, FIRST GIRL I LOVED). The next day, she ignores him completely and seems to have forgotten about their amazing night. Desperately clinging to his social breakthrough, Alex pulls out all the stops with one more night at Shithouse, hoping to rekindle that moment of connection. From producer Jay Duplass, this Grand Jury Prize Winner at the 2020 SXSW Film Festival announces a hilarious and winning new star of American independent film.  
ZEITGEIST'S RESPONSE TO COVID - 19 VIRUS:

As the state begins to reopen the economy, we are as cautious as you when it comes to reopening the cinema. That is why we took an extra week to make all the improvements to our space to make in person screenings a safer experience. Rest assured, we take the safety of our patrons and our staff very seriously.

Here are the above and beyond precautionary measures we now have in place.
  1. We are operating at 40% capacity, so no more than 32 customers will be allowed to see a film at a time.
  2. We require all patrons to wear a mask when visiting the theater.  We have complimentary masks and gloves available at the Box Office if desired.
  3. We have installed Air Scrubbers in each of the three AC units to sanitize and purify the air throughout the building.  The space age technology kills mold, bacteria, dust mites and H1N1 viruses in the air.
  4. We have hand sanitizers available both at the entrance to the theater and at the entrance to our venue.
  5. All staff are wearing masks.
  6. We are maintaining social distancing between each patron in our line.
  7. We are socially distancing in the theater, so there are now cocktail tables between each seat.
  8. We are screening films for the time being. There won't be any music or performances until Phase 3
  9. Our workers serve you from behind temporary plexiglass partitions.
  10. The entire theater is professionally cleaned each morning and our staff sanitizes seats between shows.
  11. Seniors and people with serious medical conditions are advised to stay home and watch our films virtually.
  12. ​We changed the front door to include an electronic  pad to allow patrons to enter the building without using their hands.​
  13. In addition to screening films in person, we continue to offer virtual screenings of our films for patrons who have vulnerable conditions and would prefer to wait and see how the reopening goes.
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This has been a hard time for us all and we remain grateful to all of you who have supported us through this time. 

Donations or memberships to help keep us afloat can be made on PayPal via rene@zeitgeistnola.org 
or on our website under "Support Us"
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Watch this acclaimed shorts program for Free!
Filmmakers Usama Alshaibi and Adam Sekuler announce CINEMA-19, a collection of 190 second short films commissioned in response to COVID-19.  The films in CINEMA-19 do not attempt to summarize the pandemic, but instead focus on the personal, the political, the sensual, the distant, the abstract, and the absurd. 

Sarah Ema Friedland, Matt McCormick, Kalpana Subramanian, Christin Turner, Mila Zuo, William Brown, Kelly Gallagher, Lori Felker, Courtney Stepehens, Scott Cummings, Amir George, Eman Akram Nader, Alex Megaro, Mehrnaz Saeedvafa, as well as the two commissioning artists; Usama Alshaibi and Adam Sekuler. 

The films are presented in association with Anthology Film Archives (New York), Zeitgeist Theatre and Lounge (New Orleans) and Northwest Film Forum (Seattle).

​The films are available for free public viewing on Vimeo.   [Watch films here]
ZEITGEIST – NOUN, GERMAN. THE SPIRIT OF THE TIMES; GENERAL TREND, MOOD OR FEELING CHARACTERISTIC OF A PARTICULAR PERIOD OF TIME, ESPECIALLY AS IT IS REFLECTED IN THE ARTS, LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, ETC.   \ˈtsīt-ˌgīst, ˈzīt-\
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OUR VINYL ANNIVERSARY was March 15, 2020
​we are now over 33 and 1/3 years old...
1/3 of a Century!  Now that is a milestone!  Come join us!

We have exhibited countless films, concerts, performances and events in those long years.  We want to thank all of the artists, volunteers, organizations, members, donors and patrons who have kept us going.  
Zeitgeist has received a "Performing Arts Exception" which means we can operate as an ALL-AGES venue and still serve alcohol.  Children and minors may attend Zeitgeist films, concerts and events, but can not sit at or approach the bar.  They may not also consume alcohol.  To purchase and consume alcohol you must have a valid ID.

Zeitgeist is ALL- AGES & SMOKE-FREE 
Now serving in the
ZEITGEIST LOUNGE:
ZEITGEIST'S VIRTUAL ARTHOUSE CINEMA
NOW SHOWING IN YOUR OWN HOME SUPPORTING ZEITGEIST

Click in the Virtual Link to rent the film and stream it at your own schedule on your computer, tablet or other device.  Your rental supports indie filmmakers, distributors and theaters...in this case Zeitgeist.  Thanks!
WHITE RIOT
Britain, late-1970s. Punk is exploding. The country is deeply divided over immigration with the National Front, a far-right political party, gaining strength. Outraged by this xenophobic agenda and a racist speech from Eric Clapton, music photographer Red Saunders teams up with like-minded creatives to form Rock Against Racism. Focusing on issues that the mainstream British media ignores, the RAR zine challenges the status quo and sparks a grassroots youth movement that The Clash, Steel Pulse, Sham 69, Poly Styrene, Alien Culture and other top punk bands jump on board.  [TRAILER]   [VIRTUAL]
THE KEEPER, directed by Marcus H. Rosenmüller, tells the incredible true story of Bert Trautmann (David Kross), a German soldier and prisoner of war who, against a backdrop of British post-war protest and prejudice, secures the position of Goalkeeper at Manchester City, and in doing so becomes a footballing icon.  His signing causes outrage to thousands of fans, many of them Jewish. But Bert receives support from an unexpected direction: Rabbi Alexander Altmann, who fled the Nazis. Bert’s love for Margaret (Freya Mavor), an Englishwoman, carries him through and he wins over even his harshest opponents by winning the 1956 FA Cup Final, playing on with a broken neck to secure victory. But fate will soon twist the knife for Bert and Margaret, when their love and loyalty to each other is put to the ultimate test.   [TRAILER]  [VIRTUAL LINK]
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JIMMY CARTER:  ROCK & ROLL PRESIDENT
If it hadn’t been for a bottle of scotch and a late-night visit from musician Gregg Allman, Jimmy Carter might never have been elected the 39th President of the United States. The documentary charts the mostly forgotten story of how Carter, a lover of all types of music, forged a tight bond with musicians Willie Nelson, the Allman Brothers, Bob Dylan and others. Low on campaign funds and lacking in name recognition, Carter relied on support from these artists to give him a crucial boost in the Democratic primaries. Once Carter was elected, the musicians became frequent guests in the White House. The surprisingly significant role that music played throughout Carter’s life and in his work becomes a thread in this engaging portrait of one of the most enigmatic Presidents in American history.  Starring Jimmy Carter, Madeleine Albright, Bono Garth Brooks, Jimmy Buffett, Chip Carter, Rosanne Cash, Bishop Michael Curry , Bob Dylan, Chuck Leavell, Willie Nelson, Nile Rodgers, Paul Simon, Trisha Yearwood, Andrew Young, etc.  [TRAILER]   [VIRTUAL LINK]
NATIVE SON
One of the most controversial novels of its day, Richard Wright’s Native Son (first published in 1940) exposed the injustices of urban African American life, witnessed through the eyes of Bigger Thomas, whose violent tendencies and moral confusion were the natural result of a lifetime of deprivation. In prison for murder and sentenced to death, Thomas reflects on the circumstances that led to his fate. This new restoration of the 1951 version of the novel, directed by Pierre Chenal and starring author Richard Wright himself as Bigger Thomas. Too controversial for Hollywood and suppressed for decades, Native Son was released independently and heavily censored by regional state/municipal censor boards wherever it originally played when released in the U.S. A complete 16mm print of the original Argentinian release and an incomplete 35mm duplicate negative of the uncensored cut were combined for the current restoration, the most complete version of Native Son ever shown in the United States.  [VIRTUAL LINK]
SPACE DOGS
Laika, a stray dog, was the first living being to be sent into space and thus to a certain death. According to a legend, she returned to Earth as a ghost and has roamed the streets of Moscow ever since. Following her trace, and filmed from a dog's perspective, SPACE DOGS accompanies the adventures of her descendants: two street dogs living in today's Moscow. Their story is one of intimate fellowship but also relentless brutality, and is interwoven with unseen archive material from the Soviet cosmic era. A magical tale of voyagers scouting for unknown spaces. Visually and conceptually sophistocated, directors Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter powerfully document the lives of these Space Dogs, offering insight not only into the past and space travel, but also life today on earth. 
​ [TRAILER]   [VIRTUAL]
Opening September 25:
in our Virtual Arthouse Cinema

MYTH OF A COLORBLIND FRANCE
For more than a century, Black artists, authors and musicians have traveled to Paris to liberate themselves from the racism of the United States. What made these artistic innovators choose France? And to what extent was (and is) France colorblind?
Myth of a Colorblind France explores these questions by looking at the lives and careers of renowned artists who emigrated to Paris, including Josephine Baker, James Baldwin, Richard Wright, Beauford Delaney, Augusta Savage, and Henry Ossawa Tanner.  [TRAILER]   [VIRTUAL LINK]
THE HOLE by Ming-Liang Tsai
A strange disease starts to affect people in Taiwan just before the year 2000. The authorities order everyone to evacuate, but some tenants of an apartment building stay put, including a shop owner who lives by himself. One day, a plumber goes to the shop owner's apartment to check the pipes. The plumber drills a small hole in the floor, which comes down through the ceiling of another apartment. The hole never gets repaired, and this leads to some tension between the shop owner and the woman who lives below him.  This award-winning pandemic musical from 1999 is the perfect answer to Covid-19.  [TRAILER]   [VIRTUAL LINK]
STILL LIFE by Jia Zhang-ke
Against the backdrop of the mammoth Three Gorges Dam engineering project in the declining city of Fengjie, a poor mine worker from Shanxi, Sanming, arrives in the dilapidated town in the hope of finding his unknown daughter and his ex-wife, Missy Ma, who left him nearly 16 years ago. But in the meantime, a nurse from Taiyuan, Shen Hong, also comes to Fengjie in search of her husband who's been missing for almost two years. Though Shen and Sanming are two perfect strangers, their parallel quests for their beloved missing ones signify the urgency to retrieve what lies hidden in the past, as man is dwarfed by an ever-changing landscape which threatens to bury one's memories deep under water.  This multi-award winning film is from 2006.  [TRAILER]  [VIRTUAL LINK]
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BLOODY NOSE EMPTY POCKETS
[TRAILER]  [VIRTUAL CINEMA LINK]
On the eve of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and on its final night before closing, a Las Vegas dive bar becomes a stage where its employees and barflies commiserate one last time. Directed by local documentary heroes, brothers Bill and Turner Ross train their keenly observed quasi-fiction on the lived-in atmosphere of a haunt, whose massed warmth and love conceal its patron’s worries—at least for a little while. Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets is a carefully constructed yet oddly affecting record of an American sensibility at once straining to survive and ready for the end.
Special thanks to the Meraux Foundation, The Old Arabi Neighborhood Association, Councilman Gillis McCloskey, The St. Bernard Chamber Of Commerce, Shotgun Cinema, Ellis Fortinberry & Chalmette Movies, the people of St. Bernard Parish and those who have followed us from New Orleans for all of their support.  We couldn't have dreamed of a better venue or neighbors.
Zeitgeist would like to acknowledge the indigenous history of New Orleans, and more broadly, Louisiana, and recognize the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe of Louisiana.  We would also like to acknowledge the state-recognized tribes of Louisiana, which include the Addai Caddo Tribe, the Biloxi-Chitimacha Confederation of Muskogee, Choctaw-Apache Community of Ebarb, Clifton Choctaw, Four Winds Tribe Louisiana Cherokee Confederacy, Grand Caillou/Dulac Band, Isle de Jean Charles Band, Louisiana Choctaw Tribe, Pointe-Au-Chien Indian Tribe, and the United Houma Nation. 

C  O  M  I  N  G       S  O  O  N  !

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Opens November 6
in the Zeitgeist Theatre  and our Virtual Arthouse Cinema​

MADRE
Ten years have gone by since Elena’s six-year-old son has disappeared. The last thing she heard of him was a phone call he gave her, saying that he was lost on a beach in France and couldn’t find his father. Nowadays, Elena lives on this same beach and manages a restaurant. She is finally beginning to emerge from this tragic episode when she meets a French teenager who strongly reminds her of her lost son. The two of them will embark on a relationship which will sow chaos and distrust around them.
[TRAILER]   [VIRTUAL LINK]
V I S U A L   A R T   E X H I B I T I O N S
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JOSEPH BEUYS: POSTERS AND PRINTS
on permanent loan and exhibition in the
BEUYS + BEYOND Gallery
(which connects Zeitgeist Theatre and the Lounge)
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Joseph Beuys (12 May 1921 – 23 January 1986) was a German Fluxus, happening and performance artist as well as a painter, sculptor, medallist, installation artist, graphic artist,art theorist and pedagogue. His extensive work is grounded in concepts of humanism, anthroposophy and the “zeitgeist”. It culminates in his "extended definition of art" and the idea of social sculpture as a gesamtkunstwerk, for which he claimed a creative, participatory role in shaping society and politics. His career was characterized by open public debates on a very wide range of subjects including political, environmental, social and long term cultural trends. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential artists of the second half of the 20th century.
Z E I T G E I S T ' S    O N G O I N G    F I L M    S E R I E S :
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BEUYS AND BEYOND
Contemporary Artists On Film

In 1989, Zeitgeist curated a city-wide film series BEUYS AND BEYOND: CONTEMPORARY GERMAN ARTISTS ON FILM which also featured artist talks and performances by area artists.  

​For the premiere of Zeitgeist's great new Theatre & Lounge, we have decided to resurrect the series monthly, but this time expand it to include artists beyond just Germany...

​CANADA IS BIGGER

THAN THE U.S.

Since 1993, Zeitgeist's ongoing SERIES OF FILMS, MUSIC, PERFORMANCES AND VISUAL ART celebrating the innovative, utterly bizarre and extremely vast body of work from our neighbors to the north. Their films may be smaller, but at least their country is bigger!   Size does matter.
Schedule is subject to change as films are held over – please check the website for updates nightly.
Zeitgeist is a non-profit, artist run media arts center that celebrates its 33rd anniversary this November. 
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