Saturday, March 20, 2010

2010 CIFF: Retrospective Screenings

Since festival films are usually hit-or-miss, I thought why not taken in a couple of proven films that are shown as part of a retrospective series, and since this year's films were 1967's The Graduate and In The Heat Of The Night, where could I go wrong? The actual name that is given to the retrospective screenings is called From The Page To The Projector and is actually an award given to those who have made contributions to literature and film. This year they decided to award Mark Harris, whose book PICTURES AT A REVOLUTION details the five Oscar nominated Best Picture nominees from 1967 (the other three are Guess Whose Coming To Dinner, Bonnie and Clyde, and Doctor Dolittle[he explained this nomination]) and how they changed Hollywood and America. He spoke before both screenings, after the second screening, and in between when he received his award. He seemed very genial and well versed in film. Before reviewing these two classics, I just wanted to state how great it was to witness them on the big screen and to see how they helped to usher in the revolution.