Memorable Screening Experiences

Last week, I was fortunate enough to attend a screening of Miranda July's The Future (2011), followed by a Q&A with the director. Coming out of the screening, my wife and I began discussing what film going experiences have marked our lives (through the film, format, or venue) and was curious to see what screenings my friends felt similarly about. So, in the interest in starting a bit more personal dialogue, I’d like to offer up five of my memorable movie going experiences.

Blade Runner: The Final Cut; Digital Projection; Landmark Theatre, Los Angeles, CA.

I had never seen Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) on the big screen before. I also had yet to experience a digital projection. The end result was awe-inspiring. I had seen HD within the confines of my parents’ living room before, but to completely envelope the space of a movie theater and still appear crystal clear was simply amazing.

The Devil is a Woman and The Girlfriend Experience; 35mm Nitrate and HD Master; The Billy Wilder Theatre, Los Angeles, CA.  


This screening was programmed by Steven Soderbergh on the topic of the transition from nitrate to digital and featured one of the first nitrate prints shown at the Wilder, Josef von Sternberg's The Devil is a Woman (1935, my introduction to the director's work) and Soderbergh's own The Girlfriend Experience (2009).  Having been a Soderbergh nut for years (I have a long story about why Out of Sight was my Doc Brown knocking his head on a toilet moment of enlightenment that I'll tell another time), this screening just came up at the right time and had a perfect storm of memorable factors for me:  my first nitrate print, my first von Sternberg film, and Soderbergh giving a hell of a discussion on technological change in the film industry.  Finally, I had recently interviewed him for an essay I wrote for The Philosophy of Steven Soderbergh (2010) and I got a chance to thank him in person for his time. I ducked out as he was getting mobbed by autograph hounds and one loopy old veteran who kept trying to morally critique Girlfriend Experience, but I got this photo out of it.   

I don't like asking for photos.  They're awkward and tacky, but a friend clicked this one off.  I think the crazed man is talking to him in this one.  

Dumbo; 35mm; The Billy Wilder Theatre, Los Angeles, CA. 

The UCLA Film and Television Archive runs an ongoing series in which director Curtis Hanson invites a filmmaker to screen a film that has inspired him or her. My first attendance at the series was to see John Lasseter screen Dumbo
(1941). The experience was noteworthy for a number of reasons. First, Lasseter was sitting two rows behind me. Second, the screening began with a set of three or four Looney Tunes 35mm shorts, which looked amazing despite their scratches and fading. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Pixar funded a restoration of the film just for the screening. The storm/stork sequence that begins the film was quite visceral as a result, with the lightning popping off the screen.

The Oriental in Milwaukee.  

Nosferatu; 35mm; The Oriental, Milwaukee, WI. 

This screening was most memorable for the screening space it was held in. Still a high school student at the time, I rarely ventured out of the small county in Wisconsin I grew up in when it came to catching a movie. At that time, I was accustomed to multiplexes located in shopping malls. The Oriental Theatre, one of the few remaining picture palaces in the United States, in an amazing screening venue. I had seen Nosferatu (1922) before, but the theatre had brought in the Alloy Orchestra to play a live accompaniment. Needless to say, no DVD presentation I’ve ever come across has come close to this experience.

Playtime; 70mm; The Egyptian Theatre, Los Angeles, CA.

My first experience with 70mm. The print of Tati’s film was far from perfect but provided me with a phenomenological response that would have made André Bazin proud. I found myself searching compositions for a focal point, lost in 

The Rivoli in Cedarburg.

the layered images that were punctuated by an amazing resolution.

The Rescuers; 35mm; The Rivoli, Cedarburg, WI.

While I don’t think I’ve seen the film since, my screening of The Rescuers (1977) is the first film I can remember seeing in the theater. The screening was also marked by the fact that my late grandmother and I were the only ones in attendance.

Star Wars: A New Hope; DV Tape; The Directors Guild of America, Los Angeles, CA.  

I've written about this screening at length at Pajiba.  Essentially, the screening of Star Wars (1977) featured an hour and a half introductory conversation between Christopher Nolan and George Lucas.  I've been to a lot of great screenings at the DGA (thanks primarily to their Q&As with Clint Eastwood - for Changeling, Gran Torino, and Invictius, Paul Thomas Anderson talking to Kathryn Bigelow about The Hurt Locker, and David Fincher talking about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with writer Robert Towne).  This was my favorite.  


And you, dear reader, any experiences you’d care to share?