i started a film club

[modage]

haha, i'm in!

[Pubrick]

Is there any way you could organize field-trips to movies now playing - or local film forums playing classics - during the school-day?

Tips.
1. Get a teacher's support (obviously). Permission slips and paperwork the whole magilla. Sponsors. Make sure you emphasize the educational foundation of the project, butter these administrators up like a cob of corn, you just gotta.
2. Require post-movie essays, discussions, some other assignment. Somehow link the films in with the curricular subjects, like a historical film followed by an essay or project that could be submitted to History class for credit/extra-credit. That sorta thing.

call me jaded (some smart ass: "jaded!") but i don't think these "kids" are worth so much effort. unless jimmygator is the next GT or Leonard Maltin (oh yes, in that order) i don't believe he has the chutzpah to carry out such a plan, nor do i think any of us would. as mod pointed out, he doesn't know how to reach his peers. clearly the pretentious foreign film approach is failing miserably. and the fact the club's constituents apparently wouldn't enjoy a movie like OLDBOY, or even the PG-rated Grave of the Fireflies, doesn't bode well for its future. a community made up of idiots (i think the eyebrow thing qualifies them as that), no matter how well moderated or how pure its  intentions, will ultimately become a club FOR idiots. why do you think i discourage ignorance?

if modage has any suggestions of any "accessible" movies, i would advise JG to go for it. it's best to approach his problem from an educated unpretentious populist position than where he's coming from now. i mean, if member satisfaction is an issue.

[killafilm]

400 Blows = 
Seventh Seal = 

The 'kids' will like/love The Loves of a Blond

[Gold Trumpet]

I've been in the middle of many film clubs, starting and running them.

Right now, I'm involved with two girls who are trying to get an Art Film club going for the entire university campus. They know nothing about foreign cinema but want to make a club that represents foreign and art cinema. They realize the one sponsored club for older films shows only selected films and usually they are just offbeat films.

So, they asked me to get involved. I immediately realized how limited they were in just procuring DVDs and picking titles. I had the girls in a few film classes so I already knew them. They immediately asked me about certain titles our professor mentioned like 'L'Avventura" and I said titles like that wouldn't be good idea. They didn't care. They wanted me to use those titles and others I picked out. I said "OK" but then realized we wouldn't be picking out the titles. They wanted everyone in the film classes to pick out what films were to be shown and for me to give plot synposises of all the films I listed so they had an easier time picking. I said that was insane because describing the plot of L'Avventura wouldn't be describing the film. They said people still would have a good idea and giving the people the freedom to choose would gurantee more people showing up. I still refused and because I am not committing myself to what they want, they just pick out titles every week to show like "Jackie Brown" and "His Girl Friday" and no one shows up.

See, I was already putting some work in for them before this. I had a friend create an amazing poster that was a collage of great art film covers and I was going to disperse it around the campus. I was talking to the local school paper about getting columns written and notices out about our film club. I was talking to professors who had digital cinema classes to procure their screening room for all the film showings. I was making myself available even to give introductions that I could have made really insightful. These girls said no to all my ideas. They wanted the showings to be in a classroom that had terrible sound and a shotty projection. They only wanted it because it was the room were all the film studies classes was and they wanted a certain professor to sign off on the class. I wanted people to show up and not sit in terrible seating. The screening room had perfect projection, stadium seating and lounge chairs. They still didn't care.

But, I'm picking this week's movie. I begged and pleaded with them to show "The Wild Bunch" and for me to give an introduction. I promised them I had 20 friends and associates showing up. I even have a journalist for the school paper going who is going to write a  corresponding piece. The only thing I asked for is a 10 minute introduction. They said it had to be 5 minutes. They never heard of the film and I told them this type of film needed a proper introduction that explained the film's art so half the people weren't up in arms about the film's disturbing treatment of women. I especially thought of these two girls getting mad. They still said 5 minutes but fuck it, I'm procuring all the people to show up and I'll definitely go 10 minutes.

I think I now hate film clubs. I'm going to start one next semester and be in complete control. I at least know I will be able to make it successful.

[GoneSavage]

"Film clubs" are the reason Xixax exists.

[JG]

what would be the less pretentious, more appealing approach be?  I suppose it'd be smart to show some American films intermittently, but the whole idea of the club was to introduce movies to seemingly intelligible kids that they normally wouldn't see.  And, right, I guess there are many American/english-speaking films that fit that category, so i spose that could work.   

also, let me say -- i don't think any asian movie won't work.  i said that wrong.  just rashomon specifically, because of the reasons i mentioned.   does this sound like stupid reasoning?  it might be.  maybe i should show rashomon, but i am wary.   

concerning hedwig's suggestion:  pubrick is right, it's not worth it.  not only would it not fly with the school, but not enough are interested.  maybe 2 kids, tops.  me included.  and my advisor.    if anything this club has caused me to be a little less faithful in humanity. 

I'm in this class called "media literacy" where we dissect the media and anaylze art.  this quarter we watched network, and then my teacher was open to suggestions.  i suggested 8 1/2.  the class has about 6 kids...two of them refused to watch it cause it was subtitled.  we watched it anyway, but their minds were already made up.  the other 3 that went into it with an open mind did love it.   just to show you that i am working with some narrow-minded indivduals.  psh, and they say the northeast is full of liberal thinkers. 

...and if we're going to continue discussing this thread can we quit sarcastically quoting "kids" already?  Sheesh, I know it seems like I'm being condescending, but I assure you -- I'm not.  I do not have an elitist attitude, people i know would address their peers in the same manner. 

[Reinhold]

i'm the vp of the film society at purchase... probably'll end up running it next year. i find that double-billing is a good strategy for getting attendance up (people might come for one and not so much for the other, but stay because they're already there), encouraging discussion sandwiched between films, and also just keeping people who like movies together for longer periods of time... all are positives.

also... indie theaters usually do group rates for film clubs. so (find out and) use that as a selling point for people to go on your field trips if you can.

[matt35mm]

That's why running movie clubs suck, man.  They'll only serve to erode your probably already-dwindling faith in humanity.

if anything this club has caused me to be a little less faithful in humanity. 

Called it.

[Pubrick]

...and if we're going to continue discussing this thread can we quit sarcastically quoting "kids" already?  Sheesh, I know it seems like I'm being condescending, but I assure you -- I'm not.  I do not have an elitist attitude, people i know would address their peers in the same manner. 

i wasn't being sarcastic.

[JG]

The Epilogue

So we never did show Rashomon.  We kept debating about showing other movies, kept postponing due to scheduling difficulties, & now there's only two weeks left in school.   At the end of the year my amazingly cool advisor is leaving to teach at another school, the only three loyal followers i had, one of them being the owner of the sound system and DVD player we used, are going off to college.  I could try and start it up again next year, but I don't think I have the determination or patience.  So  that's three movies total, one of which was a success.   Certainly in retrospect, the last two we showed were a terrible idea.  one day i'll start another film club (this time not called "film team") and i'll learn from this.  can't be limited to foreign movies, , occasional a color film, and no level of airiness that i may have unintentionally conveyed. 

one thing that sticks out in my mind from this whole experience is a conversation i had with a girl in my afore-mentioned media literacy class, which started out as a discussion about the idea of watching 8 1/2 in the class and branched into my film club.  She didn't wanna watch 8 1/2 because she feels you "need to take baby steps first"  or whatever that adage is.  She had seen La Strada at my showing and didn't feel that she totally got it (side note:  it seemed cause it was foreign people immediately assumed there was so much more to get).    I told her that I don't think she gives herself enough credit. 

Aside from La Strada and Seventh Seal, which were just plain bad choices, is it too much to ask to challenge people with their art?  everyone who attended was smart  and i just feel like they're not asking enough of themselves if they don't try and get a little more out of movies.  or any form of art even.  the last thing i want to be is the pretentious dick who walks around condescending to people who aren't as "cultured," y'know?  Admittedly, and this is based in part on an obsessive review of all the posts I've made here, i have a tendency to talk as though i know better.  its unintentional and i hope its not like this in the real world.   

The "then" Jimmy Gator did so many things wrong. The "now" Jimmy Gator promises to do things different.     

[modage]

i liked that story. there's hope for you yet jimmygator.  there's hope for you yet.