Film Screenings / Programs / Series
THIS IS CELLULOID: 35MM
May 29 – June 21
As the medium of celluloid (or more accurately but far less evocatively, polyester) is rapidly pushed towards obsolescence, and the new digital standard, DCP, continues to invade not only the world’s multiplexes but also those repertory theaters and museums devoted to screening movies from the art form’s first century, Anthology stands fast in its commitment to keeping 35mm and 16mm and 8mm alive! Though our devotion to screening films in their original formats holds true throughout our programming, we’ve decided the moment is right to present a series designed specifically to highlight the unique beauty (which DCP can approximate, but never equal) of celluloid, and to celebrate the exquisite textures, glorious colors, and unique qualities of light that are becoming a tragically rare sight on our cinema’s screens in the 21st century.
With “This Is Celluloid,” which we inaugurate this summer and will continue throughout 2015, we will be gathering some of the most stunningly beautiful prints that have graced our screens or that we’ve encountered in other repertory cinemas in recent memory, as well as inviting various studios, archives, and collectors to select beauties from their libraries.
This first installment of the series, which will focus on 35mm (the commercial standard for most of the cinema’s history), is a treasure chest of sparkling black-and-white photography, eye-popping I.B. Technicolor and other color prints, and cinematographic marvels from the silent era through the studio period and into the 1970s and 80s and beyond. Encompassing both pristine preservations as well as vintage prints whose visual delights are undimmed despite the inevitable wear and tear they’ve accumulated through decades of projections (and now wear almost as a badge of honor), the series is guaranteed to make your eyeballs very, very happy!
Special thanks to Blake Beisswanger & Mike Polydoros (Lions Gate); Brian Belovarac (Janus Films); Daniel Bish (George Eastman House); Chris Chouinard (Park Circus); Sebastian del Castillo (American Genre Film Archive); Paul Ginsburg (Universal); Haden Guest & Mark Johnson (Harvard Film Archive); Stefanie Larson (Paramount); Mike Mashon & Lynanne Schweighofer (Library of Congress); Mark McElhatten (Sikelia); Kristie Nakamura & Nicki Woods (WB); Gary Palmucci (Kino Lorber); Mike Pogorzelski, May Haduong & Cassie Blake (Academy Film Archive); Caitlin Robertson & Joe Reid (20th Century Fox); Martin Scorsese; David Spencer, Matt Jones & Eric Self (University of North Carolina School of the Arts); Todd Wiener & Steven Hill (UCLA Film & Television Archive).
