Have you ever watched a movie that from the
minute it started you lost track of time and place
and when it finished, something inside of you had
shifted, had changed?
Have you ever watched a movie that somehow
managed to grab hold of your emotions in such
a way that no matter how hard you tried you just
couldn't hold back tears?
Have you ever watched a movie that somehow
managed to touch you so deeply that
after watching it you realized that perhaps
some of your views and opinions needed an update?
If you have, then according to Martin Scorsese you
have experienced the power of Cinema: ''an aesthetic,
emotional and spiritual experience.''
As a teenager I discovered that although I loved
movies, Cinema was even better.
As luck would have it, I had met somebody who
not only was into photography and jazz like me,
but who introduced me to a place called
''The Cinemateque".
The Cinemateque was basically a huge building
consisting of 6 different sized cinemas, a number of
teaching auditoriums, one coffeeshop, one giftshop
and one fine dining restaurant.
By becoming a member of the Cinemateque,
(which I did the first time I went there) one
was given access to every venue.
Moving from one theater to the next,
starting in the morning and finishing late evening,
for me was far more interesting than school.
Consequently, this is where my friend and I
spent most of our time our last two years of senior school.
Thinking back on that time
I count myself lucky to have had the experience
of watching masterpiece after masterpiece of cinema
together with other people. (Not alone at home)
People, who just like me, loved cinema.
People, who after the film ended would
spend hours in the coffeeshop dissecting
the film, the music and what we thought it
was telling us.
Every film that was shown at the Cinemateque
came with a promotional poster.
These posters were often magnificent pieces
of art in themselves, so every time new posters
went up, the old ones became available for purchase.
I purchased. Many.
In those days, before computers, painting movie
posters was a good ''gig'' for many struggling artists.
Many, who eventually through their poster art became ''known''.
Known enough to be able to set up their own studios
and hold exhibitions on their own terms.
Some years ago, my son and I were given the opportunity
to hold an exhibition of Cinema Poster Art.
We called it ''Cinefiend'' and painted 30 posters
each. Each acrylic on very large thick water color paper.
All our own interpretations and in homage to the
original works.
We both sold a few, enough to cover the cost of material,
but unfortunately not enough to cover the cost of the work
involved in actually hand-painting the posters.
(These are a few of mine as well as the top one.
They are all large: 0.97 cm x 0.50 cm.)
The Cinema theater, due to its ability to be both a personal/single
and a collective experience, in my view offers us, the audience,
a place where due to the fact that we are all human beings,
we can feel that we belong.
Even if only for 80 - 93 minutes.
''Cinema is a reflection of society and, in most cases,
has the ability to be a mirror and not just show the
problems but also give solutions and help them
reach a large number of people through faces
and voices that matter.''
(Kirti Kulhari)
