Re: Christmas on Earth

From: andrew lampert (email suppressed)
Date: Thu Mar 26 2009 - 16:20:19 PDT


The film was preserved by Anthology in the early 80s, a new print was put into the Coop a couple years back. My mind is shot at the moment thanks to some cold medicine, but I think I placed a set of prints into the Arsenal in Berlin after the film was included in the BEYOND CINEMA: THE ART OF PROJECTION exhibit at the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum.

At that show, the films was projected four times a day for whatever audience assembled. I worked the projectors/gels at the press preview and then, during the opening, performed it for 6 straight hours. A very nice and pretty young woman helped me that evening and was asked by more than one person if she was in the film. People lined up to come into the gallery and I don't remember anyone walking out. It was strange and amusing to teach their tech staff how to futz around with the gels for all the subsequent daily screenings.
 
At the 2005 AMIA (Association of Moving Image Archivists) conference I projected this piece with the able assistance of Steve Polta for an overstuffed room of overwhelmed archivists. It was part of a panel about preserving expanded cinema. Even though we ran out of time absolutely no one left the room till we were finished. This is far from the norm for an AMIA conference, but I'd say that the audience was very into it.

A.

Also, AFAIK, FMC has the only print in circulation. I think this film is in desperate need of preservation, and that would be a far worthier campaign than an attempt to change the title.

__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.

__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.