Celebrate a Year of Cinema41 Screenings
If you haven't yet read Alison Macor's book Chainsaws, Slackers, and Spy Kids: 30 Years of Filmmaking in Austin, Texas, you are missing out on the rich history of Austin's film community. I was excited when Ryan Darbonne, executive director of Cinema41 -- a volunteer group of cinephiles producing twice-monthly screenings at The Salvage Vanguard Theater -- told me that the group's namesake was Cinema 40 Film Society, a student-run volunteer effort at The University of Texas that he'd read about in Macor's book.
The year was 1965 and much like the Austin Film Society, Cinema 40 started out as a way to showcase art films presented by the directors. The group enjoyed highlights with Jean Luc Godard and Andy Warhol presenting work ... a pedigree worthy of reincarnation by a recent college grad looking for black independent films and indies of the 80s and 90s on Austin screens and coming up short.
Darbonne put out the call on Craigslist to identify other film enthusiasts to work with, and he got exactly two responses: Heather Cain and her partner Chris Popkoff. As the former manager of the Dobie Theatre, Cain helped channel Darbonne's DIY spirit into professional presentations (read: paying screening fees, working with press, the fine art of flyering). Cain and Popkoff have since moved out of Austin but Cinema41 has enlisted additional volunteers and are celebrating the group's one-year anniversary on Thursday with a free public screening of Living In Oblivion at Austin Studios.
"Each month is a theme and we rotate programmers," said Darbonne, "They choose two films that correlate to that theme. We chose 'Self-Reflexivity in Cinema' and showed Living In Oblivion in April of last year." Tom DiCillo's 1995 comedy stars Steve Buscemi as Nick Reve, the long-suffering director of a no-budget independent film. The film garnered three Independent Spirit Award nominations and a slew of festival wins in 1996, but is the kind of under-recognized gem Cinema41 seeks to reinvigorate for modern audiences.
Ryan Darbonne is happy to spread the programming around to the Cinema41 team, shaking up what kinds of movies they show. When he programs, he says, "I like doing absurd comedy, with substance, or things that talk about the black experience as seen through my eyes, or black cinema that shows a unique perspective. In August, I programmed 'Black Images on Film.' We did Chameleon Street [written and directed by Wendell B. Harris Jr.] and I don't like to use this term, but it was a very underrated film. It's such a unique display on race and the portrayal of black characters is the best I've ever seen." In addition to his work on Cinema41, Ryan works at the Guadalupe location of I Luv Video, is a writer/director with filmmaking collective Hello Optimism and part of comedy hip-hop group Space Camp.
What's up in the coming year? Cinema41 wants to "step it up." They will be tackling grant writing to keep their screenings cheap or free, ensure they have a guest for each screening and maybe show film prints. When asked about what event over the past year represents what Cinema41 will continue to be, Ryan mentions Last Night by Don McKellar from their "Unconventional End-of-the-World Films" selections last July. They talked to McKellar from Toronto via Skype following the screening.
"For me that was the most memorable screening because it was engaging. The director was really good and people asked him a bunch of questions. We had a lot of people who didn't know anything about film and they asked a lot of questions. I felt like they learned something and it was a lot of fun." The worst part about his experience? Flyering in last summer's sweltering heat. The best experience so far? Getting a call from SXSW Festival producer Janet Pierson to shoot the breeze.
Cinema41 has a spring lineup coming together including a benefit show at Beerland on April 21. A door charge of $5 will go to support Cinema41, and bands are still being finalized. Changing up their one-programmer-per-month methodology to each programmer selecting a title based on the theme, the April/May theme is "Band of Outsiders: Independent Films of the 90's," which will include Drugstore Cowboy on April 19, Clockwatchers on May 3 and Trees Lounge on May 17 after Thursday's anniversary celebration with Living In Oblivion.
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Agnes Varnum is the Marketing Director at the Austin Film Society.