Film Maudit 2.0: A Celebration of the Scandalous, the Perturbing, and the Too Delicious (Part 1)

Yes, Maudit 2.0 has been extended. For example, you can catch “Artbound: Mustache Mondays” (directed by Marianne Amelinckx) on February 11th at 8:30pm.

The Los Angeles-based Film Maudit 2.0 began on January 12th and suddenly refuses to end until February 12th. I’m sorry. Some good things just can’t be stopped. If you try, it might run until February 13th.

Now, for those of you not on the West Coast who can’t get your butts to the Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica ‑ let’s say for some reason you’re situated in Idaho or Djibouti — you can still partake of the Fest’s extensive offerings online (watch.filmmaudit.org), and you can watch them for free or pay what you will.

As for the literal translation of the term film maudit, it’s “cursed film.” Well, back in 1949, as I noted in last year’s coverage, the writer/director/god Jean Cocteau ushered in a jury that pulled together a showcase of cinematic offerings that’d been slighted at the time or were judged “shocking, outré, and bold.” The result: the legendary Festival du Film Maudit in Biarritz. Among the showcased were Kenneth Anger’s zipper-exploding “Fireworks” (1947) and Jean Vigo’s L’Atalante (1934).

Jean Cocteau, who did it all more than once, created the original Festival du Film Maudit in Biarritz.