Theaters Stay Open: Despite calls for limits on mass gatherings, theaters hope to remain open, The Hollywood Reporter says. The owner of Regal Cinemas, the nation’s second-largest theater chain, said last week that people are still going to movies.

Sunday at 5pm! at the Texas Theatre #MaxVonSydowRIP 

The Exorcist (1973, William Friedkin, USA)

EXCR_TRAILER from VideoFest on Vimeo.

Returning to EarthX April 17-26, 2020, EarthxFilmshowcases films and emerging media that explore science, conservation, climate change, and the environment while honoring the heroes working to protect our planet. Our mission is to turn awareness into action, through education, art and media. EarthxFilm Education provides youth with the tools to understand and drive a sustainable future along their journey to become heroes for our planet!

Bart Chat 3/9/2020

Hello all, What a crazy week. On Friday SXSW was told to shut down by the city of Austin. Below is an excerpt from a piece that will be in Theatre Jones with my thoughts on the matter.

SXSW has been leading culture for a long time (about as long as the Dallas video fest) and on Friday, the festival did something that I think will have as great an effect on culture as the music film and technology they have championed. They shut it down for fear of spreading Covid19.

For the last week I have been struggling with the dilemma. Should I stay, or should I go? I have been to every SXSW film festival since it started and attended the music festival before there was even a film fest. For me, it is a ritual that demarcates the cold of winter turning into the hope of spring, and getting to new work, new artists, and taking in all the inspiration. I’ve been talking to many people about it and very few were wishy-washy. It was a pretty even split. Many people in my life were strongly advocating for me to forgo the festival. I’m in the target demographic (old people), and I do get lots of colds. Others were saying that this is all media hype, which to some extent it is, but I also have a sense of duty. I was supposed to be on the jury for short films, and Christopher Llewellyn Reed and I were scheduled to do several interviews for the Fog of Truth podcast, and I didn’t want to let people down. Yesterday, I took to Facebook asking for the collective wisdom and the moment I posted my query, SXSW announced they were going to pull the plug. Yesterday there was also a Zoom conference for the Film Festival Alliance–yes there is such a thing. Usually, on their Zooms there are 8 or so people, we have over 40 people from festivals all over, small and large, talking about how they might approach the coming new reality. There was talk about online versions of festivals–insurance, what other cultural organizations are doing, lots of good thinking but no real answers.  So, what does this mean? Obviously, there is so much money to be lost, by the SXSW organization (a for-profit festival), the city of Austin, so many vendors and workers, and many filmmakers, musicians and tech companies. And then there are all these artists who are hoping to break out and have their moment. Now, they can say they were selected for SXSW, but it’s not the same as meeting people and gaining momentum.  I sent an email suggesting that we judge the films online so we could still have a winner without having the in-person fest. Maybe that will happen. Maybe there will be an online version of SXSW. At this point, anything could happen. On one hand, canceling it is a no brainer. Many people will be descending into Austin by plane and some of those are unknowingly carrying the virus, if not when they left, perhaps on the plane. Once in Austin, there are so many large crowds it’s hard to track where people are going and who they encountered. It’s a mass of humanity, living, breathing, and coughing. And as much as we might try to remember that we shouldn’t, some of us will shake hands. It’s bound to happen. And really in the time, it takes you to read this, have you touched your face? 

One could make the case that the world would be less safe after this event. Could one make the case that it is safer or just as safe? I guess if it had gone on and nothing got worse it would make the case that other events could/should happen.

But what does this mean for culture in general? Will people stop going to the opera or the symphony? Are larger events more prone to cancelation then smaller ones?  What should people who are planning festivals and conferences do?  It’s not as if the governments’ response has inspired faith that this will be over anytime soon.  At UTA where I teach, an email was sent out suggesting faculty get familiar with online teaching in case it gets to that point.  The Dallas VideoFest is going forward with its Alternative Fictions Festival for the first weekend in April (April 3-5) with a smaller festival and mostly organic home-grown work. Looking at the broader picture, I think this will hasten the universe of people staying home and watching work on their phone, their tablet, their computer or their TV. So much of this is happening already. Indeed, it’s hard to get people to leave their homes to go out to anything. The culture of social distancing is great for introverts and horrible for extraverts. Now it will be harder to get people to show up.  Perhaps many of us cultural warriors will put our work on branded and perhaps paywall sites that can be up for a limited amount of time.  Several of these have been tried but I think that might be a way forward. If something is always available, you often won’t get around to seeing it until it is too late. If a video performance of a dance or play were streaming for a limited time that might work. So, in the end, would I have gone or stayed, I honestly don’t know. Now, are movie theaters safe? I hope so. What is worth seeing out there? At The Texas Theater the new LGBTQ series PSA (Pleasure, Style, and Attitude) is showing La Cienaga in 35mm. Tickets are either one dollar or pay what you can.  There are two screenings of Swallow the closing film of Best of Fests last week, a director’s cut of The Exorcist, #RIP Max (hmm, wonder what will be different) and a restoration of a film I have not seen called Come and See.

The big thing at the Texas is not this week, but next week. Jem Cohen, yes, the Jem Cohen, the poet of American cinema, will be here to show his most popular film Fugazi’s Instrument. So, check that out. The Alamo has 12 Monkeys on Saturday at 10:00. The Angelika is showing the 2018 film The Times of Bill Cunningham and Lucien Freud: A Self-Portrait, as well as A Portrait of a Lady on Fire.   For those making films, check out the info on EarthX competition below. Bart Weiss, Artistic Director

The House That Rob Built

Saturday, March 28 |7PM | Movie Tavern 4

Sunday, March 29 | 5:45PM | Movie Tavern 6

2020 | USA | 59 MIN | Texas Premiere

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) Dir. Céline Sciamma

Elizabeth Taylor shopping in Singapore, 1957

EarthxFilm Spring 2020 Youth Film Competitionin collaboration with Instagram and Planet911 is open for submissions for anyone age 11-21.

The House That Rob Built                                                            Texas Premiere

Sat., March 28 - 7PM - Movie Tavern 4 - 59 min

Sun., March 29 - 5:45PM - MT 6

Director/Writer/Producer Megan Harrington (in attendance)

LOS ANGELES NOIR: Sunset Boulevard (1950) dir. Billy Wilder Double Indemnity (1944) dir. Billy Wilder This Gun for Hire (1942) dir. Frank Tuttle In a Lonely Place (1950) dir. Nicholas Ray Somewhere in the Night (1946) dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz The Big Sleep (1946) dir. Howard Hawks Mildred Pierce (1945) dir. Michael Curtiz Murder, My Sweet (1945) dir. Edward Dmytryk Too Late for Tears (1949) dir. Byron Haskin The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) dir. Tay Garnett

can’t be to careful 

This Day In Buster…February 24th 1927…

‘The General’, with the title ‘Le Mécano de la Générale’, opens in France.  Buster Keaton played Johnny Gray who was indeed ‘The General’s mechanic both on & off screen!

Celebrating Black Women Directors: 11 Sundance Institute-Supported Artists to Know

© Sundance Institute | L–R, from top left: Ekwa Msangi by Caydie McCumber; Janicza Bravo by Jemal Countess; Ava DuVernay by Mark Leibovitz; Euzhan Palcy by Ron Hill; Gina Prince-Bythewood with Sanaa Lathan, photographer unknown; Dee Rees by Dan Campbell; and Ayoka Chenzira, photographer unknown

Black women directors have created some of the most powerful, nuanced, and layered stories of our time. From indie hits to serious blockbusters, projects written and directed by black women have proven to be essential in contributing a unique cinematic gaze. In the span of 39 years, Sundance Institute has supported numerous black women artists in telling their stories via labs, grants, and the annual Festival in Park City. 

In celebration of Black History Month, we’re highlighting black women feature-film directors with ties to Sundance Institute. We’ve chosen 11 artists who have worked to portray the intricate lives of black women, bring into focus cultural aspects of the African diaspora, and express socially relevant themes through film.

Check out the full blog post here.

“In the film, the economic gap between two people becomes clearest in the moments of greatest intimacy. When the Parks first hire Kim Ki-woo (Choi Woo-shik) as an English tutor for their daughter, he is welcomed into her bedroom. As a maid, Ki-woo’s mother, Chung-sook (Jang Hye-jin), is allowed within earshot of the family’s quarrels and gossip. The rich outsource their most basic needs to the poor, who need the income, and the tight connections created by this exchange tend to be self-reinforcing.

[…] There is a Korean phrase that is commonly used to police people who act above their station: niga mwonde? Though the most faithful English translation is “Who do you think you are?” the sentence literally means “What are you?” South Korea is not the only country in which the rich and poor continue to live in close quarters, even as the disparities between them widen. The danger in such a system, Bong’s film suggests, is that one day people may find it easier to discount the humanity of fellow citizens than to address the unfair divisions in their heavily stratified society.” 

- ‘Parasite’ and the Curse of Closeness

INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS 2013 — Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Florence Pugh attends the 92nd Annual Academy Awards