Hi Joel, Thanks for nudging me forward with my preferences. It has been a
busy construction week and my access to a computer that I can actually type
on versus the tiny keyboard on my phone has been a challenge. But, the
moment has arrived so here goes.
I'm pretty solid on the following four films...Ramen Shop, What Price
Hollywood, Iceman and Searching for Bergman. Is Iceman Still a contender
for the schedule?
I'm intrigued with Third Wife and Budapest Noir. Trailers are my only
insight to either of these two films. So not much to go on as to forming an
opinion other than instinct... though your confidence with the Third Wife
is good enough for me.
Waldheim Waltz appears to be a story of a lying political leader and I lean
to Abbott's thought that we are all already weary of our own lying
character. Not attracted to this film.
Genesis 2.0 seems to have been pushed to edge (or off the edge?) of our
consideration. Indeed it has flaws as a film but it has some (if not a lot
of) shock value that may interest our audience.
If there is an open slot Rashomon would be a great choice for our classic
film.
In the event that What Price Hollywood falls of the tracks I would choose
Searching for I Bergman.
I'm fine with the flow of your framework as well as Alice's chart from this
morning.
Thanks and I will continue to follow the emails.
Bob
On Thu, Nov 15, 2018 at 9:26 AM Joel Johnson <joel_johnson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
Bob:
You are a precinct that hasn’t reported yet (or somehow I missed your
response or it got lost in the cybersphere). Do you have any
recommendations for the final selections? Thanks for your input and best
wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving next week!
Joel
*From:* cinemaexp-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <cinemaexp-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> *On
Behalf Of *Joel Johnson
*Sent:* Monday, November 12, 2018 1:44 PM
*To:* cinemaexp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* [cinemaexp] MAKING SOME FINAL DECISIONS
*Importance:* High
Even before the e-mails of the last couple of days, it had occurred to me
that we were definitely running out of time (next week is Thanksgiving!)
and needed to come to some resolution on what films to include and when to
show them. Attached is a proposal with some options for your consideration.
This leaves a lot of the films on our list out in the cold.
I have compressed our schedule to work around the Women’s Protest Marches
called for 1/19/19 and for the weekend of satellite screenings of MJFF
films for 3/9-10/19.
OPENING THE SERIES ON 1/12-13/19: We have usually tried to have an upbeat,
fun film to start our series. Food-oriented films—usually docs—have been
ideal in this position. Obviously, there seems to be growing interest in
the food-oriented drama “RAMEN SHOP.” I had leaned toward possibly placing
it in the middle of our series as I was concerned that it might not have
the dynamism that would be ideal as an opener. You may not share that
concern and certainly not all of our opening films would have been
described as “dynamic.” “RAMEN SHOP” might be the consensus choice for a
food-oriented opener. We might also decide to start with something other
than a food-oriented film. We had wanted to show “WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD?”
before it screened on TCM on 1/31/19 which gives us our opening weekend of
1/12-13/19 or our second weekend 1/26-27/19. Another option would be to
show the Bergman documentary “SEARCHING FOR INGMAR BERGMAN” as an opener.
This might be a good way to honor his legacy, provide an overview of his
films, and to demonstrate how his films continue to influence filmmakers.
SECOND WEEKEND 1/26-27/19: Obviously, if we do decide to go with the
food-oriented narrative or the Bergman doc, that would leave “WHAT PRICE
HOLLYWOOD?” as our second weekend film. If we chose “WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD?”
as the opener, then we would have a number of options for this slot.
THIRD WEEKEND 2/2-3/19: February is Black History month. Our screening of
“LIFE AND NOTHING MORE” didn’t work out very well, but “HALE COUNTY THIS
MORNING, THIS EVENING” has very strong reviews and seems to address many of
the same issues as “LIFE AND NOTHING MORE.” It would have the advantage of
being shorter and allowing more opportunity for a post-film discussion.
Another very highly regarded film from The Cinema Guild is the Latino
immigrant film “ON THE SEVENTH DAY.” Another option for this slot would be
“RAFIKI” which is the Kenyan lesbian film from FilmMovement.
FOURTH WEEKEND 2/16-17/19: This one has a number of options with films
that we have had on our list for many of which we have had screeners. We
have not had screeners for “THE THIRD WIFE”—though Alice and I did see it
in Toronto and were quite impressed—and “3 FACES” from Iranian director
Jafar Panahi which has good critical support
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8269552/criticreviews?ref_=tt_ov_rt and
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/3_faces I didn’t initially include
“ICEMAN” for this slot because I thought the title might be something of a
downer for the middle of winter and that it might be perceived better at
the end of the series when there may be more light at the end of the winter
tunnel. If we decide to include “GENESIS 2.0” in our final time-slot and
want to include “ICEMAN” we would need to consider it for this slot.
FIFTH WEEKEND 3/2-3/19: This is the weekend before MJFF and last year
probably helped boost the attendance for MJFF satellite screenings at RRSQ.
“THE WALDHEIM WALTZ” is probably the most attractive of the films that I
discussed with Barbara Merson of MJFF. I don’t think it was initially one
that was going to be offered to us. I specifically asked about it and was
told that we “could negotiate on that one.” Anyway, “THE INTERPRETER” is
another film that has fairly favorable reviews
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_interpreter My wife and maybe some
others were intrigued by the noirish thriller “BUDAPEST NOIR.” The IMDb
webpage has a handful of reviews. The biggest problem noted in one was that
it seemed quite similar to other noir-type films. This seems to me to be
the type of criticism that might come from a film critic yet wouldn’t be a
big problem for an average filmgoer—or to borrow from Garrison Keillor—an
above-average filmgoer as we know all of our CINEMA EXPLORATION filmgoers
are. I think we are likely to be fairly well satisfied by which ever option
we choose from the films already part of the MJFF. The one that I think
might not be quite as attractive is the documentary “INSIDE THE MOSSAD.” I
was concerned that this is the would be perceived kind of documentary that
will make you a better person for having seen it, but probably won’t be
much fun (the bad-tasting medicine-type documentary).
SIXTH AND FINAL WEEKEND 3/16-17/19: I was proposing three films that could
be seen earlier depending on our choices, but would make fairly good
closing films. If for some reason we could not schedule “WHAT PRICE
HOLLYWOOD?” at a workable price, we could consider the runner-up classic
“WILD STRAWBERRIES” for this slot as well. “GENESIS 2.0” was the only one
that we pretty much agreed had issues for which our audience might have
negative reactions (i.e., bored, pervasive sense of dread, comprehending
the issues) and, therefore, could affect the overall series and so it would
be best shown only as the final film. I’m a little leery about showing
films for which I know there could be negative audience reactions even
though we have shown films in the past and even may be including other
films this year for which audiences may have been or may be challenged.
Clearly there are ethical issues that probably will need to be addressed
about the artistic and genetic use of what is recovered from long-dead
mammoths. “GENESIS 2.0” definitely tries to shed light on these issues, but
is there a distinction between some of our other films and this one in how
the knowledge gained empowers our audience to understand and take action
after seeing it?
So I’d like to hear from folks about their recommendations for which films
to show during each of our six weekends. I’d like to hear from everyone by
Wednesday evening.
By my count, everyone except for my wife Alice and I is unavailable to
meet this Thursday. It, therefore, makes no sense to have any meeting at
RRSq this week. Assuming we can come up with some consensus on a plan for
each weekend we may not need to meet again. Once we have some consensus, I
will contact Barbara at MJFF (about any MJFF selection) and then Ken about
booking all of our choices. Hopefully, we can wrap this up before Turkey
Day. Thank you for your input.
Joel
