From Fahey-Klein, Agnes Varda photography
1 week ago
"On Wednesday the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Time Warner Cable and Ovation TV announced combined donations of $150,000, enough to keep the program running through next June in the city that is the financial and creative center of the world film industry. Problem solved and crisis averted? Not exactly."
"For filmmakers like David Lynch, Luis Buñuel, Ingmar Bergman, and Jacques Rivette, the 'looking glass' is the cinema itself, and the silver screen is the mirror through which we, the audience, pass."
"The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) announced today gifts of $75,000 each from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Time Warner Cable, in partnership with Ovation TV, to extend continuous film programming through next summer. In addition, Time Warner Cable and Ovation TV have made an in-kind contribution of over $1.5 million to market the film program across their multiple media platforms, both locally and nationally."
"The future of the film program at LACMA is not at the mercy of individual donors and their heroic deeds. The dismantling of the film program, which requires a truly miniscule portion of the Museum’s operating budget, is not an unfortunate accident but instead an ideological prerogative. . . . Literally every venue capable of screening archival prints with professional standards is essential to the whole delicate infrastructure of repertory cinema. "
"In the wake of the chorus of disapproval that greeted last week's announcement that he was red-lighting the 40-year-old weekend film series at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, museum Director Michael Govan has some good news: Potential donors have stepped up, interested in helping underwrite the series."
"Who knows the wrath of a film community scorned? The Los Angeles County Museum of Art does.
In a little more than a week, the controversy over LACMA's decision to ax its 40-year-old film program has grown into a full-blown online debate, with the museum starting its own electronic forum Tuesday in response to an aggressive Facebook campaign and online petition seeking to restore the much-loved but debt-ridden program."
"With the film series at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art heading into the sunset, this weekend and the next provide a chance to do three good things at once: (1) experience the soon-to-be-empty Leo S. Bing Theater, one of this city's great movie venues, (2) see some wonderful films -- "Being Jewish in France," a compelling documentary, from Friday to Sunday, and "Leon Morin, Priest," a rare Jean-Pierre Melville classic on Aug. 14-15 -- that would not be in Los Angeles at all if it weren't for LACMA, and, finally, (3) show support for a fine program that is falling victim to painfully shortsighted and craven behavior. Thus pass the glories of the world."
"LACMA is (I cannot write was) one of the most important, creative institutions. Its film programming was always exciting, challenging, different. LACMA was one of the only places where you could have a program about the French films made during the Nazi Occupation, a great [opportunity] to speak of the Resistance and the selling out.
You could see great American masterpieces and underrated gems. For me, LACMA was the pride, the honour of Los Angeles. It was an Oasis remembering us that the past is not dead. It is not even past. To cancel the film program is a very important sign and symbol. An act of allegiance, submissiveness towards the dictatorship of the present, towards the dictatorship of ignorance."
Proposed text:
Did you hear? LACMA is terminating its 40-year old film program. That's right! In L.A., home of Hollywood, the city's major museum will no longer have a regular film screening program. Show your support to keep film alive in L.A. -- please sign this petition -- we are growing strong.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-LACMA-film
"A group of film enthusiasts posted a petition online Sunday trying to get the museum to reverse its decision. By Tuesday, 379 signatures had been collected, said Kathleen Dunleavy, a spokeswoman for Save Film at LACMA.
"That a museum as prominent as LACMA would cancel its popular film program and turn away its loyal constituency is sad. That it would treat cinema so shabbily is unthinkable," film critic and author Leonard Maltin said in a statement of support released by Dunleavy."
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