All Purpose NYC ILX Film Snob Thread

AMC Uptown (DC) just closed for good. My sister was constantly repeating rumors that AMC wanted to drop the place.

IFC is closed through end of the month at least

Alamo's out.

Worth noting that the first screening to be cancelled by the Anthology shut-down was Robert Longo's Johnny Mneumonic (1995), which begins thusly. pic.twitter.com/bWKYO5ehYF

— 𝖇𝖎𝖌 𝖇𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖔𝖔𝖓 𝖆𝖉𝖛𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖊 (@NickPinkerton) March 13, 2020

So has the Quad made a permanent decision to cut way back on their repertory screenings? They don't even print a monthly guide anymore. Was this because of the ownership change I read about a while back?

that happened months ago, and yes, it seems

bummer, their programming used to rule. i basically stopped going for financial reasons - member price at FF or student price at Anthology just clobbers $16 for a not-super-great viewing experience.

I had been looking fwd to this rarity in their scheduled Sellers sampler

https://quadcinema.com/film/mr-topaze/

i like the quad! but its not as good as ff or anthology, i agree.

BAM cinemas now closed, with no timely notice on their site til mid-afternoon to save me a trip. I shan't be renewing my membership anyway.

Film Forum now closed too.

well, I might as well be living in a basement in Sandusky now. Making a better living.

Quad is closed now too; I think they were the last.

Sorry snobs :(

I had no use for them but RIP anyway

ScreenSlate, Light Industry, and others have started a fundraiser to support NYC movie theater employees out of work because of COVID-19. I know one or two affected folks and I'm sure y'all do as well. Consider kicking in, say, what you might have spent on movies and concessions this week, and share in your networks!

Spectacle is doing Twitch
https://www.twitch.tv/spectaclenyc

http://www.ifccenter.com/films/marquee

the hungarian film archives are streaming 39 classic hungarian films for free on their website - jancsó's the only one i've heard of here, anyone seen any of the others?

https://filmarchiv.hu/en/news/hungarian-classics-free-to-watch

You never heard of Colonel Redl?

Autocorrect wanted Colonel Redd.

Anyway, thanks, this will be yet another way to test my pitiful Duolingo Plus Hungarian.

Hong, Friday

https://www.filmlinc.org/films/yourself-and-yours/

Amplifying Anthology Film Archives latest outreach; full links and additional statement of purpose here:
https://mailchi.mp/anthologyfilmarchives/update_6_03_2020-622592

Since Anthology is, after all, a cinema and film archive, with a conviction that movies can foster engagement rather than distraction, we’d like to use the cinema as a lens to focus attention more squarely on the struggle, by sharing a list of films (available online from various sources) whose continuing relevance has been underlined in the wake of further instances of police brutality and the gross infringement of civil rights. The list itself (a highly selective and partial one) suggests, even at a glance, how entrenched racism has been and continues to be in our society, and illustrates the courage of those activists who have waged the fight for generations.

• The 6-part documentary series REST IN POWER: THE TRAYVON MARTIN STORY (Jenner Furst & Julia Willoughby Nason, 2018) is an in-depth chronicle of the Trayvon Martin killing and its aftermath.

• CRIME + PUNISHMENT (Stephen Maing, 2018) exposes systemic corruption within the NYPD via the story of the NYPD12, a group of NYC police officers who brought a lawsuit against the city and the department over racist and illegal policing practices.

• WHOSE STREETS? (Sabaah Folayan & Damon Davis, 2017) is one of the most important documentaries to emerge from the killing of Michael Brown and the subsequent protest movement in Ferguson/St. Louis.

• Among the best of the films produced to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Rodney King incident, John Ridley’s LET IT FALL: LOS ANGELES 1982-1992 (2017) is available on many different platforms.

• Roger Guenveur Smith & Spike Lee’s RODNEY KING (2017) documents Smith’s one-man theatrical production.

• Yance Ford’s personal documentary STRONG ISLAND (2017) charts the aftermath of the killing of his brother William Ford Jr. by a 19-year-old white mechanic, who was acquitted following an investigation that treated Ford more as a suspect than a murder victim.

• FOR AHKEEM (Landon Van Soest & Jeremy S. Levine, 2017), an intimate and moving portrait of the daily life of a St. Louis high school student, was filmed over the course of two years, a period that saw the killing of Michael Brown and the subsequent protest movement.

• Available to watch for free, STAY WOKE: THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT (Laurens Grant, 2016) chronicles the evolution of the Black Lives Matter movement.

• Two exposés of America’s system of mass incarceration and its devastating and disproportionate impact on African Americans: THE HOUSE I LIVE IN (Eugene Jarecki, 2012) and Ava DuVernay’s 13th (2016).

• THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975 (Goran Hugo Olsson, 2011) is drawn from 16mm material shot by visiting Swedish journalists who documented some of the leading figures of the Black Power Movement, including Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Angela Davis, and Eldridge Cleaver.

• Sherry Millner & Ernest Larsen’s 41 SHOTS (2000) is a short reflection on the murder of Amadou Diallo.

• The 14-part history of the Civil Rights Movement that aired on PBS from 1987-90, EYES ON THE PRIZE remains a monumental achievement.

• Shot during the 1968 Democratic National Convention, AMERICAN REVOLUTION 2 (Howard Alk, Mike Gray & Film Group, 1969) charts the unlikely relationship between the Black Power movement in Chicago and the Young Patriots, a primarily white group that was beginning to organize around issues of social mobility, police brutality, and income inequity.

• Santiago Alvarez’s still-vital short film NOW! (1965), depicting the civil rights struggle (and the brutal crackdown it incurred), can be viewed for free here.

• James Blue’s classic film THE MARCH (1964) documents the 1963 civil rights March on Washington.

• Madeline Anderson’s INTEGRATION REPORT 1 (1960) – the first known documentary film by an African American female director – examines the struggle for black equality in Alabama, Brooklyn, and Washington, D.C.

https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/new-yorks-indie-movie-theaters-are-cautiously-preparing-reopen

Because of the challenge of operating a restaurant within the theater — and having nearly 180 employees who’d need to feel safe coming back to work — Viragh said Nitehawk may not open until next year, and he doesn’t expect business to get back to pre-pandemic levels for another 18 months to two years.

Meanwhile, at Film Forum in SoHo, the full expectation is to reopen next month... “So my colleagues and I have been developing programming to start July 29th.” Cooper said that when the theater reopens, attendees will be seated in a checkerboard pattern, so no one is directly next to or behind anyone. Certain staff members will be solely dedicated to cleaning and disinfecting. And ticket-sellers and concessionists will work behind plexiglass windows.

For now, Film at Lincoln Center has pivoted to showing movies in virtual, online screening rooms (as have Film Forum and Nitehawk). Executive Director Lesli Klainberg said the viewership so far has been minimal. Klainberg said her organization’s biggest event of the year, the New York Film Festival, is still on for its scheduled start date of September 25th. But depending on the reopening guidelines — and what feels safe — she and her staff are considering a mix of outdoor screenings, digital screenings, and events at other sites besides the Walter Reade.

“My secret fear is that everyone is sitting at home watching every movie they’ve ever wanted to watch that they never had time to watch,” Klainberg said. “And when they come out of this, and everyone feels safe, we’re going to have to offer them something that’s new and unique and special, because that’s what they come to the movies for.”

Why is that a secret fear? Finally a challenge for studios more than programmers. This is as much if not more of an existential threat to theaters as TV was in the 1950s. There should be far more repertory programming in EVERY movie theater, and not just the same 20 Hollywood classics you see on posters and murals at Cinemarks and Cinebistros. Get stuff in there from literally any time. and SCREEN NETFLIX FILMS!

i imagine i'm not the only one feeling a lot of emotional twinges, skimming back over this thread this particular morning. i miss the movies, i miss these theaters. when it's possible, we should all go see something. and raise some glasses afterwards.

Yeah, i am in.

I'd love to come up to NYC for something like that.

So, odd question maybe.

But why would a festival such as DOCNYC throttle streaming of their films online, so that screenings actually 'sell out'? What purpose does that serve? Like, I'd love to pay to screen a film or two, and it simply won't allow me to do so.

I can only guess some unfathomable rights issues. All I know is that certain AFI Silver online streams are limited to households in the Washington, DC area, and others are more generally available. Were you required to put in a Zip code before being told that the screening was "sold out"?

(There are historic reasons for rights issues, including market-by-market rights deals and incompatible formats in different territories. But it BOILS MY BUTTOCKS when contemporary media submits to this throttling.)

No postal code required, streaming available throughout the US. But Sold Out, somehow?

I guess that to me, it snacks of... gatekeeper tendencies that the subject of the documentary in question would frown down upon. But, I digress.

some guesses:
1 - gives everyone the ability to point to "sold out DOC NYC" status
2 - continues to allow for the arbitrary assignment of "ticket cost" to each viewing and allows for specific minimum and maximum rights payments to the film owners so that the event organizers don't get submarined by paying too much or the creators by getting paid too little to screen
3 - level playing field for everyone showing in the festival
4 - technical issues that could potentially crash DOC NYC's backend

5 - ILPLEX, btw

Those all kiiiind of make sense, but still reek of gatekeeper tendencies, and sort of fall flat when everyone could be making more money if they just opened it up.

Besides tech issues, the one that seems possible to me is being able to say "SOLD OUT at [x festival]," but in this instance that could easily be "OVERFLOW or SCREENINGS ADDED at [x festival]!"

also i imagine everyone wants to limit exposure somewhat so that they can eventually do a theatrical run somewhere and/or run it for sale of their own website and/or sell it to a digital distributor who knows it hasn't been fully saturated on the interwebs

THAT is convincing to me and not entirely based on bullshit.

Sorry for derail, btw, I was just very angry that I couldn't watch the new Wojnarowicz documentary.

Yeah i am looking forward to that too and will let u know when it lands on ilplex

Thanks forks

"21st Century Japan: Films from 2001-2020" online film series hosted by Japan Society up now in the US. Keen to watch the new Sion Sono - anything else I should check out?

https://film.japansociety.org/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=film

the New York African Film Festival is up now too, hope to catch something here: https://virtual.filmlinc.org/page/new-york-african-film-festival/

https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7286-jean-claude-carri-re-harvester-of-cinema

https://mailchi.mp/ifccenter.com/reopening

Film Forum too, in April, I think

Friday, April 2nd.

Angelika is coming back: https://www.angelikafilmcenter.com/nyc/showtimes-and-tickets/now-playing/2021-03-05

Anthology taking a wait and see attitude, which makes sense given that a lot of their staff likely volunteers.

BAM, Quad, Metrograph, MoMa, Spectacle, Lincoln Center, Nitehawk all still on radio silence.

MoMA is open in some capacity. Maybe I can ask around about public screenings.

meantime, screen slate revamped its website and is now listing select time-sensitive online screenings, and hosting some titles for streaming too

https://www.screenslate.com/