The recent two-year renovation of the Student Union Building resulted in a beautiful new SUB Theater with state-of-the-art sound, a versatile projection system and comfortable seating. Sadly, the SWFC program seemed to fall into disrepair right about the same time. Directors came and went and programming degenerated to a string of recent DVD releases.
This fall, however, the SouthWest Film Center has a brand new director, Brian Gillespie, who has assembled an ambitious collection of films. “While it helps to have a director who knows about film and film history, it also helps to have a very enthusiastic and determined director,†says Gillespie, a second-year student who became a filmmaker in high school. “I obviously fit into the second category, because I really only sort of know what I’m doing.â€
Gillespie’s enthusiasm counts for a lot. The theater’s weekly schedule (films screen Thursday though Sunday) now runs the gamut from eye-opening documentaries (Velcrow Ripper’s inspirational Scared Sacred, Sept. 22-25) to Asian craziness (Takashi Miike’s Happiness of the Katakuris and Audition, Oct. 6-9) to cult horror (Evil Dead and Army of Darkness, Oct. 27-30) to watershed foreign films (1964’s I Am Cuba, Nov. 10-13). Gillespie has even managed some clever pairings, such as Roman Coppola’s ode to campy ’60s European filmmaking CQ, which is double-featured with Mario Bava’s 1968 pop art crime film Danger: Diabolik.
Ticket prices are $3 for students and $5 general admission. Double features take place on Sunday and are $4.50 for students and $7.50 general. You can get schedule info by calling 277-5608.
Reel World
