07 KVIFF: Monte Hellman Gives Good Intro
In addition to seeing new films and interacting with filmmakers from all over the world, one of the great joys of attending a film festival is getting the chance to see some rare or archival work from the past on a big screen. This year's KVIFF is no different, with the festival section New Hollywood. A bit of a misnomer, the section title refers to the post-classical period, roughly from the end of the 1960's until the beginning of the 1980's and includes such classics as Harold and Maude, The Conversation, The Sugarland Express and The Last Picture Show, among others.
Yesterday I was lucky enough to catch Monte Hellman's 1971 masterpiece, Two-Lane Blacktop. I'd never seen it, and to be able to watch it on a big screen with Dolby digital sound, a pristine print and the director in attendance! Hellman's intro was a treat, with some choice nuggets being imparted to the audience about the future of the film. Hellman said he had been shooting some documentary material for inclusion in an upcoming two disc DVD of the 1971 classic Universal movie for the Criterion Collection! How fucking awesome is that?
Hellman went on to regale the capacity audience in the 1145-seat venue about Two-Lane Blacktop's history with Universal, the film's financier and distributor. The film hadn't been seen by Universal's top execs, only by the person in charge of the production. When the bosses finally saw the film, they were furious, deemed it subversive and buried it. It was invited to the Venice International Film Festival but just as Hellman was about to leave for the airport, Universal called to tell him they had pulled the movie from the festival.
Eight years later in 1979, when the film was invited to the Moscow International Film Festival, Hellman arrived in Moscow only to find that when it had been invited, the programmers had not yet watched the film. Now that they had, they refused to screen it for being...too subversive.
Hellman closed his remarks with: "Here is a film that was subversive to the capitalist system and subversive to the communist system. I hope it does not subvert you today." As he said those words, someone leaned over to a friend of mine and said: "I hope it does!"
Well folks, it's 3am and I need some shut eye, so I'll have to write more about the actual film, tomorrow!
You can also see daily pix and more reports by me from the festival at indieWIRE.com. Daily this week and a wrap up next week.
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