Editorial
Front Page - Friday, July 2, 2010
Film series encourages conversation with non-traditional methods
Erica Tuggle
In the film, “The Greening of Southie,” Bob Gottlich is an ironworker for the first LEED certified building in Boston: the Macallen. The film, which will be showed at the August Back Row Film Series, the story of Gottlich’s part in bringing the building to life as well as the efforts of the others in the young development team offer a funny and poignant story of this endeavor and its purpose for the future of green sustainability.
- Photo provided
In the Back Row Film Series, hosted by the Arts and Education Council, the back row, front row and all the rows in-between have an equal opportunity for engagement in the intimate setting that takes the traditional “going to the movies” experience to the next level.
Laurel Eldridge, the programs director for the AEC, says that their independent film series has been bringing little known films, first to the Bijou, and now to the Majestic Theatre since the ’60s. Since this series only happens in the fall and spring, the requests for summer films prompted the formation of the Back Row Film Series in 2005.
With the Back Row series, the focus is interaction in bringing the community to a central location to discuss topics contained within the films, ask their questions and enjoy hearing the thoughts of fellow movie-lovers.
Eldridge says, “We try to show films that are not very accessible to the general public, something you may not be able to rent and it may never come to theaters. Then we incorporate some kind of program to go along with the movie, whether it is a guest speaker, when we bring in directors, live performances or a dinner program.”
With these kinds of bonuses added to seeing a great film, the popularity of the series has grown, and Eldridge says she thinks it’s because being able to ask questions after a film, discuss them with a group and even get answers from the director gives an in-depth viewing experience. The films are also held at different venues around the city so citizens are able to experience parts of the city they may have never visited.
Eldridge says the films that seem to be the most popular are the ones with local ties, such as the most recent film screening of this series: the Citizen Architect Series, where the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects was invited and the event sold out a week before the event. She says they also try and pick current hot topics for their films, and always do a food-themed film showing.
The upcoming showing in the series is an IFC documentary called “Spaghetti West,” which celebrates Italian Western cult classics with clips from the best of the over 600 spaghetti westerns ever produced, and interviews with names like Clint Eastwood and Ennio Morricone. During this event, a spaghetti dinner catered by On the List catering will be provided. Afterwards, a discussion will be held with UTC professor Dr. Matthew Guy, who is working on an upper level course about Westerns. This event will be on July 8 at 6 p.m. at Lindsay Street Hall, and the $15 ticket will include dinner, movie and program.
The August 5 Back Row event will be a showing of “The Greening of Southie” at GreenSpaces on Main Street. Eldridge says this is the perfect location because the movie itself follows the building of the first LEED certified residential building in Boston and the process that the union steel workers mentally went through, their resistance to the idea of green building and their end product. This film was directed by Ian Cheney, and he will be attending this event to answer questions about the film.
“That’s what makes it so special,” Eldridge says. “You might be able to rent this [movie] pretty soon at home, but you won’t be able to ask the filmmaker what everything means like you will here.”
Although the films cover certain niche-like ideas, there is a wide variety of attendees to the movies from film buffs, to those just wanting to learn something, which Eldridge says she always does from these films.
Tickets for the Back Row film series can be purchased online at www.backrowfilms.com or by phone, and Eldridge says she encourages those planning to attend to call ahead to reserve a seat.
This month, the AEC is also having their annual fundraiser for the year on July 22 called Art.a.ma.jig at the Tanner Hill Gallery. It includes a silent art auction, wine tasting and food from local restaurants as well as 45 artists on hand to speak about the art they prepared for this event from this year’s chosen theme: “Fierce.” More information can be found at www.artsedcouncil.org. It is also still not too late to submit an international dish recipe for the AEC CultureFest cookbook to be sold at the event on September 26 at the Chattanooga Market.
The power of education and arts to enrich the community is present in all the AEC events, but Eldridge says, “Film is just such a cool medium to embrace
a cross section of the community, and a great way to learn about something and get a message across.”
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