Cinema under the Stars: Around the World in 10 Weeks
May08, film May 18th, 2008
By Roger Beebe, May 2008
This summer Gainesville will play host to an incredibly exciting slate of outdoor screenings, thanks to a renewed collaboration between FLEX, the Florida Experimental Film/Video Festival, and the City’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs.
The series, christened Summer C.u.t.S. (shortened from Cinema under the Stars), will consist of 10 weekly screening of classic films at the Thomas Center’s Turtle Court, downtown Gainesville.
The series was inaugurated last year when FLEX’s Warren Cockerham programmed a remarkable series of world cinema classics over a nine-week period. With Cockerham’s departure to pursue an M.F.A. at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, there was a good chance that this series would have been a one-time-only affair. However, when David Ballard, the new Events Coordinator contacted FLEX about bringing the series back, longtime FLEX member and Video Rodeo co-owner Zach Veltheim stepped up to assume the programming duties.
As with the previous series, the films screened were culled from UF’s 16mm print collection, a collection that nearly ended up in a Dumpster before finding a home with the Film and Media Studies program. From this collection, Veltheim followed Cockerham’s lead in selecting an assortment of films from various national traditions. Compared to the previous year’s programming, though, Veltheim’s selections are a bit less canonical, although all of the films are worthy for inclusion in any list of classics. A number of the films are lesser known works by major directors (Luis Buñuel, Roman Polanski, and the recently deceased Robert Altman and Ingmar Bergman) while others are by directors really should be household names but aren’t (Jean Vigo, Peter Watkins).
Veltheim explained that one of the criteria guiding his selection process was the rarity of the films. “Half of the films in the series are out of print, so they’re almost impossible to see,” Veltheim said. An additional criterion was that the prints had to be in good condition. “With 16mm prints that are as old as these are and that have been stored in less than ideal conditions, the quality can vary widely, so I watched all of the prints from start to finish. While I had to eliminate some films that I love because of the print condition, I’m very happy with the prints we’re going to be able to show.” Veltheim said that the print of Jean-Luc Godard’s Masculin Féminin is especially gorgeous.
There are almost innumerable reasons for endorsing this series. In addition to the rarity of many of these films, perhaps even rarer these days is the experience of actually seeing classic films presented on celluloid. Not only is the image infinitely richer—I remember being shocked last year by how much more shadow detail was visible in the print Polanski’s Repulsion than in the DVD version—but the experience of seeing the 16mm projector chugging away just behind you adds something immeasurable to the film experience. The clicking sound of the projector is easily as worthy of fetishization as are the crackles and pops of surface noise on vinyl records.
But also important at the C.u.t.S. experience is the dying art of the communal film viewing experience. Last year, people came equipped with camping chairs or picnic blankets and enjoyed these films together in the peaceful confines of Turtle Court. Of course, the films are the same if you watch them at home in your La-Z-Boy (although half of these you can’t see in that context, since they’re unavailable), but it’s a great feeling to be part of an audience, especially (as was often the case last year) when the whole crowd joins in applause after the enjoyment of a great film.
But finally, of course, are the films themselves. There’s hardly room here to enumerate the merits of each of these films, but there’s not a dud in the bunch, and almost all are inarguably great. One of the most notable things about the series is the cluster of films from 1964-1974, perhaps one of the richest periods of experimentation in the history of cinema. The films from that period are remarkably different from each other (largely as a result of the different national contexts from which they emerge), but each shares the spirit of reinvention that was part of the larger cultural movements at that time. The pairing of Alea and Godard’s films is perhaps the most fortuitous in that it demonstrates the connections and differences between the experimentation of the French New Wave in the lead up to the revolutionary events in France in May 1968 and the parallel experimentation by a self-styled “bourgeois” Cuban filmmaker after Castro’s revolution. The films from outside that revolutionary historical period are equally noteworthy—Buñuel’s amazing tale of Mexican street urchins, the beautiful, oneiric tale of childhood rebellion in Zero for Conduct, Kurosawa’s transplanting of Macbeth into Imperial Japan. It’s really an incredibly thoughtfully curated and challenging series. From start to finish, this year’s Summer C.u.t.S. should be an absolute delight. I know I’m canceling all my Tuesday plans this summer to be able to take in (and take part in) this amazing program.
Summer C.u.t.S. schedule
All screenings are free, although donations to FLEX are accepted at the shows. All shows begin at dusk.
May 20: Robert Altman’s “California Split” (1974)
May 27: Luis Buñuel’s Los “Olvidados” (1950)
June 3: Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s “Memories of Underdevelopment” (1968)
June 10: Jean-Luc Godard’s “Masculin Féminin” (1966)
June 17: Jean Vigo’s “Zero for Conduct” (1933) plus bonus shorts
June 24: Peter Watkins’ “The War Game” (1965) plus bonus shorts
July 1: Bryan Forbes’ “Séance on a Wet Afternoon” (1964)
July 8: Ingmar Bergman’s “Hour of the Wolf” (1968)
July 15: Roman Polanski’s “Cul de Sac” (1966)
July 22: Akira Kurosawa’s “Throne of Blood” (1957)
More info: www.flexfest.org or www.myapace.com/summercuts
N.B.: The show will go on even in case of rain. The Thomas Center’s Spanish Court, just yards from the Turtle Court, will be available to hold the screenings in the event that the weather doesn’t cooperate on any given night.
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Cinema under the Stars: Around the World in 10 Weeks
May08, film May 18th, 2008
By Roger Beebe, May 2008
This summer Gainesville will play host to an incredibly exciting slate of outdoor screenings, thanks to a renewed collaboration between FLEX, the Florida Experimental Film/Video Festival, and the City’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs.
The series, christened Summer C.u.t.S. (shortened from Cinema under the Stars), will consist of 10 weekly screening of classic films at the Thomas Center’s Turtle Court, downtown Gainesville.
The series was inaugurated last year when FLEX’s Warren Cockerham programmed a remarkable series of world cinema classics over a nine-week period. With Cockerham’s departure to pursue an M.F.A. at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, there was a good chance that this series would have been a one-time-only affair. However, when David Ballard, the new Events Coordinator contacted FLEX about bringing the series back, longtime FLEX member and Video Rodeo co-owner Zach Veltheim stepped up to assume the programming duties.
As with the previous series, the films screened were culled from UF’s 16mm print collection, a collection that nearly ended up in a Dumpster before finding a home with the Film and Media Studies program. From this collection, Veltheim followed Cockerham’s lead in selecting an assortment of films from various national traditions. Compared to the previous year’s programming, though, Veltheim’s selections are a bit less canonical, although all of the films are worthy for inclusion in any list of classics. A number of the films are lesser known works by major directors (Luis Buñuel, Roman Polanski, and the recently deceased Robert Altman and Ingmar Bergman) while others are by directors really should be household names but aren’t (Jean Vigo, Peter Watkins).
Veltheim explained that one of the criteria guiding his selection process was the rarity of the films. “Half of the films in the series are out of print, so they’re almost impossible to see,” Veltheim said. An additional criterion was that the prints had to be in good condition. “With 16mm prints that are as old as these are and that have been stored in less than ideal conditions, the quality can vary widely, so I watched all of the prints from start to finish. While I had to eliminate some films that I love because of the print condition, I’m very happy with the prints we’re going to be able to show.” Veltheim said that the print of Jean-Luc Godard’s Masculin Féminin is especially gorgeous.
There are almost innumerable reasons for endorsing this series. In addition to the rarity of many of these films, perhaps even rarer these days is the experience of actually seeing classic films presented on celluloid. Not only is the image infinitely richer—I remember being shocked last year by how much more shadow detail was visible in the print Polanski’s Repulsion than in the DVD version—but the experience of seeing the 16mm projector chugging away just behind you adds something immeasurable to the film experience. The clicking sound of the projector is easily as worthy of fetishization as are the crackles and pops of surface noise on vinyl records.
But also important at the C.u.t.S. experience is the dying art of the communal film viewing experience. Last year, people came equipped with camping chairs or picnic blankets and enjoyed these films together in the peaceful confines of Turtle Court. Of course, the films are the same if you watch them at home in your La-Z-Boy (although half of these you can’t see in that context, since they’re unavailable), but it’s a great feeling to be part of an audience, especially (as was often the case last year) when the whole crowd joins in applause after the enjoyment of a great film.
But finally, of course, are the films themselves. There’s hardly room here to enumerate the merits of each of these films, but there’s not a dud in the bunch, and almost all are inarguably great. One of the most notable things about the series is the cluster of films from 1964-1974, perhaps one of the richest periods of experimentation in the history of cinema. The films from that period are remarkably different from each other (largely as a result of the different national contexts from which they emerge), but each shares the spirit of reinvention that was part of the larger cultural movements at that time. The pairing of Alea and Godard’s films is perhaps the most fortuitous in that it demonstrates the connections and differences between the experimentation of the French New Wave in the lead up to the revolutionary events in France in May 1968 and the parallel experimentation by a self-styled “bourgeois” Cuban filmmaker after Castro’s revolution. The films from outside that revolutionary historical period are equally noteworthy—Buñuel’s amazing tale of Mexican street urchins, the beautiful, oneiric tale of childhood rebellion in Zero for Conduct, Kurosawa’s transplanting of Macbeth into Imperial Japan. It’s really an incredibly thoughtfully curated and challenging series. From start to finish, this year’s Summer C.u.t.S. should be an absolute delight. I know I’m canceling all my Tuesday plans this summer to be able to take in (and take part in) this amazing program.
Summer C.u.t.S. schedule
All screenings are free, although donations to FLEX are accepted at the shows. All shows begin at dusk.
May 20: Robert Altman’s “California Split” (1974)
May 27: Luis Buñuel’s Los “Olvidados” (1950)
June 3: Tomás Gutiérrez Alea’s “Memories of Underdevelopment” (1968)
June 10: Jean-Luc Godard’s “Masculin Féminin” (1966)
June 17: Jean Vigo’s “Zero for Conduct” (1933) plus bonus shorts
June 24: Peter Watkins’ “The War Game” (1965) plus bonus shorts
July 1: Bryan Forbes’ “Séance on a Wet Afternoon” (1964)
July 8: Ingmar Bergman’s “Hour of the Wolf” (1968)
July 15: Roman Polanski’s “Cul de Sac” (1966)
July 22: Akira Kurosawa’s “Throne of Blood” (1957)
More info: www.flexfest.org or www.myapace.com/summercuts
N.B.: The show will go on even in case of rain. The Thomas Center’s Spanish Court, just yards from the Turtle Court, will be available to hold the screenings in the event that the weather doesn’t cooperate on any given night.
