Sat, Mar 15, 5:00 pm
One show only! Introduction by author Foster Hirsch

This award-winning “dramatized documentary” by experimental filmmakers Ben Maddow (THE ASPHALT JUNGLE), Sidney Meyers, and Joseph Strick (MUSCLE BEACH) is a lyrical exploration of self-estrangement and alienation that offers vivid details of midcentury urban American life. As Judith, stage actress Barbara Baxley is shown wandering the bizarre landscape of L.A. as she awaits the finalization of her divorce. From the airport to the city’s bars, burlesque clubs, evangelical churches, and beauty parlors, Baxley functions as silent witness to an array of ugly situations and broken faces; all filmed with unflinching scrutiny by cinematographers Jack Couffer, Helen Levitt, and Haskell Wexler over a period of four years. By the film’s conclusion, Baxley has undergone a radical transformation in both body and spirit, a process that similarly transforms the film from a bleak study in isolation to a remarkable celebration of human connection. DIR/SCR/PROD Ben Maddow; SCR/PROD Sidney Meyers, Joseph Strick. US, 1960, b&w, 68 min. NOT RATED

Ticket Information:
The National Building Museum is proud to partner with the American Film Institute (AFI) Silver Theatre and Cultural Center on this film series, "L.A. Modern, 1960–2000," which surveys mid-century to postmodern views of Los Angeles as the city of angels evolved into the nation’s second largest, and most modern, metropolis. The AFI Silver Theatre is located at 8633 Colesville Road in Silver Spring, Maryland, Silver Spring Metro, Red Line.

BUY TICKETS THROUGH AFI.com/Silver. $8.50 AFI and NBM members | $12 General Admission | $10 Seniors (65+), Students (with valid ID), and Military | $7 Children (12 and under). Tickets may also be purchased at the box office (opens 30 minutes before the first show of the day). Please note that tickets are not available for purchase through the National Building Museum.

Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940-1990 is generously supported by the Milton and Dorothy Sarnoff Raymond Foundation, ZGF Architects LLP, Lois England, and the Reinsch Pierce Family Foundation, Lola C. Reinsch and J. Almont Pierce.