Dear friends:
Please note new updated list of films.
We had an interesting screening of “COMING THROUGH THE RYE.” There were
technical issues that interfered with the viewing experience and caused us to
cut short the screening. However, those in attendance did agree, despite the
subtle herky-jerkiness of the film which was punctuated periodically by less
subtle freezes and jumps, that the film did merit further consideration and
seemed likely to be included in our series pending more complete viewing.
Hopefully, everyone will be able to take a look at it using the link and
password that was sent out last week.
We spent most of our abbreviated meeting going through our list concentrating
on our documentary film possibilities. We covered the first 12 documentary
films on the list and then added one new film. We came to an agreement that we
were not interested in “DO NOT RESIST” (too similar to “PEACE OFFICER” from
last year), “TOWER” (a documentary about the mass shooting at the University of
Texas seemed like a difficult film to ask people to come to see on a winter’s
morning), “NATIONAL BIRD” (Bill has seen this and found it disappointing), “BY
SIDNEY LUMET” (We aren’t sure how available for theatrical bookings it might be
and it may be on PBS “American Masters” quite soon) and “WE ARE X” (a film
about a Japanese rock band seemed unlikely to have strong appeal for our
regulars and showing in the morning was not likely to appeal to potential
audiences outside our regulars). I have decided to eliminate “THE LOVERS AND
THE DESPOT” from consideration because it is now available from iTunes and
Amazon Video for $6.99. I had personally been interested in and recommended
“STARVING THE BEAST” which is about the change in perception of the value of a
college education and systematic disinvestment in public higher education. I
still think this is an important public policy issue, but in looking at the
film’s trailer the film clearly has a partisan political perspective (James
Carville is one of major spokespersons in expressing dismay at the change and
Grover Norquist and Republicans seen as the villains in creating a situation in
which government is deprived of the funding to effectively do what it is
supposed to do) and the film seems to feature a succession of talking heads. We
may have some better alternatives than “STARVING THE BEAST” that don’t have us
seemingly taking sides on a partisan political issue and/or may be told in a
more interesting and creative way. I haven’t come across anything that shows
the film is available for home viewing, but it is hard to believe that the film
isn’t being pushed harder to make it more visible prior to the election. For
those who are interested in checking its suitability for our series out for
themselves or may want to pursue the film for their personal viewing here is
the film’s official website: http://www.starvingthebeast.net/ I have not ;
removed the film from the list, but I have backed off on my recommendation.
The group that met on Tuesday did express an interest in several of the other
films. We are hoping to be able to obtain a link or a screener so that we could
actually look at them. I have asked Ken for help in accomplishing that.
“THE ANTHROPOLOGIST” seems to expose the audience to quite a bit (anthropology
as a discipline, Margaret Mead, climate change around the world) in the film in
a new and personally intimate way (focusing on the journey of a teenaged girl
and her anthropologist mother). Here is the film’s official website:
http://www.ironboundfilms.com/films-tv/ ;
I grouped “DISTURBING THE PEACE,” “BLOOD ON THE MOUNTAIN,” and “THE
UNCONDEMNED” together for Ken since Abramorama is involved in their production
and distribution. It is possible that one contact might do the trick in getting
access to links or screeners. Each film seems to have a different approach to
getting out to an audience. “DISTURBING THE PEACE” is being distributed—at
least, in part—through Gathr. “BLOOD ON THE MOUNTAIN” doesn’t specifically
address how to book the film although there is a “Contact Us” tab on the
website menu. “THE UNCONDEMNED” does list a specific contact for booking
theatrical screenings on the film’s official website. There are links to
Abramorama and each film’s website below.
http://abramorama.com/films/
http://disturbingthepeacefilm.com/ Screenings can be arranged via Gathr
http://bloodonthemountain.com/home/
http://www.theuncondemned.com/#the-film
“OFF THE RAILS” is a film about a young black man with Asperger’s Syndrome who
has gotten into legal problems because he has “volunteered” his services to the
transit system without first obtaining permission. The film seems to have
collected a number of prizes. I think the film could do well if we could find
some type of partnership with a group that advocates for or provides services
to Asperger’s individuals. Otherwise, I’m not especially bullish on it since
the subject is an African-American from an urban setting who has a disorder
that affects his interpersonal functioning which leads him into trouble on
public transit systems (there’s a few reasons for which people in our
communities may not feel that this relates to them). The official website shows
arrangements for theatrical distribution have been arranged through The Film
Collaborative although their website doesn’t mention this film. The film is
currently available on DVD with a suggested retail price of $59.95 through
Passion River. I’m thinking they are aiming for a specialized market with that
price. The film also has a deal for streaming rights with Sundance Now, but
again that doesn’t seem to be mentioned on the Sundance Now site. So I don’t
know if this kind of profile means that the film will be so readily available
by the time our series is running that the film won’t work for us or not. Any
insight into what may be happening on these home viewing platforms would be
helpful. Perhaps if we find the right group to partner with none of that will
matter.
http://www.offtherailsmovie.com/ ;
Bill Jefferson has seen “COMMAND AND CONTROL” and wants us to consider it. It’s
about a potentially disastrous nuclear weapon accident in the US in the 1980’s.
Bill saw the film at Camden and was very impressed. I had difficulty tracking
down companies that were involved with the film through IMDb and didn’t add it
to our list before, but eventually I found the production company (Robert
Kenner Films) who made the film for PBS “American Experience.” The film is
being released theatrically and has someone handling those bookings. I tried to
figure out when the film might show on PBS, but I couldn’t find out anything
about that. This is a new addition to the list.
http://www.commandandcontrolfilm.com/ ;
We did have a brief discussion of our foreign-language films. So far, there has
been no particular expression of interest in films besides “IXCANUL (VOLCANO)”
and “AS I OPEN MY EYES” which both received a lot of interest in our discussion
the week before (and I have put those titles in bold print on the list).
Obviously we hope to be able to see more of “COMING THROUGH THE RYE,” but those
who were there on Tuesday thought it seemed very promising for inclusion. We
need to continue to look at our list of documentary films including and beyond
the first 12 to narrow our focus to a handful of films. We did not discuss our
classic film candidates. Personally, I don’t think we would necessarily need to
include a classic this year since we could have a new English-language film
that is sort of about a classic literary work. At this point, I don’t know that
we have a classic film candidate for which we don’t have some concerns about
how to access the film, the film being too long, or whether the film is
actually good enough to want to show.
NEXT MEETING: We did not discuss our next meeting time. Next Tuesday is
election day so I assume that might not be a good day to have our meeting.
Wednesday was our previous meeting day, but Alice and I have a noontime
gathering that we should attend though we could work around it. Is there any
preference between Wednesday and Thursday next week?
Joel
Attachment:
CINEMA EXPLORATIONS POSSIBILITIES Draft 8.docx
Description: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
