NOT FOR PUBLICATION
“Reg Hartt is another man with an issue, or several. Hartt was advertising his Cineforum, a for-profit theatre run out of a house on Bathurst year-round, via unauthorized posters all over the city. Complaints filed with the Licensing and Standards office put Hartt in danger of losing his storied underground cinema.
“Until Ford swooped in once again. ‘Ford is the embodiment of Jane Jacobs, and I supported her. She was a friend, she was a fan. I think Ford is a really good guy, and I fully support his office,’ Hartt says.”
The current issue of NOW is so blatantly over the top that it is going to put even more people in Ford’s corner.
As Neitzsche said, “That which does not kill me makes me stronger.”
I have never said that Robert Ford is a really good guy nor that I fully support his office. Jackie Marchildon created that out of air for her piece in NOW http://reghartt.ca/cineforum/?p=2049 .
What I said is that I see in him someone who, consciously or unconsciously, is living the ideas Jane Jacobs writes about in her books from THE DEATH AND LIFE OF GREAT AMERICAN CITIES onwards. I am not alone in stating this. Lawrence Solomon said the same thing in THE NATIONAL POST http://reghartt.ca/cineforum/?p=2207 and the current issue of EYE weekly http://www.eyeweekly.com/city/notebook/article/113382 makes the same observation with Dale Duncan (who worked in Councillor Adam Vaughan’s office during Miller’s last term and began her career as a public-space activist) saying, “I think activists should make a long list of all the small, grassroots common-sense concerns and take those to Ford.”
THE CINEFORUM was created by accident. It is hardly run as a for profit enterprise. It is placed among the top thirty things to see in Toronto and in Ontario by the Lonely Planet Guide which says a heckuva lot about the value people outside this city and around the world set on this little place.
Rob Salem, of The Toronto Star, said, “Hartt has had an amazing impact considering the size of the venue and the esoteric nature of the program.”
The complaints filed against me with the city were made by Jamie Gillis of Dr. Jamie’s Events Postering and Dr. Jamie’s Cycles. They were made because I stood up when Gillis assaulted, libelled and slandered a street person while NOW, along with most of the rest of the media in this city sat on its ass altho informed of what was happening.
Former Toronto Mayor David Miller said to me in passing on Queen Street just west of Spadina, “Keep up the good work.”
It was my letter to Mayor Miller’s office that caused Police Chief Bill Blair to investigate Dr. Jamie http://reghartt.ca/cineforum/?p=1810 and to bring an end to his virulent street postering campaign against a man who was almost murdered as a result.
I learned long ago that a good heckler is worth their weight in gold so long as I do not stoop to their level.
Experience has taught me the more mud they throw the better I look.
NOW has shot its bolt.From here on you can only look more and more ridiculous in your anti-Ford hysteria.
–Reg Hartt
April At The Cineforum, 463 Bathurst below College Across From The Beer Store. 416-603-6643.
THE CINEFORUM was created as a learning center for those who wish to use it to its fullest. From 1970 to 1975 I served as Director Of Cinema Studies at Toronto’s ROCHDALE COLLEGE. “School is an institution built on the axiom that learning is the result of teaching. And institutional wisdom continues to accept this axiom, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary,”–Ivan Illich. Rochdale College had no classes and no teachers. What it did have were people such as Judith Merril, the mother of modern science/speculative fiction who functioned as resource people. Each Rochdalian was called to be their own teacher. This is the model at The Cineforum. For those who want to learn the resources here, which are considearable, are wide open. Several years ago I was invited to teach at The University of Toronto’s School for Continuing Studies. “You will like it here. We get the cream of the crop. We get the ones with money,” I was told. The Cineforum was created for the ones without money. Generally speaking, these are the ones with talent. They are the cream of the cream. A program that could cost $100 at UofT costs $20 here ($10 under 24, $5 under 20).
Saturday, April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30,
7pm: THE SEX & VIOLENCE CARTOON FESTIVAL To see what has been censored from the great cartoons go here: http://looney.goldenagecartoons.com/ . To see these films as their creators meant us to come to The Cineforum.
9pm: WHAT I LEARNED FROM LSD Sensible words about LSD: http://www.alternativereel.com/includes/top-ten/display_review.php?id=00095
Sunday, April 3, 10, 17, 24,
5pm: ZECHARIA SITCHIN: WILL THE WORLD END IN 2012? http://www.sitchin.com/ ,
7pm: OZ DARKSIDE (THE WIZARD OF OZ to Pink Floyd’s THE DARKSIDE OF THE MOON)
9pm: KID DRACULA (F. W. Murnau’s NOSFERATU [1922] to the music of Radiohead’s KID A and OK COMPUTER.
Monday thru Thursday, April 4, 5, 6, 7
7pm: CLEOPATRA (1963) Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056937/ , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra_(1963_film)
http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/last+studio+star/4493809/story.html
Monday, April 11
7pm: SEVEN FOOTPRINTS TO SATAN (1929) Directed by Benjamin Christensen. Starring Thelma Todd, Creighton Hale, Sheldon Lewis. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020004/ , http://blackholereviews.blogspot.com/2010/07/seven-footprints-to-satan-1929-not-on.html , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Footprints_to_Satan
9pm: THE SORROWS OF SATAN (1926) Directed by D.W. Griffith. Starring Adolphe Menjou, Lya De Putti, Ricardo Cortez. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017419/ , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorrows_of_Satan_(film)
Tuesday, April 12,
7pm: THE SORCERORS (1967) Directed by Michael Reeves. Starring Boris Karloff, Catherine Lacey, Elizabeth Ercy. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062292/ , http://classic-horror.com/reviews/sorcerers_1967 ,
9pm: WITCHFINDER GENERAL (1968) Directed by Michael Reeves. Starring Vincent Price, Bernard Kay, Ian Ogilvy. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063285/ , http://classic-horror.com/reviews/witchfinder_general_1968 , http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2007/09/witchfinder-general-1968/
Wednesday, April 13, 7pm: DON QUIXOTE (1992) Directed by Orson Welles. Starring Orson Welles, Fernando Rey, Francisco Reiguera. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104121/ , http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/181300/Orson-Welles-Don-Quixote/overview , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Quixote_(unfinished_film)
9pm: THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (1947) Directed By Orson Welles. Starring Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Carl Frank. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040525/ , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_from_Shanghai
Thursday, April 14,
7pm: TORONTO STREET GRAFITTI IN DIGITAL 3D (2011) Reg Hartt.
8pm: ROTTWEILER (DOGS OF HELL) IN DIGITAL 3D (1982) Directed by Worth Keeter. Starring Earl Owensby, Bill Gribble, Robert Bloodworth. 3D Consultant Lenny Lipton. JAWS with PAWS. http://www.buried.com/moviereviews/rottweiler-dogs-of-hell-1982/296/ , http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0131359/ , http://www.80shorrormovies.com/1982/rottweiler_dogs_of_hell.htm
9:30: Dolphins and Whales 3D: Tribes of the Ocean In Digital 3D (2008) Directed by Jean-Jacques Mantello. Starring Daryl Hannah, Charlotte Rampling. http://www.dolphinsandwhales3d.com/ , http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0996382/
Monday, April 18,
7pm: MR. WU (1927) Directed by William Nigh. Starring Lon Chaney, Anna May Wong, Louise Dresser, Rene Adoree. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018179/ , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Wu
9pm: MOCKERY (1927) Directed by Benjamin Christensen. Starring Lon Chaney, Johnny Mack Brown, Barbara Bedford. One of the rare American films directed by Danish auteur Benjamin Christensen, Mockery stars Lon Chaney Sr. as a half-witted Russian peasant. On the verge of starvation, Chaney is hired to guide a beautiful countess (Barbara Bedford) through the treacherous Siberian wastes. Once he arrives at the countess’ home territory, Chaney is swept up by the Bolshevik movement. He comes to despise the aristocracy in general and the countess in particular, but the young woman’s kindness towards him weakens his revolutionary resolve. Long thought lost, Mockery was rediscovered and preserved in the mid-1970s; the film was based on a story by Stig Esbern. Cast: Lon Chaney, Ricardo Cortez, Barbara Bedford http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018166/ ,
Tuesday, April 19,
7pm: FLICKER (2007) Directed by Nik Sheehan. http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=53902
9pm: SWIMMING TO CAMBODIA (1987) Directed by Jonathan Demme. Starring Spalding Gray, Sam Waterston, Ira Wheeler. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094089/ , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swimming_to_Cambodia
Wednesday, April 20,
7pm: GIMME SHELTER (1970) Directed by Albert Maysles, David Maysles. Starring The Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065780/ , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimme_Shelter_(film)
9pm: PERFORMANCE (1970) Directed by Donald Cammell, Nicolas Roeg. Starring James Fox, Mick Jagger, Anthony Valentine. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066214/ , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_(film)
Thursday, April 21,
7pm: TORONTO STREET GRAFITTI IN DIGITAL 3D (2011) Reg Hartt.
8pm: DIAL M FOR MURDER IN DIGITAL 3D (1954) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Starring Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046912/ , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dial_M_for_Murder
9:30: UNDER THE SEA IN DIGITAL 3D (2009) Directed by Howard Hall. Starring Jim Carrey. http://www.imax.com/underthesea/ , http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1020876/
Monday, April 25,
7pm: NAPOLEON (1927) Directed by Abel Gance. Starring Albert Dieudonné, Vladimir Roudenko, Edmond Van Daële. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018192/ , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoléon_(1927_film) .
Tuesday, April 26,
7pm: RAM DASS: FIERCE GRACE (2001) Directed by Mickey Lemle. Starring Ram Dass, William Alpert, Larry Brilliant. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310951/,
9pm: Herman Hesse’s SIDDHARTHA (1972) Directed by Conrad Rooks. Starring Shashi Kapoor, Simi Garewal, Romesh Sharma. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070689/,
Wednesday, April 27,
7pm: EASTER PARADE (1948) Directed by Charles Walters. Starring Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Peter Lawford. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040308/ , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Parade_(film)
9pm: JAZZ IN THE HOLLYWOOD CARTOON (2011) A Reg Hartt program.
Thursday, April 28,
7pm: TORONTO STREET GRAFITTI in DIGITAL 3D (2011) Reg Hartt.
8pm: Ray Bradbury’s IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE IN DIGITAL 3D (1953) Directed by Jack Arnold. Starring Barbara Rush, Russell Johnson, Kathleen Hughes.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045920/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Came_from_Outer_Space
9:30: SPACE STATION IN DIGITAL 3D (2002) Directed by Toni Myers. Starring Tom Cruise, James Arnold, Michael J. Bloomfield.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290296/
http://www.imax.com/spacestation/
