Thanks for the update, Joel. We were planning on screening /Un
Traductor/ and /Familia/ tonight and tomorrow. Are there other films you
would rather have us screen? /Hale County this Morning/? Is there a link
for this? I am sorry to be so forgetful, but my focus for the past two
months has been on /Library Lost/, and there isn't much room for
anything else. The little brain is working at maximum output. ;)
If you and Alice like a film, then I am perfectly comfortable going with
your recommendation.
Onward, ho!
Laurie
On 11/12/2018 1:43 PM, Joel Johnson wrote:
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
