The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Cinematheque celebrating its 35th anniversary
Showing 35mm prints felt appropriate to director for Cinematheque’s latest milestone
“With our attendance restrictions, we can’t really bring in Quentin Tarantino and have him only appear to 75 people, so I decided to embrace the 35 idea.” — Cinematheque Director John Ewing
Milestone anniversary themes often write themselves.
Take, for instance, the Cleveland Institute of Art’s Cinematheque, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary.
When it comes to film and the number 35, well, three days of 35mm film screenings is what Northeast Ohio’s arthouse theater has planned Aug. 6 through 8 at University Circle’s Peter B. Lewis Theater.
“With our attendance restrictions, we can’t really bring in Quentin Tarantino and have him only appear to 75 people, so I decided to embrace the 35 idea,” Cinematheque Director John Ewing said. “I long had my eyes on a 35th anniversary, knowing it would be an opportunity to celebrate 35mm film, which was always important to me and was one of the foundational attributes of the Cinematheque.
“That was really what I was looking for when I was trying to launch the Cinematheque. I needed a place that had 35mm projection capability or I needed the money to buy our own because it’s a beautiful format. Films don’t look any better than they do in 35mm.”
For its anniversary schedule, the Cinematheque is hosting six screenings of critically acclaimed but rarely revived classics that the theater has never shown before.
“When I looked at the schedule and the fact we’re currently running an abbreviated schedule with Friday, Saturday and Sunday screenings, I just said, ‘Let’s splurge and do an all 35mm weekend,’” said Ewing, who noted all moviegoers are required to wear masks.
“This will let us launch a yearlong program of 35mm screenings of movies that we’ve never shown before during our long history.”
This weekend’s schedule includes Alfred Hitchcock’s “Young and Innocent,” which was released stateside as “The Girl Was Young” (7 p.m. Aug. 6); Martin Scorsese’s “After Hours” (9 p.m. Aug. 6); Sidney Gilliat’s “Green for Danger” (5 p.m. Aug. 7); Jules Dassin’s “He Who Must Die” (7 p.m. Aug. 7); Vincente Minnelli’s “Two Weeks in Another Town” (4 p.m. Aug. 8); and Michael Cimino’s “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot” (6:30 p.m. Aug. 8).
Looking at the list, Ewing said a few works from high-profile directors stand out.
“Hitchcock is a perennial favorite and fortunately he made a lot of movies,” Ewing said. “The film we’re showing has a good reputation. It’s not ‘Vertigo,’ and it’s not ‘Rear Window,’ but it’s one of his key British films.”
As for Scorsese’s “After Hours,” the 1985 film was released just prior to the Academy Award-winning director’s hot streak that includes 1986’s “The Color of Money” and 1990’s “Goodfellas.”
“It’s actually a pretty good film,” Ewing said. “It’s a little bit of a nightmare kind of movie about a computer guy who runs into a lot of crazy people who he regards as kind of menacing. It’s stylishly shot, and it plays well. I think of it like ‘Something Wild’ by Jonathan Demme.”
Ending the 35th anniversary weekend is the cultheist comedy “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot,” which stars Clint Eastwood as a veteran bank robber and Jeff Bridges as his young apprentice.
“It’s essential viewing because it’s Michael Cimino,” Ewing said. “It’s the film he made right before ‘The Deer Hunter,’ which, of course, has tons of Cleveland connections. And then ‘Heaven’s Gate’ — that came after — was notorious if nothing else. It’ll look great on the big screen.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience being a 35th anniversary. We’re showing some really interesting movies that people will probably never see on the big screen, even digitally, in their lifetime again.”