Support Your Local Impresarios

Posted November 16, 2012 at 1:01am by Carl Martin
"It won't be a stylish marriage, I can't afford a carriage."
You don't need me to tell you that it's become damn hard to find a new movie playing anywhere in the Bay Area, let alone the country or the world, on film anymore. I, for one, recently had to leave my longstanding theater job last month when the venerable Century projectors--only halfway towards affirming the aptness of their appellation but still going Strong--were wrested violently from their pedestals to be replaced by inscrutable HAL-looking drones. Though he grossly misrepresented the nature of the apocalypse, Roland Emmerich at least got the timing right.

I've been lucky to find work at a couple venues that still do run film, if not exclusively. At least one of them appears to be in it for the long haul, and is even gearing up to upgrade its 35mm projectors with xenon lamphouses--a more reliable if less romantic source of light than the ancient carbon-arcs presently installed. Bay Area carbon fans will still be able to get their fix at the Stanford in Palo Alto, the Paramount in Oakland, the Victoria in San Francisco, and Auctions-by-the-Bay in Alameda.

Speaking of the Victoria, I was just at this grindhouse-y occasional venue last Friday to check out the launch of Dave Cowen's San Francisco Cult and Psychotronic Film Society. Cowen's venture is inspired by similar efforts in LA (Cinefamily) and Austin (Alamo Drafthouse--reputed to be expanding to SF soon) to create fun events that bring attention to overlooked films, and represent the last vestige of the traditional rep-house model that many of us relied on for years for our cinematic edification. He goes to the trouble of finding 35mm prints for his double features, favoring the authentic experience over the sterile perfection of the digital. Yes, Slaughter in San Francisco was faded and scratched, but it was a genuine artifact of 1974, featuring a solid, subsequently disowned, early performance by Chuck Norris as a heel.

Anna Biller wears many hats... when she's wearing anything at all
If Cowen still has his shirt after his three November events, he intends to carry on, with slightly less frequency, in the new year. Saturday's show pairs writer/director/production designer/editor/star Anna Biller's extraordinary Viva--a celebratory throwback to, rather than satire of, the maverick sexploitation works of Russ Meyer, Radley Metzger, Doris Wishman, and others, and perhaps one of my five favorite films of this millennium, with The Frightened Woman, whose trailer (presented unfortunately in rather grim-looking video Friday) promises a heaping dose of psychotronia.

Also check out Gerald Santana's Berkeley Underground Film Society, screening small-gauge film prints every Sunday in the Berkeley boonies, now in its second year. Gerald's a hell of a nice guy, and encourages a loose, convivial atmosphere at his free, yes free!, screenings. Reel changes are an opportunity for the intimate crowd to discuss the film so far. The current series features National Film Registry selections, and this week it's 1916's pacifist allegory Civilization.

Hats off to these brave trend-buckers. Show them your support!