Skip to main content
200 Motels film image; comic book style art collage of a man's face floating over a bunch of figures

Zappostrophe

+ Frank Zappa’s 200 Motels Film Screening

VIFF Live

This event has passed

Time to fly your freak flag and jump into Frank Zappaland. A prodigious and prolific talent, Zappa (1940-1993) composed, recorded and produced more than 60 albums; music that brought to rock the complexity and sophistication of classical composition, drawing on jazz, blues, pop and music concrete, but leavened with a surreal and satiric wit.

Ahead of his time, Zappa also directed music videos and the feature 200 Motels (with Tony Palmer), a free-form rock tour riff with Keith Moon as a hot nun and Ringo Starr playing a dwarf Zappa that was shot on videotape in just 10 days. It’s a cult curio that revels in its own sense of possibility. Before the movie, enjoy a set of Zappa tunes resurrected and reimagined by the electrifying Zappostrophe, an eclectic 8-piece band who channel surf FZ’s discography.

Blair Fisher – vocals / trumpet / flute / keys
Blair Lewis – guitar / synths / vocals / rubber chicken
LJ Mounteney – vocals / kazoo
Nick Apivor – percussion / vocals
Guenter Schulz – guitar
Cole Tinney – keyboards
Brent Gubbels – bass
Jason Overy – drums

Zappostrophe…dares to take on Zappa’s weird and wonderful world – recreating his tunes with jaw-dropping musicianship, and a wink to his irreverent humour.

CHEK TV, 2024

Guest

Zappostrophe

Directors

Tony Palmer & Frank Zappa

Cast

Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon

Credits
Country of Origin

USA

Year

1971

Language

English

19+
150 min

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Screenwriter

Frank Zappa

Cinematography

Tony Palmer

Editor

Rich Harrison

Original Music

Frank Zappa

Production Design

Cal Schenkel

Art Director

Leo Austin

Also Playing

Kryptic

Dir. Kourtney Roy
96 min

Oozing psycho-sexual anxiety, Kourtney Roy's fascinating feminist horror movie feints toward creature-feature quirk, but morphs into something much stranger. Chloe Pirrie plays a double role, or maybe Everywoman, adrift in a world of men and monsters.

Kryptic Live will feature a one-time-only screening of the film live scored by composer Cayne Mackenzie + Q&A with director Kourtney Roy.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Mary Ancheta Plays Betty Davis Tribute

Dir. Phil Cox
150 min

In this VIFF Live event, keyboardist Mary Ancheta and her band channel the phenomenal funk of 70s sensation Betty Davis, featuring Dawn Pemberton on vocals. The live music portion of the event will be followed by Phil Cox's invaluable 2017 documentary, They Say I'm Different.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

BC's Blue Note Legacy Quartet

150 min

Four of Vancouver's best jazz musicians come together as BC's Blue Note Legacy Quartet memorializing the iconic recording label (home to Monk, Coltrane, Wayne Shorter and so many others) followed by Sophie Huber's acclaimed 2018 documentary, Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Minnie and Moskowitz

Dir. John Cassavetes
114 min

John Cassavetes' deliciously witty take on Hollywood romance is a modern screwball comedy, a mismatched love story between a car park attendant (Seymour Cassel) and a museum administator (Gena Rowlands) who believes herelf to be too good for him.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Mambar Pierrette

Dir. Rosine Mbakam
93 min

The third and final film of the spring session of African Cinema Now is the first dramatic feature from Cameroonian non-fiction filmmaker Rosine Mbakam (Chez Jolie Coiffure), an imaginative portrait of a seamstress.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

Freaks

Dir. Tod Browning
64 min

Beautiful circus trapeze artiste Cleopatra likes to flirt with one of the sideshow attractions, Hans, a dwarf. When she learns that Hans is a wealthy man she decides to marry him. It's a choice she will live to regret... An unforgettable 1932 shocker.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema