Excuse me if this is too obscure a reference, but I happen to be reading Canadian Charles Acland's new book "SCREEN TRAFFIC: Movies, Multiplexes, and Global Culture" while attending a film a day at the festival this year. The book looks at how the U.S. commercial movie business has altered the cinema-going experience since the 1980's and why we ended up w/ all these multiplexes. One of the issues discussed in this book is that the vast choices of films such multiplexes w/ multiple screens were supposed to permit never materialzed because the speeding up of releases of blockbusters by the majors has resulted in more and more screens in these multi-screen venues being taken up by only one or two blockbusters.

And this got me thinking of how different my experience is at the SFIAAF when I attend a film at the AMC Kabuki as opposed to the PFA or The Castro. . .

Those latter venues are spaces where we are used to seeing subtitled films, older films, experimental films. But seeing such at a multiplex is still weird for me. Here I am watching a slow documentary w/ little action (but utterly fascinating) about an elderly Japanese couple who are two of the few remaining chefs knowledgeable of a particular regional cuisine of China in a theater where I think I last saw BLADE II. It's a valuable dissonance for me, and, I hope, if I can personify it for a second, a valuable dissonance for the Multiplex in general. Plus, I love walking in with my ticket in hand and seeing all the people at the regular AMC Kabuki box office looking all confused at wha'ts going on. Personally, I don't understand why they'd even think of going to see a Hollywood feature w/ the opportunity to see what NAATA has brought the same evening, but they would have to wait in a Rush Ticket line so that can explain the reluctance somewhat. Still, there's an unspoken Activism in taking over the space of this Multiplex saying, 'We're going to distribute what we want to and not let Hollywood decide what we can and can't see!' (Should I mention HERO again here?)

Also, here we are watching films prominently featuring Asians and Asian-Americans, a community that is still, even after the success of BETTER LUCK TOMORROW, kept off the majority of screens when the AMC Kabuki isn't rented out for this film festival. And here I am roaming around before/after a film, waiting in line for a film, or waiting for it to start, and I know I'm going to see and talk with people I see every year at this event, some of whom I ONLY talk to when running into them at this event or events like it. The Multiplex doesn't intend to be a community space since it is a site of commerce, but it becomes one during this time of year. And this is one of the ancillary effects of this festival that is so important for me.

Replies: 3 Comments

on Wednesday, March 10th, crimson said

It's funny how the Kabuki has changed for me throughout the years. Growing up in SF, I always went to the Kabuki right after it was converted to a multiplex, hoping that the film I was seeing would be shown in Theater One since no one knew it had a balcony. But now I only go to the Kabuki for festivals. I actually enjoy popping to different screens while I endure a 4 film marathon. It makes it more tolerable since I get the occassional change in scenery.

on Wednesday, March 10th, annie said

one of my favorite places to go see a movie is the Naz 8 Cinemas in Fremont. i love how the smaller commercial movie theaters rendered obsolete by the 16 screen monsters have been taken over by "ethnic" entrepreneurs and "community" groups. so instead of popcorn, you get samosas and dal chaat!

on Thursday, March 11th, Lammer said

Frankly I don't know how the Kabuki stays open the rest of the year as a movie theater competing with the new grand multiplexes; it seems that AMC threw its resources into the the 1000 Van Ness less than a mile away. Apparently it has a reputation for lax security -- a fight broke out outside about a week before the festival during the opening week of the Mel Gibson's Jesus movie.

While I agree it's wonderful for these places to reclaimed as community spaces, I wonder what will happen to moviehouses as films (even blockbusters) become ever-more endangered, especially when VCDs and videogames take a lot of the need out of watching films in a theater.