Brown Paper Bag Party in Bohemia: shorts by Hal Hartley, Vin Diesel and Larry Carty
A shorts program of New York City-set films about the nature of racial and other identities, guest curated by writer and critic Brandon Harris.
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Jun 17, 2025, 8:00 PM
2220 Arts + Archives, 2220 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90057, USA
Brown Paper Bag Party in Bohemia:
short films by Hal Hartley, Vin Diesel and Larry Carty
Guest curated and introduced by Brandon Harris
This program revives a trio of tart, ironic, longish NYC-set films about the nature of racial and other identities, from directors whose work and personae within American cinema bridges the gap between the most crassily commercial (Diesel) and the most uncompromisingly arthouse (Hartley). -Brandon Harris
doors/bar: 7:30
films: 8:00
OREOS WITH ATTITUDE
directed by Larry Carty
1991, U.S., 30m, DCP
4K restoration from IndieCollect
Richard and Janet are a young black couple desperate to “make it.” Inspired by Donald Trump’s The Art of the Deal (which we see Richard reading), they take social climbing to new heights by adopting a white child. Produced by Todd Haynes, Christine Vachon and Barry Ellsworth.
Official Selection: New Directors/New Films, 1991
THEORY OF ACHIEVEMENT
directed by Hal Hartley
1991, U.S., 18m, DCP
A side-eyed glimpse at the existential angst of the (mostly) white and unemployed creative class in Williamsburg, featuring a cast of Hartley regulars (Elina Löwensohn, Bill Sage, Bob Gosse).
MULTI-FACIAL
directed by Vin Diesel
1995, U.S., 21m, DCP
A multiracial actor (Diesel) enters a series of auditions where he plays different ethnicities to meet industry expectations in this hilarious and touching autobiographical short film.
Total runtime: approx. 70m.
Special thanks to Chris McChane (Possible Films), Cameron Haffner and Sandra Schulberg (IndieCollect).
Brandon Harris is the president and co-founder, with the director Shaka King, of I’d Watch That, author of Making Rent in Bed-Stuy (2017), director of Redlegs (2012), contributing editor to Filmmaker Magazine and a recovering streaming era Hollywood studio executive. His writing has also appeared in The New Yorker, The New Republic, VICE, Variety, and The New York Review of Books.