Antonioni, Ford, and more

The International House has their winter lineup announced. There are a few enticing films this week:

Tonight (Wed, 12/15)

Le Amiche/The Girlfriends (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1955)

Tomorrow (Thurs, 12/16)

The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)

Saturday, 12/18

Seance on a Wet Afternoon (Brian Forbes, 1964)

All are on 35mm and begin at 7:00pm.

Troupe de Fetishe

Just a note that I will be moderating a panel tomorrow at the closing reception of Troupe de Fetishe, an large-scale video installation currently showing at the Crane Arts space. It should particularly appeal to those with an interest in the technology and conceptual possibilities of large-scale video projection. From the artists' description:

Troupe de Fetishe is a large scale video piece co-directed by Lisa Marie Patzer (MFA candidate), Ian Markiewicz (MFA '08) and Doris Chia-Ching Lin (MFA candidate) with sound design by David Miranda Hardy (MFA candidate).

Troupe de Fetishe tells the story of Oskar Vanderwold, an eccentric “tinkerer” who manipulates and cares for a troupe of flea circus performers. His ornate flea circus is a hand constructed miniature model that fits inside an antique cigar box. It is a macabre world of surreal spectacle, adorned with a series of miniature circus attractions complete with chariots, a trapeze swing, a high dive, and ring of fire.

The project was custom designed for the new video projection system in the Ice Box Project Space, equipped with four synchronized video projectors that create one seamless, 100 ft. wide by 25 ft. tall or 3646 x 768 pixel composition.

Panel discussion to take place tomorrow, Friday, October 29 at Crane Arts (1400 N. American St) from 5:30-6:30pm.

Cabiria

If repertory cinema can be thin on the ground at times, silent film gets downright neglected. Thankfully, this Thursday, the International House is showing (on 16mm) Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914), an Italian epic that's been on my list of shame for a while. Notably, the film is famous for its spectacular sets, setting off a vogue for epic films in the teens, and for its introduction of the emphatic tracking shot to narrative film. Thursday, October 28 at 7pm.

Leighton Pierce

Still from Number One (2007)

Next Tuesday, the Film and Media Studies at Swarthmore College will be hosting an evening with film and video artist Leighton Pierce.

Tuesday, October 26, 7pm

Lang Performing Arts Center Cinema, Swarthmore College (Directions)

One of the most acclaimed and prolific experimental moving image artists working in the U.S. today, Leighton Pierce uses film, video, photography, and sound to create experiences in transformative time, executing all aspects of his works himself –conceptualization, cinematography, editing, sound design and composition. Pierce will present an hour-long program of his work including the area premieres of Retrograde Premonition and Sharp Edge Blunt, followed by Q&A. Pierce’s early interest in music, especially jazz and electronic music, and the construction of emotional experiences in time continue to guide his work. His work has been exhibited worldwide, including at the Museum of Modern Art, the Centre Georges Pompidou, and the Whitney Biennial. He teaches in the prestigious film program of the University of Iowa, where he has influenced many important experimental artists.

Ulrike Ottinger

Next Tuesday, October 19, the Slought Foundation is hosting a day-long retrospective of Ulrike Ottinger's work. Ottinger's work has ranged from narrative work on the more avant-garde side of the New German Cinema to experimental documentaries, including the 8- hour Taiga, about Mongolia (see this NYT review). Even including the couple of films to be distributed by Women Make Movies to educational and repertory audiences, very little of Ottinger's work has been available in the US.

I do wish for a proper theatrical screening of some of it, but short of that, gallery exhibitions like at the Slought may be the only way to watch it easily. They will have simulatenous video projection of her longer works throughout the day (9am-5pm): Twelve Chairs (198 minutes, 2004), The Korean Wedding Chest (82 minutes, 2008), Taiga: A Journey to Northern Mongolia (501 minutes, 1991/2), and Exil Shanghai (275 minutes, 1997)

From 5-7pm, there will be an evening screening of Still Moving (29 minutes, 2009) and Prater (104 minutes, 2007).

The main event (7-8:30pm), is a presentation by Ottinger herself, followed by public conversation with Kaja Silverman (University of Pennsylvania), Patricia White (Swarthmore College), and Homay King (Bryn Mawr College), moderated by Nora Alter (Temple University).

19th Philadelphia Film Festival

Still from Alamar (Pedro González-Rubio, 2009)

This Friday marks the start of the 10-day Philadelphia Film Festival. This year marks a transition year for the Festival, after a change in management, a divorce from TLA, and a shift to October rather than April. And the changes are not merely behind the scenes reshuffling, but a renewed and changed focus. First, there is more dovetailing with the fare of international film festivals like Toronto. Second, there is the inclusion of crowd-pleasing events like the Stieg Larsson film adaptations. Either of these could elicit cries of commercialization of the film festival, but frankly, I'm impressed with the range and quantity of offerings in this year's festival. It's an embarrassment of riches, since I know I will only be able to scratch the surface.

I'll not be able to do justice to the full line up, but some highlights for me are the auteur showings from Denis, Weerasethakul, and Assayas; the retrospective of a 1960 Korean film The Housemaid; the documentaries Garbo and Boxing Gym; and the recent films from various Latin American new waves.

I have created an iCal version of the festival (download) so you can add to your computer or online calendar. I've kept the festival separate from the regular blog calendar (here), in order to signal the event status and advanced ticketing. If the past is prologue, you may want to get your tickets in advance.

Women Directors from North Africa and the Middle East

La Nouba des Femmes du Mont-Chenoua

This week the International House is screening a series of films by women directors from North Africa and the Middle East. Organized by Patricia White (Swarthmore) and Suzanne Gauch (Temple), the series complicates the vision the West and in particular American cinema often has of Middle-Eastern societies and women's role in them. And, in the process, we get to see work that's otherwise tough to see. I have seen A Door to the Sky, a lyrical and avowedly spiritual film, the only one here to be screened on 35mm. At first it resists the narrative and aesthetic expectations I had brought from both conventional narrative and art cinema, but ultimately I valued the challenging aesthetic voice. I am eager to see other work in the series.

All screenings introduced by Patricia White. Full descriptions at the International House site.

Thursday, October 7 at 7pm

Passage (Shirin Neshat, US/Iran, 2001, 12 mins)

A Door to the Sky (Farida Ben Lyazid, Morocco, 1989, 107 mins)

Friday, October 8 at 7pm
Brick Sellers of Kabul (Lida Abdul, US/Afghanistan, 2006, 6 mins)
La Nouba des femmes de Mont-Chenoua (Assia Djebar, Algeria, 1977, 115 mins)

Saturday, October 9 at 2pm
Souha (Randa Chahal Sabbag, Lebanon, 2001, 57 mins)

Our Heedless Wars (Randa Chahal Sabbag, France/Lebanon, 1995, 61 mins)

Saturday, October 9 at 5pm
Measures of Distance (Mona Hatoum, UK, 1988, 16 mins)

Women Without Men (Shirin Neshat in collaboration with Shoja Azari, France/Germany, 2009, 95 mins)

Top Secret Rosies

My colleague LeAnn Erickson has just completed her documentary on the women who worked as mathematicians for the US Army and later programmed for ENIAC, the first electronic computer. Titled Top Secret Rosies, it covers a fascinating subject, with a local angle, shot with engaging interviews from the women involved.

The film has a couple of screenings, in HD video, in the coming weeks:

County Theater

Monday, October 4, 7:00 pm

Ambler Theater
Wednesday, October 13, 7:00 pm

Running time is 60 minutes. For more information, you can visit the film's website.

Week 5 September 2010

Big event this week is the series of Michael Snow and John Oswald events:

Wednesday, September 29 at 8pm
6:30pm by Opening Reception of Many Moving and Still Works by Two Torontonians at Slought Foundation

*Corpus Callosum
dir. Michael Snow, Canada, 2002, video, 91 mins, color

International House

Thursday, September 30 at 8pm
Michael Snow and John Oswald Duo

International House

Other screenings for the week:

Tuesday, 9/28

Memento (Christopher Nolan, 2000)

Bryn Mawr Film Institute

7:30 pm

Wednesday, 9/29
Jason and the Argonauts (Don Chaffey, 1963)
Ambler Theater

7:00 pm

Thursday, 9/30
Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950)
Ambler Theater

7:00 pm

Sunday, 10/3

Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1942)
Colonial Theater

2:00 pm

Farocki (and more)

This week in area showings:

Thursday (9/16) Harun Farocki shows his Immersion (2009) at the Slought Foundation. The video installation concerns the connection between virtual reality and the military. The showing will be part of a dialogue between Farocki and Antje Ehmann on "The Image in Question: War – Media – Art." 4017 Walnut Street. 6:30-8:30 pm.

Earlier that day, Farocki will be presenting Peter Nestler’s film, Death and Devil, which concerns Nestler’s grandfather Rosen in Sweden who participated in expeditions before WWI in South America and Africa. The film examines the links between ethnography and colonialism and is part of the rare genre of photo-films. Temple University, Annenberg Hall room 3, 2020 N. 13th, 11:00-12:30.

W 9/15. Metropolis. Ambler Theater. 7pm

Th 9/16. Rashomon. County Theater. 7pm

Sun 9/19. The Hidden Fortress. Colonial Theater. 2pm

Sun 9/19. Yojimbo. Colonial Theater. 4:30pm

For an ongoing film calendar, get the PRFB listings in iCal format.

Utopia in Four Movements

The film programming at the International House continues to expand into more performance-based directions, this weekend with Utopia in Four Movements, a "live documentary" narrated in person by filmmaker Sam Green and accompanied by a live band (the Quavers) as the film screens. Conceptually, the piece explores the role and future of utopian thought in the 21st century.

Utopia in Four Movements

dir. Sam Green and Dave Cerf, US, 2010, video, 80 mins, color

Saturday, September 11 at 7pm

Ibrahim Theater @ the International House

There's an App for That

Well, not exactly, but I have compiled a super handy iCal calendar with all of the planned screenings from the major repertory film programmers in the area. You can download it and import into iCal, either as a separate calendar as part of an existing one. iCal will let you set alarms to remind you of films coming up that you don't want to forget.

Currently the calendar covers the Fall programming season. I will do another version for the Spring. I may make additional updates if it makes sense. Do note that week runs of major repertory releases and some one-off events (notably some of the Scribe Video and Secret Cinema screenings) won't be covered here as they are not planned that far in advance.

Week 1 September 2010

A film that's just not the same on a mobile device...

Tues 8/31
Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962)
County Theater
7:00 PM

Tues 8/31
Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa, 1961)
Akira Kurosawa Retrospective
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
7:00 PM

Tues 8/31
Scribe Video Center
Community Visions Premiere
Ibrahim Theater @ International House
7:00 PM
free admission

Wed 9/1
Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962)
Ambler Theater
7:00 PM

Thurs 9/2
Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962)
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
7:00 PM

Sun 9/5
Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950)
Colonial Theater
4:30 PM

Week 4 August 2010

Tues 8/24
Stray Dog (Akira Kurosawa, 1949)
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
7:00 PM

Wed 8/25
The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 1941)
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
7:00 PM

Wed 8/25
Bonnie and Clyde (Arthur Penn, 1967)
County Theater
7:00 PM

Fri 8/27
Fear No Evil (Frank LaLoggia, 198,)/Tower of Evil (Jim O'Connolly, 1972)
Exhumed Films series
Ibrahim Theater @ International House
8:00 PM

Sun 8/29
Wattstax (Mel Stuart, 1973)
Colonial Theater
2:00 PM

Sun 8/29
Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962)
County Theater
7:00 PM

Week 3 August 2010

Tues 8/17
Strangers on a Train (Alfred Hitchcock, 1951)
County Theater
7:00 PM

Tues 8/17
Hidden Fortress (Akira Kurosawa, 1958)
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
7:00 PM
(special seminar starts at 6PM - $25)

Wed 8/18
A Place in the Sun (George Stevens, 1951)
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
7:00 PM

Thurs 8/19
Strangers on a Train (Alfred Hitchcock, 1951)
Ambler
7:00 PM

Sat 8/21
Close Up (Abbas Kiarostami, 1990)
Bastille Day themed screening
Ibrahim Theater @ International House
7:00 PM

Sun 8/22
Woodstock (Michael Wadleigh, 1972)
County Theater
7:00 PM

Weeks 3-4 July 2010 - Metropolis and more

Big news this week is the Metropolis revival at the Ritz. (The Inquirer's blurb | website on film's restoration)

Fri 7/23-Th 7/29
Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927)
New 35-mm restored print, with lost footage, 1-week run only
Ritz Bourse
(12:50 3:40) 6:30 9:20

Thurs 7/22
North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
Ambler
7:00 9:35

Tues 7/27
Trafic (Jacques Tati, 1953)
Tati comedy series
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
7:00 PM

Tues 7/27
Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939)
County Theater
7:00 PM

Thurs 7/29
Stagecoach (John Ford, 1939)
Ambler
7:00 PM

Week 2 July 2010 - QFest and more

All week
Q Fest queer film festival
See the festival website for films and listings. Also note the Secret Cinema events below.

Tues 7/13
Mon Oncle (Jacques Tati, 1958)
Tati comedy series
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
7:00 PM

Wed 7/14
On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954)
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
7:00 PM

Wed 7/14
Screened Out: Gay Images On Film
author and film historian Richard Barrios in person
a talk and presentation of 16mm clips from the Secret Cinema collection
William Way Center (1315 Spruce St)
7:00 PM

Fri 7/16
Madame X (David Lowell Rich, 1960)

technicolor 16mm print from the Secret Cinema collection
Benefit screening for AIDS Law Project
John Wanamaker Building, 100 Penn Square East
Benefit start at 6:00 pm. The film begins at 7:30
$20 minimum donation

Fri 7/16
The Best of the 2009 Ottawa International Animation Festival
Ibrahim Theater @ International House
7:00 PM

Sat 7/17
Pickpocket (Robert Bresson, 1959)
Bastille Day themed screening
Ibrahim Theater @ International House
7:00 PM

Week 1 July 2010

Sorry for the delay on the weekly screening post. The screenings for the long weekend and next week:

Thurs 7/1
Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)
New 35-mm restored print, last day of a 3-week run
Ritz Bourse
(1:00 3:20) 5:30 7:40 9:50

Thurs 7/1
Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)
Classic cross-dressing comedy
Ambler

7:00 PM

Tues 7/6
M. Hulot's Holiday (Jacques Tati, 1953)
Tati comedy series

Bryn Mawr Film Institute

7:00 PM

Wed 7/7
The King and I (Walter Lang, 1956)

Bryn Mawr Film Institute

7:00 PM

Wed 7/7
The Life of Brian (Terry Jones, 1979)

Ambler

7:00 PM

Thurs 7/8
An American in Paris (Vincente Minnelli, 1951)

Ambler

7:00 PM

Thurs 7/9
An American in Paris (Vincente Minnelli, 1951)

County

7:00 PM

Prince Goes First Run

Big news that the Prince has made a decision to show movies on a more regular basis. It's a move that seems a while in the making as they've been a venue for film festivals and have been doing more film programming over the last year or so, including partnership with the Philadelphia Cinema Alliance. Now, they promise a regular first-run schedule, with additional indie and repertory screenings (in their smaller upstairs theater).

UPDATE (6/29): This does not look good.

June 2010 Week 4

Screenings this week:

thru Thurs 6/24

Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)
New 35-mm restored print, continues on for another week
Ritz Bourse
(1:00 3:20) 5:30 7:40 9:50

Tues 6/22

Sixteen Candles (John Hughes, 1984)

Bryn Mawr Film Institute
7:00 PM

Tues 6/22

Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953)

County Theater

7:00 PM

Wed 6/23

Sabotage (Alfred Hitchcock, 1936)

British Hitchcock, from a series on the director's political films

Bryn Mawr Film Institute
7:00 PM

Wed 6/23

Jaws (Stephen Spielberg, 1975)

35th anniversary of the first summer blockbuster

County Theater

7:00 PM

Thurs 6/24

Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953)

Ambler Theater

7:00 PM

Sun 6/27
The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino, 1978)
Colonial Theater
2:00 PM

The Evil Dead

Midnight Movie screenings aren't always the first thing that come to mind when one thinks of repertory cinema: they tend to be more crowd-pleasing than arty and of course have limited playtimes too late for the less nocturnal among us. Still, midnight movies can be a good occasion to see an older movie on the big screen. Tomorrow evening (midnight), the Ritz East shows The Evil Dead (Sam Raimi, 1981), the horror classic. I've not yet seen word that they're continuing the midnight movies into the summer, so this may be your last chance to catch one for a while.

Cineaste Roundtable on Repertory Film

A recent issue of Cineaste (35, no.2) has a roundtable symposium on the state of repertory cinema today. For those without a copy, there are web-only outtakes available online, including a response from the International House program curator, Robert Cargni-Mitchell. The participants were asked to answer the following questions:

1) Is there a future to repertory programming, given the momentous changes over the last decade in technology and viewing habits? How would you characterize the impact on theatrical exhibition of home video, Internet streaming, downloading, etc.? Are the consequences entirely negative, or are there collateral benefits (i.e., new prints struck for video releases, more informed audiences, etc.)?

2) How would you characterize your programming philosophy, with regard to the variety of films selected, preferred formats (retrospectives, thematic series, national surveys, double features, etc.), your attitude toward audience expectation, or other considerations?

3) Do you find that good quality prints continue to be available? Do you think film prints will continue to be struck and distributed, or is this a dying exhibition format? And if projecting from film is destined to become obsolete, how great a loss do you think this is? Are you open to screening video or digital formats?

4) How have your audiences changed over the years? Are they increasing or decreasing? Have their demographics changed, in terms of age or background? Have they become more or less receptive to challenging and innovative programs?

5) What are some of your formative memories of repertory filmgoing? Do you have stories of particularly unforgettable experiences, inspiring series, or legendary venues?

What surprised me is that in addition to the expected pessimism (competition and cultural changes haven't always been kind to movie theaters) the responses show some optimism and enthusiasm for the future. Worth a read.

June 2010 Week 3

For this week:

thru Thurs 6/17

Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)

A new 35-mm restored print has its week-long run

Ritz Bourse

(1:00 3:20) 5:30 7:40 9:50

Tues 6/15
American Graffiti (George Lucas, 1973)
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
7:00 PM

Tues 6/15
Sabrina (Billy Wilder, 1955)
County Theater
7:00 PM

Wed 6/16
Black Orpheus (Marcel Camus, 1959)
Janus Films series

Bryn Mawr Film Institute
7:00 PM

Thurs 6/17

Sabrina (Billy Wilder, 1955)
Ambler Theater

7:00 PM

Sat 6/19
Pickpocket (Robert Bresson, 1959)
Janus Films series
Ibrahim Theater @ International House

7:00 PM

Sun 6/20
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill, 1969)
The original buddy-film western-comedy
Colonial Theater
2:00 PM

Breathless

All this week the Ritz Bourse is running a 50th-anniversary revival of Breathless (Godard, 1960). I have to say I'm not invested in the anniversary occasion, since the film has been kept in the canonical eye so consistently, it lacks the full sense of rediscovery and retrospection. But whatever: any occasion for a new screening of the film is welcome. The Ritz website promises that this is the first 35mm restoration of the print. Given that previous versions I've seen (granted, some years ago) were grainy, washed out and with ssubtitles hard to read, I'm curious to see how much of this raw quality will be in the restoration.

June 2010 Week 2 Screenings

I will not have time or energy to write up every older film playing in town. Even with the limitations of repertory film in Philadelphia, I am not able to blog about everything we do have, much less attend everything. So I hope to provide some weekly summaries of what's playing. On 35mm or HD projection this week:

Tues 6/8
Daddy Long Legs (Jean Negulesco, 1955)
Classical Hollywood musical
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
7:00 PM

Wed 6/9
You'll Never Get Rich (Sidney Lanfield, 1941)
Classical Hollywood musical
Bryn Mawr Film Institute
7:00 PM

Fri 6/11
Road Games + Patrick (Richard Franklin, 1981/78)
Australian cult double-feature
Ibrahim Theater @ International House
8:00 PM

Sat 6/12
Phantom Carriage (Victor Sjöstrom, 1921)
Silent classic, new 35mm print
Ibrahim Theater @ International House
7:00 PM

Sun 6/13
Funny Girl (William Wyler, 1968)
Streisand musical biopic
Colonial Theater
2:00 PM

Also, Fri 6/11, Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard) begins a week-long run at the Ritz Bourse.

Movie Palace Renovation

The Philadelphia Inquirer's architecture critic, Inga Saffron, gives news that the Uptown Theater in North Philadelphia is receiving a renovation. It's thrilling because so much of the city's movie palace history has been destroyed and the remaining buildings lie in languish. Center City's Boyd Theater remains in limbo.

I started researching the exhibition history of the city from the classical studio period. There were upwards of 250 movie theaters in the city limits during the studios' heyday. Though unfinished, you can see my map of these at my regular blog.

Rea Tajiri Retrospective

Tomorrow evening (Jun 6) at the Prince Theater, Scribe Video Center will be hosting a screening of my colleague Rea Tajiri's work. Tajiri's work straddles documentary, experimental, and narrative - ranging from her personal documentary, History and Memory, about her family's experience in internment during World War II, to her fictional drama Strawbery Fields (excerpts will be shown). Also showing will be a new work, (Bridge) River is Remembering and Little Murders, a "darkly comic musical." Screening begins at 7pm - 10$ with discounts for students and Scribe Center members.

Oklahoma!

Tomorrow night (Wed Jun 2), the Bryn Mawr Film Institute will be showing the musical Oklahoma! (1955) in a special sing-along screening. The festivities start at 7:30.

The Valley of Gangwi

For its next screening, on Wednesday, May 26, Jay Schwartz's Secret Cinema returns to the American Philosophical Museum (104 S. Fifth Street) for a 16mm screening of a science-fiction "dinosaur western" The Valley of Gangwi (1969, Jim O'Connolly). A Technicolor film, it features the work of noted stop-action animator Ray Harryhausen. Admission is free, and the film screens at 7pm. (The Museum's Dialogues with Darwin exhibit will be open beforehand.)

I Fidanzati

This Saturday (May 15, 7PM), the International House (3701 Chestnut) will be screening as part of their Janus Film series Ermanno Olmi's second film, I Fidanzati. I've not seen this one yet, but am a big fan of Olmi's Il Posto, so I eagerly await the chance to see the follow up on film. Olmi has a knack for observed, documentary-like social realism combined with amazing formal rigor and composition. Not cheery films, but ultimately they have a humanist redemption.

Program notes available at the I-House website.

Robin Hood (1938)

For some reason - I suspect a free print lent out to promote the upcoming Russell Crowe film - the Roxy (2023 Sansom) has been running a two-week engagement of the 1938 Warner Bros. Robin Hood, with Errol Flynn. That's right: a decent 35mm Technicolor print (if not perfect: the first reel has a scratch) of a film that really shines on the screen. When I went I was the only person in the cinema, so had what amounted to a private screening.

It's a famous film that probably does not need me talking it up, but if you're wondering why you should care about a fluffy classic adventure film, I'd say two reasons. One, the film does give a fun fairy-tale account but yokes it with a political message that clearly speaks to the Depression yet raises more questions than it answers (New Dealism as monarchism?). Two, the color scheme helped expand the expressive possibilities of Technicolor. As film historian Scott Higgins notes, previously Hollywood cinematographers had argued between flamboyant, thematic color (red = passion, etc) and a realistic, muted color palette. What Robin Hood does is combine them both, muting backgrounds and keeping palettes relatively controlled, but also using bright, saturated color for specific characters and thematic effects.

As a bonus, the Bugs Bunny "Rabbit Hood" screens beforehand.

Whither Foreign Films?

An interesting article this weekend in the Inquirer on the dearth of foreign films hitting American (and local) screens. What struck me is the debate over whether the Ritz's declining foreign offerings are the result of Landmark ownership (a commonly held belief - I've heard it myself) or of the broader market trends.

Promoting Repertory Film

Philadelphia has a repertory film problem. Not enough old movies screen here, and the ones that do have a hard time gaining an audience. For many, these two go together: we do not have more of a film culture because there is no demand. However, it may be more of a matter of a vicious circle, so I hope to promote local screenings with the hope of encouraging both demand and supply. At the very least, there are currently exciting events across the city worth paying attention to.

If you have an event you want me to be aware of, drop me a line at ccagle AT temple DOT edu. I will tend to reserve space here for screenings of older films or harder-to-see foreign or independent work, and I will prioritize films projected on celluloid or high-quality format. The exception will be work originally produced for video or other non-film formats.

And if you have any suggestions for what would make this a better blog, let me know.