Members of Doc Films discuss possible improvements to their website during a meeting last Monday on the second floor of Ida Noyes. / Julia Silverman
Do you long to see classic films such as, say, Some Like It Hot on the big screen but lack the time machine necessary to return to Hollywood's Golden Age? If so, there is hope for you yet at one of our university's finest institutions: Doc Films. Since its founding in 1932, students and members of the Hyde Park community have attended Doc because of its convenience, cheap prices, and faithful screenings of cinema classics. Despite what you may think, you don’t have to be an expert in the works of François Truffaut or Frank Capra to determine what movies Doc shows each quarter. All you have to do is show up, have an idea, and put it to a vote.
Well, maybe that’s not quite all you have to do, but you definitely don’t need to know more about movies beyond your personal favorites. Doc’s programming meetings are open to everyone, not just Doc volunteers or even current UChicago students. These meetings take place in Ida Noyes every Wednesday night for seven or eight weeks each quarter. About twenty people sit around the table at each meeting and determine what cinematic themes will be featured at Doc for the following quarter.
Any attendee can propose a potential series. For example, a student who desperately wanted to see Some Like It Hot could propose a series of Marilyn Monroe films. A proposal consists of a general description for the series and, of course, a list of films to be shown. However, picking ten Marilyn Monroe films at random will likely not suffice. Careful attention should also be paid to the variety of films in a series. A Monroe series would likely be more well-received if it also included her darker outings like All About Eve and The Fireball in addition to her comedies. Multiple lists are printed out, passed around, and discussed over drunken noodles from The Snail or food from another one of Doc’s sponsors.
However, if you are unable to attend a programming meeting, all is not lost. According to Joe Vidal, who served as Doc Equipment Chair last year, “Doc programming listhost members who are unable to attend can propose a series as well.” Doc is democratic: Series are determined four to six weeks before the start of the next quarter, when the quarterly schedule is put to a vote.
However, even if a series is passed through the vote, it may not be approved due to budgetary concerns. Although Doc does have a large film library, it is not limitless. “Budgets are determined by the Doc board prior to the quarterly vote,” said Vidal. “All those present at the programming meeting are informed of that restriction prior to voting. The top six series' vote-getters are sometimes over the total budget, in which case a roll-off vote is made to accommodate the allotted budget. Some films from the Doc archives are used for weekend slots during the winter quarter to take place of films which would be unavailable to us due to Oscar nominations.”
Although Doc has its own entry in Vanity Fair’s The Film Snob’s Dictionary and has produced the likes of Ernest Callenbach (the founding editor of Film Quarterly), the atmosphere of these meetings is remarkably relaxed. Those in attendance may know more about, say, the Middle Eastern film industry than others, but they are drawn to Doc by a passion for film and are eager to help any film enthusiast, no matter how novice. If you start attending meetings now, you can be a part of making spring quarter as great as the upcoming winter schedule which, according to Vidal, “is going to be awesome!”
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Discussion
ELIZABETH FAMA
December 2nd 2009 at 02:58 PM
I feel like an old geezer making this point, but I miss the days when DOC announcers actually said something brief about the film before screening it, rather than just reading off the movies that were on tap for the rest of the week. They used to tell the audience some small detail about the director, or how the film fit with his/her body of work, or the actors, or even a trivial but fascinating factoid to look out for as you're watching (like the costumes for the Laurence Olivier [1940] version of Pride and Prejudice were recycled from Gone with the Wind [1939] to save money -- thereby ignoring the Regency period of the novel).
It just seems that if they have to go to the trouble of writing a proposal, and hand-picking movies to make a kicker of a custom series, well, they've already done the research about why the films are interesting. Why not tell the audience?
GRACE
December 2nd 2009 at 10:34 PM
Hmmm, I think that the Showcaptains who would introduce the screening in that way were probably the ones who had programmed the series, so they would be very familiar with its background. While some Showcaptains still do the announcements for their own series, it's more common that the announcer is not a programmer and is unfamiliar with the specific details of the films that she's presenting.
Still, you do bring up a good point! Introductions that shed some light on a particular film's history are really helpful. Hopefully programmers take the time to speak a little about their series in future quarters!
ELIZABETH FAMA
December 4th 2009 at 12:21 PM
Grace,
Maybe the programmers could write something up for each movie in their series that could be read by the announcer when they're not there? It doesn't have to be a PhD thesis -- just something short and a little nerdy to take advantage of the fact that it's a film society, and not just an AMC. The average U of C audience member would love it.
Elizabeth