A history and a mission in film
Sitting in a darkened Spaulding Auditorium every Wednesday and Sunday night is a regular activity for some 1,200 students (plus about 600 community members). Behind that public manifestation of the Dartmouth Film Society are a history and a .mission that are unique.
The DFS is by no means the only presenter of movies on campus. Dorms, Greek houses, academic departments, Collis, and Rockefeller Center are among the numerous groups which use celluloid as a medium for their messages. But the others are Johnny-come-latelies compared to the Film Society, which dates back to 1949. It one of the oldest college film societies in the country and is probably, according to Director of Film William Pence, "the most influential early film society on a campus. It is not only a Dartmouth institution but an American institution." Perhaps because of its place in history, the Film Society takes its role seriously. Explaining that he does not see the DFS as competing with other movie presenters on campus, Pence says, "I see what needs to be done for the Hopkins Center, as an arts center, through the Dartmouth Film Society, as being a sort of vision or mission. I think people look on the Film Society as a more professional environment, more film as art."
The responsibility for adhering to that mission has been the charge of the Film Society's directorate, a small group of mostly students. The directorate, with some guidance and support from the Film Studies faculty and staff, selects the theme for each term's series, plays a role in choosing the films, and handles many production chores. Getting to be a member of the directorate is rather like earning Scout badges: At weekly meetings which are open to anyone (community members as well as students, math majors as well as film majors), ideas for series themes are debated, film lists are discussed, and the chores are parcelled out. After two terms of coming regularly to meetings and earning "points" for doing various jobs, one becomes a voting member of the directorate. Some 30 people come to the meetings, and around 15 or 20 are actual voting directorate members. "The assumption is that you have to earn your way in order to have some say," explains Pence.
The directorate's job begins with the selection of the series theme, something they work on two terms ahead. The task "is not as easy as it sounds," points out Pence. "There have been some pretty bad themes in the past, like the theme of 'Discovery': someone within a film discovers something. Well, I mean, what movie doesn't that happen in. A theme should have a solid idea. When you hear the title, assisted maybe by a little artwork or sometimes a subphrase, it explains the whole idea." About half a dozen themes are proposed in any given term, and each theme is presented at a Film Society meeting with a list of some 25 or 30 possible films. The halfdozen are narrowed down to two, then the voting members of the directorate make the final choice.
Pence feels strongly about the benefits of structuring the series around a theme. "Themes are desirable," he says, "because then there's a discipline within which to work. There are so many thousands of movies out there that if you don't have some direction you're going in, how do you choose? Does every one of the 30 people get to say, 'My favorite movie is '? It's almost like having a canvas on which to paint: it's a certain size, it's a certain texture, and you work within those boundaries." Pence also feels the themes are beneficial for marketing purposes. "People can then associate buying a ticket with the new look. Otherwise what would you have as a poster: a movie reel or a movie camera? It's much more exciting to create the publicity around a basic idea."
After the choice of the theme comes the selection of the films. Although Pence is the only one who actually deals with the distributors, since he holds responsibility for the budget, there is a good deal of directorate input into the film choices. For the fall term series, "The City," Pence explains, "There was pretty passionate feeling that An American Werewolf in London, a film most students wanted to see, be in the series. I felt that on a serious program, something that dealt with cinematic art, Rien que les Heures and Sous les Toits de Paris really should be in. We all agreed that Manhattan was the quintessential 'city' film. Berlin Alexanderplatz is one film that just kind of loomed." After the selection of such must-sees, Pence starts fleshing out the series. Some other special events during fall term are a visit by Richard Widmark ("all of his film are 'city' films") and a live 22-piece orchestra with Lillian Gish's Broken Blossoms ("you should have a silent film").
Writing notes on the films and ushering at showings are other tasks that members participate in. The notes, Pence feels, are something students should take great pride in. "We underline," he says, "that we don't think they should review the films say it's a rotten movie or a good movie. It's much more interesting to set the movie in a context: What did the director do? What were the social conditions of the film? How successful was it when it came out? How does it relate to the theme? Frankly," he says, "we do the notes as much for the student directorate as for the audience."
Participating in the directorate for many of the members is just an enjoyable activity, but for others it can be a step on the road to a career in film. Each year there are two students who hold paid, part-time positions with the Film Society a director and an associate director. There are also half a dozen "project directors," responsible for such matters as poster distribution and hosting of guest film artists. Some of the students who become intensely involved with the DFS go on to careers in film. "I know people who are working in film who started on the directorate of the Dartmouth Film Society," says Pence, "students who probably weren't even interested in film when they came to Dartmouth." Students who were, at the beginning, just one of a thousand or so bodies bearing themselves bi-weekly to Spaulding Auditorium.
The bold art deco poster for the fall Dartmouth Film Society series is an apt illustration of one benefit cited by Director of Film William Pence for having Film Society offerings center on a theme: it gives each term's series a new and identifiable visual look.
