Cinephilia
Kineros | Cinamor
Love of movement, Love of rest,
Love in motion, Love in pictures
I feel I am present at a cult
whose members have nothing in common
but their presence in the same place.
Stanley Cavell, The World Viewed
Autobiography in motion
I'm going to be a director, I thought. How better to show how beautiful and strange the world was inside me? How better to change someone's mind than to show them, rather than tell them, other ways that it can be? Cinema is so much more than its directors, necessary though they may be.
In 2009, as a volunteer with the New Orleans Film Festival I experienced how full, how wonderful, how warm and welcoming the world of film - large and small - can be, well beyond the grand visions of my favorite epics rendered by then-favorites Kubrick and Coppola. It takes a crew, a village; or, just someone with a camera and the tenacity to see an experiment come to fruition.
Durham's Carolina Theatre continues long traditions of independent and arthouse film programming in the Triangle of North Carolina.
At micro- and macro- scales, from Hollywood to cinematheque, Cinema is the living image of the human imagination. It has been my journey to immerse myself in this world viewed, this cult experience, the perfect compliment to life.
Pilgrimage (noun, verb): a journey to a site of sacred significance. I have had the pleasure of many such journeys vis a vis the cinematic experience.
Analog Museum - Durham Cinematheque. Proprietor: Tom Whiteside. Durham NC.
Mahoning Drive-In Theater. Continuously operational since 1949, the drive-in exclusively features 35mm film programming of retro titles.
Cosmic Rays Film Festival is the best kept secret in the Triangle region, programming a host of world-class experimental film each year.
At the Mahoning, it was my pleasure to be invited to explore their 35mm projector, conveniently located right next door to the snacks, by their projectionist. He was a lovely human. Refreshing.
Tom Whiteside's work continues to amaze me.
How wonderful that film is still a haven for scalawags. And that people still make the effort to go there.
Accompanied by my muse in The Red Room/Black Lodge
Cinema holds forbidden fruits of the mind.