Reg Hartt: The CineForum (aka THE Public Enemy)

Forces in Toronto have long done everything in their power to bring harm to Reg Hartt. That's fine by him. He wishes them the best. A lot of very good people say Hartt is the best. Here are some of them: "Whenever an English artist of any value arises they are seen as Public Enemy Number One."–Henry Miller. "Reg Hartt made me tingle."–Al Aronowitz. "Reg Hartt is a Crazy-Wisdom-Yogin."–Jerzy Zaborski Rinpoche. "The best part of what Reg Hartt offers is what he has to say."–Jane Jacobs (author of THE DEATH AND LIFE OF GREAT AMERICAN CITIES, DARK AGE AHEAD). "My mother loved Reg Hartt."–James Jacobs. Reg Hartt is listed as # 50 of the 50 best male speakers of all time. ( https://www.ranker.com/list/famous-male-orators/reference )“Reg Hartt has a feel for film unique in this country…genius level.”—Elwy Yost. “Reg Hartt has had an amazing impact given the size of the venue and the esoteric nature of the programming. He’s had an incredible impact on the city. No one else is doing it. No one else has ever done it.”–Rob Salem. “Reg Hartt teaches like Neal Cassady drove a bus.”—Joe Fiorito, Toronto Star. “REG HARTT is what living in a metropolis is all about. He personifies the city as a meeting place of ideas, as a feast of experience and discussion and debate, as a triumph over the banal and soporific of the original and provoking.”–MICHAEL VALPY, GLOBE AND MAIL. “In Toronto, I discovered by chance, CineForum. Pure chance but a fortunate one. In that small room exhaling culture, passion and dedication, I watched the movie TRIUMPH OF THE WILL, an important historical, political and social document., and real artistic achievement….As a journalist (in Romania) I worked in the cultural field, including film reviews. Therefore I came to the CineForum not just as a movie lover, but as a knowledgeable professional…We live in an era authoritatively dominated by brainwashing and political correctness…I admired Reg Hartt’s courage and passion put on in searching out and defending the human truth, the artistic truth, the historical truth; the Truth and unveiling it…Discovering Reg Hartt and his CineForum was one of the most important events of my visit in Toronto.”– JULIA SCUTARU, retired journalist, Bucharest, Romania, 2000. “What I like about The CineForum and Reg Hartt and what makes him a valuable figure is his belief in cinema as a living, breathing thing, something to be enjoyed and argued about, not genuflected at or framed on a wall and revered at a respected distance. In his presentations he refutes the conventional wisdom that films like THE BIRTH OF A NATION (1915), THE BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (1925), and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925) are better appreciated as historical artifacts than entertainments. To see KID DRACULA, his show that pairs F. W. Murnau’s NOSFERATU (1922) with Radiohead to surprisingly effective results is to be reminded that the classics were made for the raw public before they were made for cinema studies syllabi. I have rarely felt a film’s greatness in a classroom but I have often felt it at Reg Hartt’s CineForum.”—Will Sloan. “Reg Hartt has devoted his whole life to bringing film classics to the public. He treats animation-cartoons, if you will-as art. He is underfinanced, overworked and snubbed. I think we should pay tribute to him."–David Beard. "GOD led me to Reg Hartt."–WIZTHEMC. "Reg Hartt is the greatest. For confirmation of everything he says read David Mamet's TRUE AND FALSE."–Emo Philips.