"Film for One to Eight Projectors" and Other Movies This Week
Greetings from San Antonio,
As I write this, we are one hour from the start of the largest sports event of the year. Having grown up in Philadelphia, but having good friends that are Chiefs fans, I am happy for whichever team wins. I am sure it will be a good game, with lots of good and bad commercials and an over-the-top half time show. This mediated spectacle is one of the few things that unites Americans, and that is a good thing. Even though they had to take the words "end racism" off the back of the end zones, as if that is a radical concept. The fact that anyone could have a problem with the words "End Racism" is insane.
Getting back to cinema. For those of you in Dallas, I would highly recommend coming to see a special film/performance event at the Texas Theatre this Wednesday night at 7:30. The event is called "Film for One to Eight Projectors" - a multi projector performance by Roger Beebe. As the title suggests, this is not just film being projected but multiple projections. Roger has been doing these tours for years and I am so happy he is coming back to Dallas. Here is info on the program:
Beebe's films are both erudite and punk, lo-fi yet high-brow shorts that wrestle with a disfigured, contemporary American landscape.
The program features several newer works ("un arbre" (2024, 4 x 16mm + video), "Lineage (for Norman McLaren)" (2019, 4 x 16mm), "de rerum natura" (2019, 3 x 16mm + video), "Home Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry" (2021, 4 x 16mm)), alongside some of his best-known projector performances (including the seven-projector show-stopping "Last Light of a Dying Star" (2008/2011)). He will also include a sampling of recent essayistic videos, presented as live-narrated documentaries. These works take on a range of topics from the forbidden pleasures of men crying ["Historia Calamitatum (The Story of My Misfortunes)"] to the racial politics of font choices ("The Comic Sans Video") and the real spaces of the virtual economy ("Amazonia").
This is not something you can experience on a streaming service, and sadly it is hard to see this kind of film performance in Dallas and I am so happy that the Texas Theatre is bringing him here. If enough people come to this program perhaps film programmers in town will make bold choices that enrich our culture. So please join me at the Texas.
Matt Zollar Sietz and I often talk about the state of documentary and he just posted a thought provoking piece you can read here. There is another fascinating piece in Deadline, which is an interview with Frederick Wiseman. You can read that here. Wiseman is the last living member of the group that developed the early language of what some would call Cinema Verite, or Direct Cinema. It is interesting to contrast Wiseman, who spent endless hours editing the mountains of footage for his films, to Al Maysles, who was one of the great camera people of his era, was always looking to capture the essence of the moment, but had no interest in editing. We have so much to thank both of them, and we have all learned so much from them. Wiseman's films are a bit hard to see, but if you have a Kanopy account you can see them there. The Dallas Public Library does not have Kanopy but the Irving Library does and you can get a non-resident account here. Some of the Maysles films are on Criterion. There is truth to both perspectives, one by what is in front of them, the other by juxtaposition.
If you are a fan of Warner Brother Films some of them can be found on YouTube for free here.
Some of these include "Waiting for Guffman," "The Year of Living Dangerously," "Crossing Delancey," and "True Stories," which was shot around Dallas, and many more.
SMU has an international film festival going on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Most of them are free, but you will have to pay for parking at SMU. Here is the schedule. This is the 10th anniversary of the festival.
This week's films:
There is so much to see in theaters this week. If you have not seen "Nickel Boys," "Sing Sing," "I'm Still Here," go out and see them. I strongly recommend you see the Oscar Nominated shorts (doc, live action and animated).
The Texas Theatre has some specials this week as well. You can see Buster Keaton's "Sherlock Jr." with an REM score, "Becoming Led Zeppelin," and 2 films by Mary Harron with her in attendance. These are "American Psycho" and "Charlie Says." I hope to do an interview with Mary about the Manson film for next week's newsletter.
There are many things to get depressed about, but seeing good films can help our mental health.
So do yourself a favor and get out and see a film. I hope to see you on Wednesday night for Roger Beebe.
-Bart
Howdy,
Over the weekend both the Directors and the Producers Guilds hosted their award shows, somehow on the same night, which left nominees and journalists booking it across LA to make it to both shows. At the DGAs, Sean Baker took home the top award for his movie "Anora." Then, making his way over to the PGAs, "Anora" took home the top prize again. Early in October, Neon released the film to hit right before the bulk of contenders dropped and was taking the front-runner position. Now that it took home both prizes this weekend, it shot back to the top with the highest Best Picture chances.
Also winning was first-time narrative filmmaker RaMell Ross, whose film adaptation of the book "Nickel Boys" is also nominated for Best Picture. I was able to watch the film at Alamo Drafthouse this week, and while it's not at all my favorite nominee, it certainly has a strong directorial vision. His Oscar-nominated documentary "Hale County This Morning, This Evening" is streaming on the Criterion Channel; it's a bit experimental and offers some perspective into the direction he went with "Nickel Boys."
If you weren't able to catch it in theaters, this is a great week to see "Nickel Boys" and other buzzy films on digital starting on Tuesday. Also releasing on video on demand this week is Special Effects nominee "Better Man," International Feature nominee "The Seed of the Sacred Fig," and snubbed Mike Leigh film "Hard Truths."
Over at the Modern in Fort Worth, we are showing "Sing Sing" all weekend. Last year, we held the DFW premiere as part of the Fort Worth Film Festival, from local filmmaker Greg Kwedar. While the film is streaming right now, this will probably be one of the last chances to watch it on the big screen. Check out the trailer below.
-Elijah