Richard Beymer's THE INNERVIEW — Restoration of a Psychedelic Magnum Opus!

7th House and Los Angeles Filmforum are proud to welcome legendary film preservationist Ross Lipman to The Philosophical Research Society for a screening of the restoration of actor/director Richard Beymer's long lost psychedelically experimental magnum opus THE INNERVIEW (1973/1975)! Beymer's feature (expanded and re-edited over the span of decades) is a lysergic rush of kaleidoscopic imagery and self-reflexive exploration, a meta-meditation on cinematic creation that plumbs the depths of the inner world. A monumental rediscovery, THE INNERVIEW is a revelation — especially for those who solely know Beymer for his roles as Benjamin Horne in TWIN PEAKS and WEST SIDE STORY's Tony. For this very special evening, Lipman will be joined by the film's star Joanna Frank (née Bochco) for a sure-to-be fascinating Q&A about the film's history and creation!

FILM NOTES BY ROSS LIPMAN

Richard Beymer began one of the most surprising careers in the history of cinema as a child actor in De Sica’s Terminal Station in 1953, appearing alongside Montgomery Clift and Jennifer Jones. He is of course best known for his unforgettable roles in West Side Story and Twin Peaks. But what did he do between these two milestones? He largely dropped out of Hollywood and became an independent filmmaker. What’s even more unexpected is that the films are revelations. He began with an acclaimed 16mm civil rights documentary called A Regular Bouquet (1964) and then dropped entirely off the grid. His greatest achievement remains The Innerview, a feature-length experimental film that he ostensibly completed in 1973 and has been revising ever since.

A kaleidoscopic tour de force through the process of filmmaking, it’s also a journey through an inner landscape that resonates with the best of 1960s psychedelia. Featuring a stunning performance by lead actress Joanna Bochco, as well as the ever-charismatic Beymer himself, The Innerview offers a parallel vision to the classic American underground of the era. In one of its few public screenings it caught the attention of the “Los Angeles Times”’ Kevin Thomas, who wrote, “Moving beyond the mystery of love to the mystery of life itself, The Innerview’s flood of sometimes frightening, sometimes reassuring and always sensual images evokes a gamut of emotions – overpowering feelings of terror, despair and death mingling with a wondrous sense of oneness with nature and the universe.”

The original 1973 version is lost beyond recovery, as Richard re-cut not just his original negative but all existing prints, in his ongoing quest for perfection. He’s currently nearing completion of a new cut that integrates substantially different sound and picture. This new project by Lightbox Film Center in collaboration with Northeast Historic Film and the National Film Preservation Foundation restores the 1975 version of the film – the last he completed on film, and in many ways the culmination of his early vision of the work. As Beymer said, “I never left the movies. I just made other kinds of movies.”

Join us for this very special evening and experience this lost experimental masterwork!

Dir. Richard Beymer, 1973/1975, 89 mins., United States, English, Unrated (Adult Audiences Only), Digital.

Tickets: $10 (All Screenings Are In Person Only)

Please email events@prs.org or phone 323-663-2167 with any questions.

ABOUT LOS ANGELES FILMFORUM

Los Angeles Filmforum is the city’s longest-running organization dedicated to weekly screenings of experimental film, documentaries, video art, and experimental animation. 2025 is our 50th year. www.lafilmforum.org

ROSS LIPMAN

Ross Lipman is an independent filmmaker, archivist, and essayist. His films have screened throughout the world and been collected by museums and institutions including the Academy Film Archive, Anthology Film Archives, Northeast Historic Film, the Oberhausen Kurzfilm Archive, Budapest's Balazs Bela Studios, and Munich's Sammlung Goetz. His feature documentary Notfilm was named one of the 10 best films of the year by ARTFORUM, SLATE, and many others.

Formerly Senior Film Restorationist at the UCLA Film & Television Archive, his many restorations include Barbara Loden's Wanda, Kent Mackenzie's The Exiles, the Academy Award-winning documentary The Times of Harvey Milk, and works by Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Shirley Clarke, Charles Burnett, Kenneth Anger, Lourdes Portillo, Robert Altman, and John Cassavetes. He was a 2008 recipient of Anthology Film Archives' Preservation Honors, and is a three-time winner of the National Society of Film Critics' Heritage Award. His writings on film history, technology, and aesthetics have been published in Artforum, Sight and Sound, and numerous academic books and journals.

His most recent restorations (in partnership with organizations including UCLA Film & Television Archive, Pacific Film Archive, Lightbox Film Center, Milestone Films, Arbelos, and Criterion) include: David Schickele's Bushman, Nancy Savoca's Household Saints, Peter Kass and Ed Emshwiller's Time of the Heathen, Richard Beymer's The Innerview, Eleanor Antin's The Man Without a World and a new 4K digital revisitation of his landmark 35mm work on Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep, originally released in 2007. His recent film The Case of the Vanishing Gods premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in fall 2021 and was named to Jonathan Rosenbaum's list of ten best films of 2022.

RICHARD BEYMER

George Richard Beymer Jr. (born February 20, 1938 in Avoca, Iowa) is an American actor, filmmaker and visual-artist whose career has spanned more than six decades.

Beginning his career as a child actor, his notable early performances include Peter van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and a part in the epic The Longest Day (1962), before attaining widespread recognition for his lead role as Tony in the classic 1961 film adaptation of West Side Story.

In the 1990s, Beymer gained renewed acclaim with his portrayal of Benjamin Horne in the television series Twin Peaks (1990–91).

Beyond acting, Beymer has written, directed and produced his own films — including A Regular Bouquet: Mississippi Summer (1964), a rare portrait of segregated Mississippi during an historically significant time in American History, and the avant-garde feature film The Innerview (1973) — and in later years shifted his focus toward visual art, documentary filmmaking and personal creative work.

He continues to live a creatively rich life, working outside of purely commercial Hollywood, following his own artistic impulses in film, painting and sculpture.

JOANNA FRANK

Joanna Frank, born on March 7, 1941, in New York City, USA, is an actress known for her role as Sheila Brackman, former husband Alan Rachins' on-screen spouse in L.A. Law, and for appearances in The Outer Limits and Say Anything...

Her first role was in Elia Kazan's 1963 film America, America as the character "Vartuhi", and she also appeared in The Young Animals (1968) and the cult biker film The Savage Seven (1968). Her later film credits included roles in Henry Jaglom's Always, But Not Forever (1985), and the romantic comedy Say Anything... (1989).

On television her first roles were as the malevolent "Regina" in The Outer Limits episode "ZZZZZ", which aired January 27, 1964. The following day, January 28, 1964, the episode "Where the Action Is" in The Fugitive in which she appeared as "Chris Polichek", aired. Years later, she appeared on L.A. Law, which was co-created by her brother, television director and producer Steven Bochco (also producer of Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue) and starring her husband, Alan Rachins.

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With some exception, The Philosophical Research Society’s 7th House Screenings does not typically provide advisory warnings about potentially upsetting content or subject matter, as sensitivities are particular to each viewer. Please be sure to read event listings, research on the web, or visit Common Sense Media, IMDb, and DoesTheDogDie.com for thorough info on content and age-appropriateness. If you have any specific content advisory questions, please email events@prs.org.

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The views, opinions, and thoughts expressed within exhibited works are solely those of their creators and may not represent those of the Philosophical Research Society (PRS), its affiliates, or any individuals associated with PRS. Screenings are intended for educational and entertainment purposes.

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