Begotten (1989)

Begotten (1989) is coming to the Harris Theater on Saturday, October 24, as part of a run that opens October 23 and closes October 29. It's a new 4K restoration of E. Elias Merhige's surreal, gory, and entirely visual work, which runs 72 minutes in black and white (1.33:1). The restoration brings out the film's otherworldly organic texture, something that's easy to miss if you've only seen it on a bootleg.

When it first hit audiences, Begotten left them both fascinated and shocked, and it spent the 1990s as one of those must-see films passed around in hushed tones. It stars Brian Salzburg, Donna Dempsey, and Stephen Charles Barry in a story about the death of religion, the abuse of nature by Man, and a nihilistic outlook on life. Susan Sontag called it "one of the most important films of modern times," and it's now regarded as possibly the godfather of all cult films, having spent years toiling in bootleg obscurity. Seeing it restored in 4K is a different experience from the grainy copies it's known for.

There's also something about the venue that fits. The Harris Theater was formerly the Art Cinema, the first movie house in Pittsburgh to commercially show art films before it became an adult cinema in the 1960s. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust bought and restored it, and it reopened on November 9, 1995. It still regularly uses 35mm projectors, so it's a place that knows how to handle film. Begotten runs from October 23 through October 29, with the 4K restoration on screen for 72 minutes.