Coming up in Philly film: American labor, Japanese animation, and slasher Christmas

December is here and the holidays are upon us. Before the film-exhibition community goes into its winter hiatus, there are a few events worth checking out.

December at Lightbox

On Thursday, December 13, Lightbox Film Center presents Prairie Trilogy, a three-part documentary series shot over the course of 1978 to 1980 that tells the story of labor organizer Henry Martinson, in his own words. John Hanson and Rob Nilsson, of 1975 Cannes Camera d’Or winner Northern Lights, codirect. This trio of documentaries captures the then-97-year-old Martinson in the last years before his death, recounting tales from his youth in the North Dakota wilderness and role in founding the Nonpartisan League, a socialist workers' group in the Midwest that was active from 1916 until the mid-1950s. It’s truly a must-see series of films for anyone interested in the history of American labor movements.

Friday, December 14, and Saturday, December 15, the Philly-based digital archive of Japanese experimental film Collaborative Cataloguing Japan (CCJ) returns to Lightbox. In this month’s series, CCJ will be showing the works of animation artist Nobuhiro Aihara, whose career spanned 1969 through 2008. The four-part presentation will feature more than 50 works newly digitized by Postwar Japan Moving Image Archive. On Friday from 7pm to 10pm, two back-to-back programs focus on his early career (1969-1981); Saturday, from 7pm to 10pm, covers the mid-to-late period of Aihara’s work (1982-2008).

Prairie Trilogy and the Aihara screenings cost $8 to $10 (free for Lightbox members).

Merry Christmas from Dead End

If anti-Christmas slasher films are more your speed, the Philadelphia Unnamed Film Festival has just the thing for you with its presentation of Dead End at South Street Cinema on December 15 at 7pm. Family car trips usually lead to some drama, but in this survival-horror road film, one man’s decision to try a new shortcut on his way to the annual Christmas gathering at his in-laws' proves fatal. The 2003 cult film garnered little attention outside of the genre circuit, where it won several accolades, including Best International Film prize at Fantasia Film Festival. Tickets cost $5 at the door and come with free popcorn.

Bad Santa Claus and barefoot Bruce Willis

In the mood for more Christmas-themed horror? Check out Dial Code Santa Claus at PhilaMOCA on Saturday, December 16, at 7:30pm. Described by the American Genre Film Archive as “Home Alone meets ’80s slasher film,” this 1989 French-language film was unavailable to the American market until a newly restored print was screened in retrospect at the 2018 Fantastic Fest in Austin. In its plot, which is somewhat similar to that of Home Alone, a ten-year-old boy protagonist is left to his own devices as he faces off against a sinister Santa Claus. Tickets are $12 in advance or at the door.

Lastly, Philadelphia Film Society hosts a series of holiday films over the next couple weeks, including well-worn classics such as It’s a Wonderful Life and Home Alone. The one film I’m interested in is Die Hard, my personal favorite holiday movie, on Friday, December 21, at 7pm — because who can pass up barefoot Bruce Willis fighting a gang of East German terrorists at an office holiday party on the big screen? Tickets cost $4 to $9.