(I’m excluding any that I’ve participated in.) More will be added in a future post as I dig through my cranium. It isn’t just about the movies per se, it’s about the ambience, and the “look what I found” mantra.
1989: My first weekend in Toronto, just before starting Film class at York, finally fulfilling a long-held ambition to check out the Nostalgic Cinema, spending the Sunday there with five, count ’em, five movies in a row: The Penalty (1920), Hole in the Wall (1929), Mysterious Island (1929), Murders in the Zoo (1933), Doctor X (1932). You can read more about The Nostalgic Cinema at this link.
1989: B-Fest! The first time I ever went to the Bloor, and what an introduction. Spent the Sunday there with the feature length version of the 1949 Batman and Robin serial (remembering the Batmania that summer with the Tim Burton movie), then a vampire double bill with Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (1969) and a gorgeous print of The Vampire Lovers (1970). The vampire movies were introduced by the Count Dracula Society, and one of the members was cheesed off that the audience wasn’t participating in the vampire oath we were supposed to chant. (“Will you MF’ers stand up?!?”) You can read more about this awesome day right here! And then, check out the B Fest program guide right here!
1989: Surrealistic Hallucinatory Films courtesy Reg Hartt at what was then The Diamond (now The Phoenix); a five-hour program of surrealist, Dada, avant-garde films, which was truly my introduction to non-narrative cinema, although I had previously seen a bit in film school. View the program guide right here!
1994: I had seen Aguirre The Wrath of God ten years earlier on a little black and white TV, of all things. But this summertime viewing at the Revue was overwhelming. Sitting close to the big screen, that shot of the Conquistadors climbing through the clouds, holy shit! I haven’t seen the film since because honestly I can’t imagine now seeing it in any other capacity.
1995: The Bloor again, Ed Wood Quadruple Bill (Jail Bait, Bride of the Monster, Night of the Ghouls, The Sinister Urge) … seldom have I seen a more eclectic crowd. Many friends I know now, who I didn’t know then, were also there that night. Cue Diana Ross singing “Some Day We’ll Be Together”. One of the greatest film nights of my life. Read all about it right here!
1995: One Sunday afternoon and evening spent at the Cafe Sopra Sotto, with four Jean Cocteau features shown on a 16mm projector! (Testament of Orpheus, Orpheus, Beauty and the Beast, Blood of a Poet… in that order.) A great beatnik venue… the man serving coffee wore a beret! They were suggesting future screenings but I don’t know if they ever had more. Anyway, that day felt like my own little Woody Allen screenplay, but with copious amounts of caffeine, cigarettes, Perrier and a mortadella sandwich. Leaving the show afterwards, Queen West was desolate… I felt like the city was mine.
2003: Weekend long retrospective of Jonas Mekas films at Cinematheque, with the living legend in attendance for Q&A’s afterwards…. and it was all FREE! Click here to read a mammoth article about that glorious weekend.
2008: My favourite Trash Palace screening ever (yes, even more than the infamous “lawn chair” night) was the first time they showed The Fool Killer (1965). No one there had yet seen it (programmer and audience alike), and by the end our minds were blown. (It was also pouring rain outside, which just added to the ambiance of the movie.) This night to me epitomized what TP was all about… you never knew what you might find.
2011: Our pal Dion Conflict showed Ed Wood’s The Snow Bunnies at The Royal. Gosh darn that was fun! The sound of the cameraman’s shoes crunching in the snow! The same telephone and night stand in everyone’s bedroom! It was also D’s birthday so we went to Rancho Relaxo for dinner after. (More on that screening at this link!)
2013: I can retire now… having seen an Andy Milligan movie in 35mm. Fleshpot on 42nd Street played at Lightbox. Despite what you’ve heard about Milligan’s films, no one left. Not even the little old lady in the front row.
2014: Andrew Leavold at The Royal with his documentary The Search for Weng Weng. I love movies about movies, and this one especially opened a new door of discovery for me. The Q&A afterwards went an hour, but it could have gone all night!
2018: Five different screenings of Kidlat Tahimik films at Lightbox. (He was in attendance for four of them.) I had seen The Perfumed Nightmare before (which was also featured here), but the rest of the titles were first viewings… his work makes cinema young again.
Whew! More to come in a future post… that’s what I could jot down on my lunch break. Enjoy your day!
Greg Woods
Greg Woods has been a film enthusiast since his teens, and began his writing "career" at the same time- prolific in capsule reviews of everything he had watched, first on index cards, then those hardcover dollar store black journals, then an old Mac IIsi. He founded The Eclectic Screening Room in 2001, as a portal to share his film love with the world, and find some like-minded enthusiasts along the way. In addition to having worked in the film industry for over two decades, he has been a co-programmer of films at Trash Palace, and a programmer/co-founder of the Toronto Film Noir Syndicate. He has also written for Broken Pencil, CU-Confidential, Micro-Film, and is currently working on his first novel. His secret desire is for someone to interview him for a podcast or a DVD extra.