From: Lundgren (email suppressed)
Date: Fri Sep 15 2006 - 00:29:11 PDT
I surely understand that there are costs involved. But I was very happy realising that I could pay only twice to Marilyn to be able to own Chinese Series instead of only renting it.
I'm not complaining, I'm trying to get help from fellow frameworkers, and I was very happy with a lot of the responses.
(And yes I already have the Brakhage DVD from Criterion, along with Unseen Cinema it's probably the best DVD realease ever.)
And the futurure surely looks brighter, I just want to try to see more film on real (reel) prints. And I wanted to know about the most affordable ways since I'm not a millionaire.
I hope nobody was offended.
Björn Lundgren
Sweden
----- Original Message -----
From: Tom B Whiteside
To: email suppressed
Sent: Friday, September 15, 2006 1:18 AM
Subject: Re: "How to" buy/rent films on 16mm
Look, I'd like to have original Modiglianis in my living room. I really would. They are wonderful. But right now I don't have the extra 25 million dollars it takes to make that happen. Fortunately, I do have access to books in libraries, and some of them have photographs of Modiglianis. It's not the same thing, of course, but it's better than nothing. And every once in a while I travel to cities where there are museums, and I pay my $20 and go in and see the Modiglianis. They are the real things, and I will travel hundreds of miles to see them. No, it's not terribly convenient. But it is worth it.
One can rent 16mm prints and project them properly and it is EXACTLY THE SAME as having the original Modigliani in front of you. This is viewing the art work in precisely the manner in which it should be viewed. And yes, you do have to pay a rental fee for this - someone went to the trouble and expense to make a film, then paid to have a print made, then deposited it with a distributor who will send it to you if you pay the rental fee. Some of that money goes to pay the rent that the distributor has to pay, some of that money goes back to the artist.... what is so difficult to understand about this system?
On the other hand, if you can't do that, you can buy the By Brakhage DVD (or whatever - there is tons of material to watch on DVD and VHS now) and see hours and hours of experimental film. You get to keep this forever - you can watch The Wonder Ring twice a day every day, or more if you are crazy. This is somewhat like looking at photographs of paintings in a book - it's not the real thing, but it's better than nothing. In many cases it's quite good. For someone like me, whose formative years were pre-videotape, it is simply AMAZING the amount of material available today. And so inexpensive!!!
Or you've got things like UBU web, or whatever it is, which I looked at briefly and it's just ridiculous. Yes it's free, and there's a lot of stuff there. But it's like listening to Mahler symphonies over walkie talkies - you get only the silliest hint of what it's supposed to be. It IS absurd - perhaps Jarry would have approved.
So there is range of possibilities. Some are fairly costly, but hopefully you will get your money's worth. Some are cheap, and they look it.
I get the feeling that many people complaining here about lack of access to materials haven't quite thought this through.
- Whiteside North Carolina, USA
__________________________________________________________________ For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.