by Curtis John
One of the
things that I’ve become silently obsessed with since the beginning of the
Curating Moving Images class is how microcinemas work. It is a term I had heard
before, and was aware that there were a decent amount of in the New York City
area, but it was not until recently that I got a chance to actually visit
one.
Our reading
of the journal Incite (vol. #4 –
Exhibition Guide) and the visit from its editor Walter Fosburg was the impetus
for this new fascination. While I
had slightly researched a few of them prior to the reading, it is the
commitment that so many of these microcinema owners and programmers possess toward
ensuring that their audiences and the public-at-large should be exposed to film
and works that they otherwise would probably never see that compounded my interest.
Prior to my
visit to Spectacle I had been
invited to one microcinema (whose name I can’t remember), attended another
(UnionDocs), and last night realized I regularly went to yet another that was
moreso dubbed a ‘gastropub theater’ as it was behind the restaurant/bar ReBar
(reRun). The latter was a cool
space that after becoming rather popular grew unfavorable to many after its
initial curator left. UnionDocs I
consider to be exactly how they describe themselves – a center for documentary
art that “promote[s] marginalized stories,
under-represented facts, and interdependent networks,” though they are classified
as microcinema in Incite and multiple
other places. The first place was in Crown Heights and I looked it up when I
was invited and just considered it way too grimy for a good cinematic
experience.
Spectacle is an odd combination of the
three. A new friend invited me
there for a screening of his short film and as I’d wanted to see the space, I
doubly agreed to attend. An hour
before the screening Spectacle was closed and no signage or schedule on the
front door made me triple-check if I was in the correct place. Only past program posters (among multiple
other oddities) glued to the windows confirmed this was indeed Spectacle. Forty minutes later we returned
and other than the co-owner/projectionist, were the first to arrive; the
curator of this particular series arrived two minutes. As my filmmaker friend was from London
and I from a more organized programming world, we were both clueless to this
culture of lateness that seemed to be normal to the Spectacle world. The programmer was really cool though
and with her cute British accent assailed my fears of this being a bad
event. As other guests trickled in
the programmer went to the bodega to get beer and Pepsi for a select few.
The inside of Spectacle was better than
its exterior. Though it maintains a (hopefully) deliberately grimy appearance,
the seats were old cinema style and most likely from a recently renovated
school auditorium – uniform in appearance but tight in feeling – falling within
its film charter of “lost and forgotten.”
I didn’t do an official count, but I’d say it fits about 45-50 people in
the main section, with extra folding chairs on the side in case of packed
house, which this very much was.
About forty minutes later the program
began, and while the homemade (and lengthy) trailer put the shorts to be
presented in context – the first film, my new friend’s film, had no audio. As they scrambled he reminded me how
nonchalant the programmer was when I asked about a ‘tech test’ and I mentioned
during my film presentations I always have backups upon backups as technology
is as hindering as it is helpful.
Almost ten minutes later I suggested to them to use a different video player
(RealPlayerSP) and the film finally had sound. I also told my friend to always bring a backup DVD of his
film). In spite of the time and
technical fumbles, which I highlight for story functions not through any
judgmental reasons (as they have happened to me as well), the program was
pretty excellent. The Q&A morphed into a post-talk on sex trafficking and
the feminine voice/gaze, a heavy mix of the personal and political.
And despite my initial displeasure, upon
leaving I realized that Spectacle is a pretty remarkable place. The loose atmosphere, apparently a
tenant of their charter or just a general rule-of-thumb (and the spirit of
which was gleaned from the Incite
profile), allows for an open exchange of work and ideas which as an artist is
usually very welcome. One can feel
the community-oriented vibe of the bustling microcinema, one that if you are
willing, you can fit right into it.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.