If you’re like me, you’re probably going to miss a lot of great screenings at the UW Cinematheque. I get out of work on Fridays too late to commute downtown fast enough to get to screenings, and this past Saturday evening I put together our new Alternative Screening Calendar (#humblebrag).
All is not lost, however. For the first time that I can remember, both semester-opening Cinematheque films are already streaming on Netflix. This is partly a result of the ever-narrowing window for non-theatrical and alternative venues. We hope to address the positive and negative consequences of this for downtown film culture in the coming weeks and months. But for now, easy access via Netflix means that we can encourage everyone to watch Cutie and the Boxer and Nostalghia using whatever resources are available. Above all, we want Madisonians to watch great films.
As reported in the Los Angeles Times this weekend, Paramount has announced that it will be the first Hollywood studio to stop releasing 35mm prints. The future of Madison film culture will not depend exclusively on whether or not campus venues can afford to switch to DCP technology and new projectors (but we should still support such efforts, of course). The future will depend upon whether we can recast Madison film culture as a network of cineastes working together to create and attend local screenings, stream great films at home, and emphasize the relationship between the two endeavors.
We need well informed viewers whose tastes vary widely, and it does not matter if their starting point is on a living room couch or in a theater seat. When the tide comes in, all the boats rise; it is in the interest of Madison’s venues to encourage people to watch great films regardless of venue and format. When that doesn’t happen, the tide goes out: the Majestic and Orpheum become music venues; Marcus Westgate Art closes; Sundance becomes nearly indistinguishable from the other multiplexes (see the foreign language film numbers I mention in my Isthmus Bollywood article); Wisconsin Film Festival numbers go down (see also here).
I stand by my claim from a little over a year ago that the campus venues are experiencing a renaissance in terms of quantity and quality of programming. But I’m also convinced that not enough is being done to cultivate cineastes in the digital domain.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, we should have posted links to Cutie and the Boxer and Nostalghia on Netflix last week. Would that discourage people from supporting local venues? In the long run, I don’t think so. If you watch either of these films at home this week, I’m confident that you will conclude that you should check out the venues that show these kinds of films on a regular basis here in Madison.
From this point forward, Madison Film Forum coverage of local film events will also include links to current streaming opportunities, or links to GoWatchIt so that you can receive notifications when films become available on DVD or streaming resources.
If you missed it last week, check out Jake Smith’s review of Cutie here at the Madison Film Forum. Aggregated reviews of Cutie and Nostalghia are also still posted on our Flipboard.
Cutie and the Boxer (Zachary Heinzerling, USA, 2013, 81 minutes)»
Nostalghia (Andrei Tarkovsky, Italy/USSR, 1983, 120 minutes)»