Back in October I was at the New York Film Festival for the Views from the Avant-Garde. It had been a long time since I had been at a proper festival dedicated to experimental work, and one that took the presentation thereof seriously.
The Francesca Beale is a wonderful theater, with some great projection. In fact, the 16mm film projection looked so good that I felt like it completely dismantled that “oldie” look film projection often has with dimmer projectors / worse spaces. That tungsten-bulbed look has it’s uses, such as having audience members ask you if you are being nostalgic by using film (because, ya know, the only reason to use film nowadays is to talk about death and the 20th century.) What a delight, perhaps even revelation, it must have been to the makers (and us!) to see their works projected at a space like this.
Of course, most places can’t show work like that, and most people don’t see work in such excellent conditions. I’ve been thinking of screenings too; after all, it’s the moment of truth. Accordingly, some basic notes.
- Primarily an act of love, a how to. How to show off certain qualities a work may possess. Curatorial inquiry is secondary to this. Don’t include a work you can’t properly show off just because it fits your thesis…
- …though of course, “properly” showing a work is always a negotiation. What if the projector is too dim for that room (get a different room)? What if you want to show a film, but don’t have a film projector? What if your video projector is meant for powerpoint presentations? Questions like these should be the primary guide in deciding which works you can show, and if you’re doing it yourself, you will most likely be making certain sacrifices. Though sacrifices is too negative a word; different setups can reveal different qualities. However some work may not survive your setups.
- If you assume anything, anything is plug and play, then prepare to enter a world of pain. I wonder how many film teachers spend time on showing their students how to show work. Slightly sadistic homework idea: tell them to do a screening, then set up challenges. No take-up reel! Take the film away right before the show! A sudden rave next door! The screen is the belly of some guy who runs away! etc.
- The little details matter. The framing of the screen. Blocking other light/sound sources that hit the screen/ears. Proper alignment of the projector and the screen so you can properly focus.
- The laptop that is also showing the video that’s on the screen, but the laptops screen is brighter, so you end up just watch it from there (really hate that one). The mouse being on the screen. The iTunes interface popping up. Not properly putting a pause between pieces.
- No work, ever, can stand on it’s own legs, though it feels like it when the organization pulls it off. Maybe it’s the best thing you can do for a work; though by making the process invisible, you also risk giving people a limited impression on how art is. Thinking specifically of uninteresting, only-narrative-film-folk arguments that a work should “speak for itself” instead of being “explained” to you, etc. But if you’re going to try and address every silly expectation that may occur, you have a lot to do…
- “Wait!” I hear you say. “What of all those films I watched on pan-scan betamax videos back in the day? So many of those films I loved! Were they not authentic experiences?” It’s a matter of generosity. You, the audience, are being generous enough to bring your attention this way for some time. That’s all we can really ask for.No filmmaker wants the pity of its audience. No filmmaker wants to walk away from a screening wondering whether their work would be received differently “if only…”. Your generosity is your attendance (and the admission fee). Sometimes, I watch work that is intended to be watched on film on video, and it never leaves my imagination that “this would look different.” No artist wants you to do that (unless that’s the conceptual point, I suppose). Someone asked Michael Snow at the Experimental Media Congress what he thinks the people who are watching Wavelength on Youtube are seeing. He said that they haven’t seen Wavelength, but a ghost of it. And ghosts, naturally, require imagination (aha!). Yes, some work can survive in different setups, and you know what, it’s actually none of my business to question it’s effect on you. But if you liked that, just imagine all else that you aren’t seeing that you could be.
Edit: if all this seems simple, it’s only because I’ve been to far too many careless screenings lately, issues that can easily be solved, all that it would require is minimal care, just a bit more thought on how to care. Alas.
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Wasn’t able to post about it in the moment, but had a wonderful show with the Küçük Sinemalar (click for the program) folk in Istanbul. May there be health! (Sağlık olsun.)
