We will screen “Whitewash” on Saturday night, 9:30 PM at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts.

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Over the past year, the Adirondack Film Society has been actively involved in the initiative to save small neighborhood theaters in upper New York State.

We view movie theaters as vital institutions in the cultural life of a community, and will host a discussion of “the shared experience” of movie-going as part of this year’s Lake Placid Film Forum.  We would love to have you add YOUR memories of a memorable theater and/or a memorable movie-going experience at a theater as part of our effort to bring awareness to the need to save our theaters.

In 500 words or less, describe a movie-going experience that made an impact on you, and identify the theater involved.  Please send your essays to Barry Snyder at barry.snyder1@gmail.com, with MY THEATER MEMORIES in the subject heading.  The winning entry will win free tickets to a screening at this year’s Forum and will be posted on the Lake Placid Film Forum blog.

CLICK HERE FOR AN EXAMPLE ESSAY

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What is the Shared Experience?  Whether you’re sitting in a movie theatre with strangers and a large tub of popcorn, or at home with the kids banging pots and pans while you watch a flick on your flatscreen; whether you’re at your desk with the laptop, headphones, and a good stream, or sitting at a train station catching a few minutes of your fave movie downloaded to your iPad, smartphone, iPhone, or tablet, you’re engaging in the shared experience of movie watching.

Today, movie theaters must compete with lavish home entertainment, a plethora of wireless devices, and on-demand media.  Some theaters have responded by spicing up their business to offer something else besides the usual fare – pastries & coffee or a full dinner menu – or maybe it’s a different way to watch films on the big screen altogether (couches instead of seats, or even canoes instead of seats — yes, it is happening).  New digital projectors can allow for more diverse screenings, and some theaters have adapted to hosting sporting events, parties, conferences and more as a way to produce alternative revenue streams, diversify options for audiences, and stay relevant in an age of instant gratification.

For me, the theater experience remains the one type of shared experience that remains in my mind long after it’s over.  I can barely remember the first time I saw any movie on DVD, but no matter how many times I watch Pulp Fiction, I still feel that emotional DNA which was encoded when I saw it for the first time at the Cross County Multiplex.  I remember when the audience laughed; I recall the timbre in the room during different scenes.  The same goes for The Thin Red Line and pretty much every other major movie I saw in the theater when it opened.

And “major” is the operative word.  I’ve also seen many movies that just weren’t as memorable.  In that case, it probably doesn’t matter whether I saw it in a theater or not.  It’s the movies that are meant for the big screen that ought to be seen on the big screen.  That equation alone will probably always keep movie theaters relevant…but not all movie theaters.

The big multiplexes are fairly protected by their corporate bulk, but the smaller, independently owned onesies, twosies, and quads have been an endangered species for some time.  It’s primarily these smaller theaters which are embracing the type of arthouse convergence that could keep them vital in a digital age.

What is the Shared Experience?  It’s whatever you want it to be.  We all contribute to shaping our culture, and right now the clay is fresh and malleable.  It’s an exciting time for the way we watch movies.

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The Lake Placid Film Forum will host “Coffee and Conversation with Ira Deutchman” on Saturday, June 15th 10 a.m. at the Palace Theatre.  The conversation will focus in the role of independent, local theatres in the digital age.

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Words by T J Brearton

Photos by Jordan Craig

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Based on the cult novel by Max Barry, Syrup tells the story of a young ingenious slacker (Shiloh Fernandez) who comes up with a million-dollar idea.  On a fun and ferocious ride through the world of marketing and corporate wiles, our hero’s success depends on learning to trust his colleague, a beautiful, no-nonsense corporate woman played by Amber Heard.

The film is directed by Aram Rappaport.  Producers Shane Mandes (executive producer) Baird Kellogg (executive producer) and Aaron Becker (co-executive producer) are graduates of Middlebury College in Vermont, class of 2010.  Middlebury has been a participating school in the Forum’s “Sleepless in Lake Placid” 24 hour filmmaking competition.

Syrup will screen on Friday June 14th at the Lake Placid Film Forum.

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The North Country Shorts will screen Saturday June 15th, 3-6 pm at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts.

Among the line-up are two films from Janek Ambros, a former resident of Albany, NY who still visits Lake Placid on a regular basis.  “I have a lot of pride in upstate, NY,” Janek told us, “and go to Lake Placid every July 4th since I was 13.”

Janek is now a filmmaker living in Los Angeles.  Two of his films were selected for this year’s shorts program, “Son of Man” and “American Montage.”  The latter film will be a world premiere. 

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BIO:

Janek Ambros is an award winning producer/writer/director who received his undergraduate degree in Economics at Siena College. After graduating, Janek worked at Morgan Stanley, Smith Barney, and Trans World entertainment before eventually pursing his passion in filmmaking by starting Assembly Line Entertainment and obtaining an MFA in Film Producing.

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Janek’s first film, a WW2 film inspired by Dostoevsky’s “The Grand Inquisitor,” premiered at the Oscar-Accredited LA Shorts Fest along side with his second film, “Closing Bell” which comments on the current economic crisis that just received distribution. His films have accumulated numerous awards and have been selected in festivals all across the globe. Additionally, Janek has written and an econometric study on foreign box office results, which was recently published in Journal of International Business and Cultural Studies.

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The Film Forum will screen Mel Brooks: Make a Noise, an installment of the PBS “American Masters” documentary series on Saturday, June 15th, 2013.

Film Forum artistic director Kathleen Carroll interviewed Mel Brooks in the screening room on Young Frankenstein.  Her article, featured below, was published in the New York Daily News on December 8, 1974.

Napoleon-like Mel Brooks and his Creative Battles Over “Young Frankenstein” by Kathleen Carroll

Strutting about in the darkened screening room on the lot at 20th Century Fox, his hand placed over his chest in the appropriate position, Mel Brooks was pretending to be Napoleon. This required little if any acting on his part for Brooks could easily be a 20th Century reincarnation of Napoleon.

He has the short, stocky build of a Corsican peasant, a mind that is always on military alert and the proud carriage and commanding presence of a true general. We know this from watching him entertain his troops, who included an attentive interviewer from Playboy magazine, his secretary and assorted hangers-on in the office where he plans his attacks on the funny bones of Americans.

Like Napoleon, he is supremely cocky. This constant selling of himself like a press agent is partly a pose, but one senses he really believes all the nice things he says about himself. Brooks is presently feeling very much like a victorious general.

His last picture “Blazing Saddles” made people laugh so hard, he insists, that one could hear “decibels” of laughter in the theaters. He was positively giddy as he raved about actor-writer Gene Wilder, the star and co-creator of his newest comedy, “Young Frankenstein.” His elevated mood (or constant sugar high) may also be explained by the
fact that his secretary continues to supply him with his favorite food – chocolate-covered raisins. Feeding his ego even further was the fact that Playboy had chosen him to be the subject of a lengthy profile for the second time, something the magazine had never done before. He was even enjoying running his military campaign – that is his show from California although he did call me to complain “You can’t get egg creams here.”

His mood was so buoyant he all but insisted that this visiting film critic watch as he and Wilder viewed some footage from “Young Frankenstein” so they could decide which scenes could be tightened and which ones could be left alone. The last person most directors want nosing around at this stage of editing is a critic, but Brooks could hardly wait to strut his stuff.

We all sat in a small theater with Wilder, the film editor and his assistant (who made notes of all that was said). Brooks said he takes advantage of everyone’s talents when working on a film. “Film is such a collaborative medium, I take everyone with me, garage mechanics, everyone.”

Brooks showed a scene in which Gene Hackman, disguised as a blind hermit, is visited by Dr. Frankenstein’s creation – the monster with the high forehead, played by Peter Boyle. Hackman, who insisted upon playing the minor role, answers the door, obviously pleased to have company. “What is your name?”, Hackman asks the monster. There are few slightly muffled growls. “I didn’t get that,” said Hackman, looking momentarily puzzled before continuing his enthusiastic welcome.

Brooks and Wilder have a serious discussion as to the timing of the scene, but most of the time Brooks is lost in admiration of his work. He debated the possibility of cutting a shot that particularly pleased him. “The only thing I hate to give up is my applause from the Cinematographers Journal, but (here Brooks pretended to sigh a little), I’ll give it up for a laugh.” The shot was eliminated.

A shot of the monster walking down a cobblestone street is also eliminated. It broke Brooks’ heart to do it, but he agreed. “We won’t give them the great Mel Brooks pan.” Another scene worked so well it was left intact. Brooks, modest to the end, said “That is one of the greatest scenes ever filmed, and it has some of my best, prettiest photography.” Later at his general headquarters at the studio Brooks described “Young Frankenstein” as “a salute to the horror film of the ‘30’s.” It has been filmed in black and white because in color, as Brooks says, “it would have been just another horror film.”

Wilder conceived the idea for the film, and Brooks gives him full credit for the idea and has nothing but raves for Wilder’s portrayal of Dr. Frankenstein. “It’s the best he’s ever done,” said Brooks, who worked with Wilder in “The Producers” as well as in “Blazing Saddles.” “He’ll make you laugh and scare you at the same time.”

On one level at least, Brooks and Wilder were quite serious about their approach to “Young Frankenstein.” Of course it’s impossible to tell when Brooks is being serious. But this, as he told me earlier, was to be “a good-taste interview,” and he was determined to play it straight for as long as he could. Thus he explained that he and Wilder didn’t want
to be “just frivolous” in toying with Mary Shelley’s original conception of Frankenstein. “Too many people love these early horror films to do that. We hope it will become a people’s picture, not something just for cinema scholars. We want a lot of Laurel and Hardy fans to love it.” And then, as if addressing a class of eager students, Brooks put on his best professorial pose and said “You’ve got to anchor comedy.” As Brooks described it, the story line and character relationships should be “like a tight clothes line,” something firm on which you can hang the rest of the movie. From there, you can be creative, or, as Brooks puts it “You can hang a lot of red drawers on that clothes line.” Brooks, when he can tear himself away from his work, is as starved for funny movies as the rest of us. “I look for comedies to see. Woody Allen and I are the only ones who dare to make them. Who’s going to give us comedies? There isn’t anyone, and you can’t keep going to the movies to get messages about alienation.”

The movies of Mel Brooks have alienated a few people. Critic John Simon calls them “wretched.” The famous bean-eating sequence in “Blazing Saddles,” a particular favorite of Brooks, has raised more than a few eye brows. But to restrain Brooks in any way would be the equivalent of placing handcuffs on the Marx brothers. His movies have the same maniacal energy and playfulness as Brooks himself. After looking at “Young Frankenstein” Brooks all but danced down the stairs and out into the street. To his delight Madeline Kahn (the late comedienne who delighted audiences with her imitation of Marlene Dietrich in “Blazing Saddles” and who had just finished starring in “Young Frankenstein”) and singer Bette Midler were waiting to greet him. With their fluffy reddish hair, Kahn and Midler had a certain resemblance. Brooks, suddenly inspired, began to invent a movie for them right on the spot. “We’ll call it ‘Bubbles, Trixie and Ginger’, said Brooks. “It will be about three sweet young girls from the Midwest who come to Hollywood to make it big.” Midler,
who was eager to do a movie, could not have been more excited. “May I have your autograph?” she asked Brooks. “I want to put it in my kitchen and could you sign it, ‘I love you, Mel’.” Brooks could and did, signing his name with a flourish and looking very flattered. “Imagine that!” he said. “She’s a great star.”

Back in his office, Brooks pressed a few chocolate covered raisins into my hand and offered a few more observations. “Laughter,” he said, “is the glue the holds comedy together. Laughter is the mortar. People have to laugh or I’m finished. Woody, he’s more cerebral, I’m more visceral, dirtier probably.” There was a wicked gleam in Brooks’ eye as we left him, half expecting him to bark an order like “Move on out.”

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Addison Mehr’s film Fort Apache will show at the North County Shorts on Saturday, June 15th.

In 1940s America, a precocious young boy struggles to escape small town life.  On the eve of his eleventh birthday, he must choose between leaving home or following his brother down a path of violence and destruction.

Director Addison Mehr is an emerging filmmaker born and raised in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York.  He has studied directing at NYU, while assisting for Martin Scorsese, Court 13, and Cinereach.

Mehr cast Hale Lytle to star in the film as the rath young protagonist.  Lytle was seen in last year’s award-winning “Henley,” a short film from Craig Macneill.

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“Fort Apache” will show at during the 3 PM showcase on June 15th at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts as part of the 2013 Lake Placid Film Forum.  Exact screen times are subject to change.

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Before Bad Brains, the Sex Pistols or even the Ramones, there was a band called Death. Punk before punk existed, three teenage brothers in the early ‘70s formed a band in their spare bedroom, began playing a few local gigs and even pressed a single in the hopes of getting signed.

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Playing music impossibly ahead of its time, Death is now being credited as the first black punk band (hell…the first punk band!), and are finally receiving their long overdue recognition as true rock pioneers.

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Mark Covino and Jeff Howlett’s documentary film has been called a “thoughtful and compelling film, one of the best music documentaries to come out in years.”  (twitchfilm.com)

The film will screen at the 13th annual Lake Placid Film Forum this June.  Screening times will be posted by May 15th.