January 2009 Archives

From the Philadelphia Cinema and Media Seminar:

Pretty Things: Cinema's Geopolitics of the Decorative
Rosalind Galt, University of Sussex
Respondent: Elena Gorfinkel, Bryn Mawr College
Friday, January 23, 5:30PM
Temple Univ. Center City room 420

Part of a book project on the “pretty” in cinema, this paper analyzes the
aesthetics and politics of the decorative, focusing on the Orientalist
mise-en-scène of Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge (2001). Luhrmann provides an
case study of the fate of pretty films; relatively popular, his work is
nonetheless often dismissed as superficial and lacking authenticity, while
his melodramatic emphasis on production design and color accrues technical
awards rather than critical or scholarly interest. Historicizing this mode
of critique, and drawing on Moulin Rouge’s many intertexts, this paper
locates cinematic decorative style within nineteenth and early
twentieth-century discourses on aesthetics, art history and interior design,
particularly in regard to the question of Orientalism. The decorative and
Orientalism have frequently been linked, and the colonial critic’s rejection
of Oriental style as inferior is strangely echoed in postcolonial
criticism’s rejection of it as colonialist. This uniformity of rejection is
striking, given the ideological opposition of the discourses, and suggests
an intriguing persistence of the decorative as a formal figuration of
troubled politics. This paper seeks to explore this figuration in cinema,
and suggests that in Moulin Rouge’s production of Orientalist décor, we find
an articulation of femininity, geopolitics and the desirable object of
exchange that makes it a uniquely useful meeting point for understanding the
sexual and racial economies of cinematic spectacle.

Rosalind Galt is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at The University of
Sussex. Her broad research areas include film theory, comparative European
cinemas, global cinemas since 1945, critical theory and studies of gender
and sexuality. She has written widely on European cinemas post-World War II,
with a focus on how film histories and forms intersect with political
histories and geopolitics. This research includes both popular international
films (for example from Italy and former Yugoslavia) and avant-garde
movements (such as the Catalan Barcelona School).

Her current projects include a book on film theory, aesthetics and sexual
politics (addressing directors such as Christopher Doyle, Derek Jarman and
Claire Denis), and a co-edited collection re-conceptualising the category of
'art cinema' in the era of globalisation and 'world cinema'.

Elena Gorfinkel is an instructor at Bryn Mawr College. Her dissertation,
"'Indecent Desires': Sexploitation Cinema, 1960s Film Culture, and the Adult
Film Audience,"is a history of low budget American sexploitation films of
the 1960s. Her essay on the first erotic film festivals in the early 1970s,
published in Framework, received honorable mention in the Society for Cinema
and Media Studies' Katherine Singer Kovacs Essay Award (2008). She is
currently co-editing a book of collected essays on the materiality of place
and geographical location in cinema and media titled The Place of the Moving
Image with John David Rhodes (Univ. of Minnesota Press, forthcoming.)
Elena's research and teaching interests include feminist and queer theory,
gender and sexuality studies, women's filmmaking practice, outsider and
"marginal" cinemas, 1960s film culture, international art cinema, theories
of taste & high/low culture, cinephile criticism, histories of film
reception and moviegoing, and film historiography.

EARLY EDUCATIONAL: CLASSROOM FILMS OF THE SILENT ERA (2009 edition)
& live music at The Secret Cinema at Moore

Friday, January 30
8:00 pm
Admission: $7.00

Moore College of Art & Design
20th & Race Streets, Philadelphia
(215) 965-4099

On Friday, January 30, The Secret Cinema at Moore College of Art and Design will revisit an unusual program concept not tapped since we last used it in 2001: EARLY EDUCATIONAL: CLASSROOM FILMS OF THE SILENT ERA. These ultra-rare reels, most of which haven't been seen in seven or eight decades, are still potent in their powers to entertain, amuse, and yes, educate modern-day viewers about a variety of subjects. The various short films, most of which were made in the 1920s, include now ancient travels to distant lands, historical dramatizations, looks at industry and nature studies.

And, just to keep things interesting, our 2009 edition of EARLY EDUCATIONAL will include no duplication of titles from our 2001 show. Most of the films have never been shown by Secret Cinema -- or anyone else, since the 1920s.

The prints to be projected, many of which are believed to be exclusive to the Secret Cinema archive, are mostly original prints (rather than restored or duplicated prints) dating to the time of the production, from pioneering companies such as Kodascope Libraries, Eastman Teaching Films, and Urban-Kineto. They are mostly in excellent condition, and many were made on tinted stock. The films will be projected at the correct speeds, with a live musical accompaniment from Don Kinnier.

There will be one complete show, starting at 8:00 pm. Admission is $7.00.

Don Kinnier has played music for several previous Secret Cinema presentations of silent movies. Don is Pennsylvania's most prominent silent film accompanist, and has been plying his craft for over forty years. The Philadelphia native (now based in Lititz) has studied the techniques and repertoires of the original theater musicians of the silent era. Don recently played for our screening of NANOOK OF THE NORTH at the American Philosophical Society.

A few highlights of the program include:

STUDIES IN ANIMAL MOTION (1922, British Instructional Films, Ltd.) - A seemingly random (though no less fascinating) assortment of animals are shown ambulating in normal and slow motion, including seagulls, flamingos, snakes, snails...and a boxing kangaroo, seen with his human sparring partner!

FIRST AID: CONTROL OF BLEEDING (1932?, Eastman Classroom Films) - Made in cooperation with the Department of Biology and Public Health, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This film demonstrates the application of tourniquets to stop blood loss in various types of wounds, using simple animation as well as real models.

AMERICA'S LITTLE LAMB (1928, Fox Varieties, THE WORLD WE LIVE IN series) - Here's an example of how a Hollywood studio approach (i.e., lots of cute animals and corny subtitle copy) to an otherwise standard documentary about animals and industry can result in a releasable theatrical short. It was subsequently distributed to schools through the Kodascope rental library; their catalog entry promised that "in an unusually attractive portrayal, this film tells the story of a typical American range sheep...You'll like this picture."

MODERN BASKETBALL FUNDAMENTALS (1925, Eastman Classroom Films) - Basketball was a young sport when this instructional film was produced: metal hoops and backboards had replaced the game's original peach baskets just 19 years earlier, and the NBA was decades away from being formed. Vital passing and shooting skills are demonstrated in this film directed by legendary University of Kansas coach F.C. "Phog" Allen, who learned basketball while a freshman there directly from the sport's inventor, James Naismith.

MENDELSOHN (1926, FitzPatrick Pictures, Famous Music Master series) - A fanciful dramatization of the famed composer's supposed inspiration for writing "The Wedding March," and a sweet love story as well. Producer James A. FitzPatrick became well-known as a leading producer of travelogues for MGM, but few have seen this earlier series, showcasing his flair for staging narrative scenes. We'll show a beautiful multi-tinted original print from the Universal Show-at-Home library.

Plus: IN RURAL BELGIUM, MONKEYS OF ASIA, ETHYL ALCOHOL, and much, much more!

As usual, all Secret Cinema programs are projected in 16mm film on a giant screen (not video).

SECRET CINEMA WEBSITE: http://www.thesecretcinema.com