Courtesy of Excalibur FilmsCONTRIBUTING REPORTER
Courtesy of Excalibur Films
Pugh Auditorium was the only venue in WInston-Salem that played the controversial film Kids.
You may not realize it, but the Student Union film series is a daily undertaking. Every weekday at 8 p.m., and eight times over the weekend, they put on movies for students to enjoy.
"It provides an alternative for students, opportunities people wouldn't have had. It provides culture and an awareness as well," SU film chairwoman and junior Kate Temoney said.
The SU film committee meets for an hour every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., and its meetings are open to anyone, not just film committee members.
In addition to participating in the meetings, the 15 members hang up posters, collect tickets and decide on the movies to show. Junior Tesh Ramey, a film committee assistant, said, "The committee is very low-maintenance."
She said the tasks are minimal, yet the members benefit from free movies, posters and food.
"We are just a bunch of people who enjoy movies, and want to pick movies that others will enjoy," Temoney said.
The film committee's biggest task is deciding what movies to play in Pugh Auditorium. SU has licensing contracts with two movie distributors, Film Inc., and Swank; the committee usually picks the movies it purchases from these two firms.
The members can be creative and choose movies based around themes. A recent example is the Jim Carrey weekend, playing Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Dumb and Dumber and The Mask.
The Fright Fest over Halloween spooked its spectators with The Shining, Poltergeist and Silence of the Lambs.
For December 1-3 the Film Committee is planning an AIDS awareness weekend, which will touch its audience with Philadelphia and The Cure.
Deciding on the movies is a difficult task. The committee has to consider what students will enjoy and what the Student Union film series can afford. "Wake Forest students are very unpredictable in their tastes," Temoney said.
Movies the film committee thinks they will enjoy sometimes attract only small crowds.
The Jim Carrey weekend had less than 200 spectators during eight showings. The Shawshank Redemption, on the other hand, which played in the middle of the week, practically filled the auditorium.
The film committee purchases very recent movies. Recent 16mm films, not yet on video, are available but are expensive. These movies are usually played on weekends, with an admission charge of $2.
The other movies purchased are already on video and are less expensive, yet may be less popular among student tastes.
These movies are purchased to give students the opportunity to enjoy free movies they might not ordinarily see.
But this year's moviegoers have not been as active as those of past years.
When asked why she does not attend the movies in Pugh, sophomore Meredith Goodrum said, "I just do not have time. I am too busy."
Others say it doesn't even occur to them.
Sophomore Judy Ariganello said, "I just do not think of it."
Temoney also attributed the smaller attendance to the lack of variety of movies this semester. Temoney said that the film committee may have picked too many "blockbuster" movies this year.
In the past, some of the most popular films in the series have been foreign and art films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Piano and Like Water for Chocolate.
Revenue from weekend movies is essential to the film committee's operation because the money earned from these screenings pays for the movies. "The budget we get (from SU) is not small. We do not generate that much revenue from (the series)," Temoney said.
In fact, the only profitable film so far this semester has been Kids. Approximately 1,400 people attended this controversial film.
There was no opposition to its screening, Ramey said. "Nobody else was showing it in the area. It was a realistic movie and I thought it should be shown."
Last year, Midnight Cowboy, an X-rated film, was shown without problems.
The Kids showings incorporated several things that the Student Union film series plans to do more of in the future. Professors, such as Christy Buchanan, an assistant professor of psychology, Mark Pezzo, an instructor in psychology and Jonathon Epstein, a visiting instructor in sociology, led discussion groups after the film.
They discussed such issues as how realistic the film was, what director Larry Clark was trying to do, and why the movie ended the way it did.
The committee sent letters asking professors to participate on the panels.
The letter also told professors that next semester, they will be able to play any movie they want on weekdays in Pugh Auditorium as long as the film committee is notified five weeks in advance.
Professors will be able to show movies to supplement their in-class teaching or to stimulate student interest in their fields.
Earlier this semester the film series invited Ken Mattingly, an astronaut on Apollo 13, to speak on campus. Mattingly's agent had called Temoney, asking if the university would like Mattingly to come and speak.
She directed the agent to SU lecture chairman Scott Brawley, who coordinated the lecture with the showing of Apollo 13.
More variety is the watchword for next semester's series. The film committee hopes to show such offbeat movies as Four Rooms, a movie from the perspective of four different directors and Get Shorty, a current movie that is enjoying some success at the box office.
A final ploy planned to increase the attendance during the week is organizing giveaways.
Hoop Dreams enjoyed much success earlier this semester when a free basketball was distributed at each showing.
As for next semester's movie plans, the committee has already chosen features for the first four weekends. The Brady Bunch will amuse its spectators Jan 19-21; Clueless with Alicia Silverstone will play Jan 26-28; Seven will play Feb. 2-4 and Minbo, or the Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion, a Japanese movie with English subtitles will be shown Feb. 9-11.
Minbo is a film about the Japanese Mafia and will add variety to SU's feature presentations.