This past Thursday October 8th, the Keene State Film Society paid tribute to a foreign classic at its Film Archive Night at the Putnam Theatre on campus. Every Thursday the Film Society chooses a film from its wide ranging archive to show and all are welcome, free of charge.
This week the screening showed the French 1960s classic Hiroshima Mon Amour. The movie is about a Japanese architect and French actress who fall into a wild romance in Hiroshima after the war. The couple discovers deep and dark secrets about their past lovers and how their lives intertwine with the horrific events of World War II in Japan.
The black and white drama was viewed by a crowd of about 20, including a few members of the film society.The president of the film society and projectionist at the event, Natalie Rees, said she was thrilled about seeing the movie for the first time and enjoyed the experience.
“I was really excited to see this film, I’ve heard so much about it,” Rees said. She then laughed and said, “I actually ended up not really liking it…I wasn’t a big fan.”
photo by Tim Smith / Photo Editor
When asked about her thoughts on the event as a whole, Rees said, “I think it’s really fun to go to archive night and see all of the huge reels of film that we have preserved.” She continued, “That’s kind of the fun of it, just picking one and showing it to people. Whether you like it or not it’s just kind of cool to see something on film.”
Although at times the film was stale or difficult to understand, seeing the film on 16 millimeter authentic film was a special experience that all movie-goers should witness. The 16 millimeter film provides a different texture on screen that is unique, differentiating it from any other platform of film viewing. When 16 millimeter was introduced, it provided a less expensive option of film for filmmakers, and used optical sound, an innovative sound-on-film format for transparent film of its time.
The film archive at the Putnam theatre includes a deep collection of all different genres and formats of film. All of which are available to shown any given week for film archive night. For future events, the film society will start taking suggestions from the public and use those suggestions to decide what kind of movies they will play on a week-to-week basis. A suggestion box will be placed in the lobby of the Putnam theatre open for feedback from anyone interested, Rees said.
Rees also talked about how much she enjoys hearing feedback from viewers. “I really enjoy when I do get feedback, sometimes people stop me on campus and [are] like ‘I really liked that screening and I didn’t know the Putnam existed, now I want to go all the time now,”,Rees said with a smile. She continued, “That really warms my heart because a few of us put a lot of work into this…and for someone to acknowledge that is really nice so I really want to keep it (the event) going, let more people know about it and get more people involved.”
Secretary of the film society James Attridge spoke about what movie fans could get out of film archive night, and how the event could be better.
“Mostly I just want them (the audience) to come away with a good, unique experience of seeing film, and seeing films that they wouldn’t normally see,” Attridge said. Attridge continued, “We could do better attracting an audience and advertising in general.”
Film Society member Connor Vail talked about the experience that film archive night is and what fellow Keene State Owls could be missing out on.
“I think it’s [archive night] a really nice experience to see some material that wouldn’t normally see the light of day,” Vail said. “I probably would’ve never seen Hiroshima Mon Amour at any point, so it was great to get an opportunity to see it the way it was meant to be seen–on film.”
Vail continued, “I think people are missing out on a classic experience of going to the movies and watching something on film. It’s an old experience…it reminded me a lot of my childhood.”
Vail also said in a way Thursday’s showing was “cinema history” and encourages all to check out film archive night every week.
The Film Society meets every Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. and the Thursday screenings at the Putnam Theatre are at 7:00 p.m.
Nick Tocco can be contacted at ntocco@kscequinox.com
