The Life And Times of Allen Ginsberg

Co-Presented by Green Apple Books!

“A remarkably clearheaded study of a complex individual…few have taken so many chances and exercised so large an influence.” – The New York Times

“Rich, deep and moving.” – Chicago Tribune

Happy 100th Birthday, Allen Ginsberg!

Visionary, radical, spiritual seeker, renowned poet, founding member of a major literary movement, champion of human rights, Buddhist, political activist and teacher – Allen Ginsberg’s remarkable life shaped the very soul of American counterculture.

For 25 years, Academy Award-nominated director Jerry Aronson accumulated more than 60 hours of film on Ginsberg, resulting in this comprehensive portrait of one of America’s greatest poets, author of Howl and other groundbreaking poems.

The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg premiered at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival and went on to enjoy success at theaters around the country (including the Roxie). Now digitally remastered in 16:9 HD (pillarboxed at 4:3, the film’s original aspect ratio), the film reveals the last 70 years of American culture beginning with the Beat era in the post-war Forties and Fifties, continuing through the revolutionary Sixties and concluding with the uncertainty and possibility of current times.

Our very special screening of this classic film coincides with the 100th anniversary of Allen Ginsberg’s birth in 1926. Join us to celebrate one of America’s great cultural icons!

Preceded by music short:
Allen Ginsberg: The Ballad of the Skeleton
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Written by Paul McCartney • Allen Ginsberg • Philip Glass. 1996

Allen Ginsberg was an unlikely MTV star. In late 1996 the Beat poet was 70 years old and in declining health. He had less than a year to live. But Ginsberg managed to stay culturally and politically relevant, right up to the end. His last major project was a collaboration with Paul McCartney and Philip Glass, among others, on a musical adaptation of his poem, “The Ballad of the Skeletons.” – The Paul McCartney Project