The Microcinema Movement and Montreal Donna de Ville A Thesis In the Department of Communication Studies Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Communication Studies) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada February 2014 © Donna de Ville, 2014 CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES This is to certify that the thesis prepared By: 'RQQD GH 9LOOH Entitled: 7KH 0LFURFLQHPD 0RYHPHQW DQG 0RQWUHDO and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of 'RFWRU RI 3KLORVRSK\ &RPPXQLFDWLRQ 6WXGLHV complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the final examining committee: Chair 'U %ULDQ *DEULDO 'U :LOO 6WUDZ External Examiner 'U +DLGHH :DVVRQ External to Program 'U 0DUW\ $OORU Examiner 'U 0LD &RQVDOYR Examiner 'U &KDUOHV $FODQG Thesis Supervisor Approved by Chair of Department or Graduate Program Director Dean of Faculty ABSTRACT The Microcinema Movement and Montreal Donna de Ville, Ph.D. Concordia University, 2014 This dissertation offers a cultural studies analysis of the microcinema phenomenon in the urban environment. It provides a working understanding of the term as a cultural practice located at small-scale, alternative, DIY exhibition sites that provide noncommercial, nontheatrical options for moviegoing. Identifying the key attributes of microcinema, it demonstrates that alternative film practice requires certain economic, demographic and cultural attributes of a metropolitan locale be present in order to be sustained and that the presence of cultural intermediaries such as programmers are critical to coalescing these subcultural scenes. After presenting an overview of the historical antecedents to microcinema and of the microcinema movement that peaked in the 1990s in Canada and the US, this dissertation examines contemporary practices in four cities with vibrant film communities and gives thick descriptions of distinctive sites. It focuses primarily on the city of Montreal, Quebec and the manner in which socio-economic issues and cultural policy affect the stability of alternative, DIY venues and practices. It follows the trajectory of the creation and termination of Blue Sunshine Psychotronic Film Centre in Montreal and discusses the challenges of establishing this type of venue in the city. Using a Bourdieuian analytical framework, a primary argument of this project is that microcinemas are often cultivated as alternatives to the well-established—and culturally and economically hegemonic—commercial movie industry and sometimes oppositionally as a rejection of it, and that practitioners purposefully differentiate their exhibition practices from those of the mainstream (public and individual). Microcinema spaces are fertile ground for investigating multiple interests at the nexus of film and cultural studies: issues of taste and distinction as expressed through cinephilia and paracinephilia; the role of hipsters, subcultural entrepreneurs and cultural intermediaries; the creative economies and cultural policies of urban locales (conceptualized through the concept of bohemia). These issues are examined in terms of major themes that arise in the discourse surrounding microcinema, such as gentrification, alternative-ness and authenticity, that work to position the movement in contrast to perceived mainstream practices. Moreover, as sites of potential cultural hierarchy tensions between high and low forms of cinema, it argues that former concepts of fan cultures, such as paracinephiles, are not fluid enough to describe present day taste formations. Acknowledgements I would like to thank first and foremost Dr. Charles Acland for his incredible support as my dissertation supervisor. He provided me with both academic and financial support that allowed me to successfully complete the requirements of the program, as well as boosted my morale when it flagged over the course of my research and writing. I would also like to thank the Communication Studies Department and Concordia University for their generous financial support, without which I would not have been able to achieve my academic goals. Those who assisted me in the proofreading of my chapter drafts are not to be forgotten: Marc Montanchez, Afsheen Nomai, Jennifer Garner and Patrick Moratta. In advance of their contribution, I would also like to acknowledge the time and input from my committee members: Dr. Will Straw, Dr. Haidee Wasson, Dr. Martin Allor and Dr. Mia Consalvo. Lastly, I would like to thank the continued and infinite support of my family. They were with me in spirit and person throughout this process. Dedication For my parents Al and Bobbie Gesualdo Table of Contents Chapter I Why Microcinema? .………………………………………….........................1 Chapter II Taste Defines the Scene ….………....…………………................................26 Chapter III Historical Antecedents to Microcinema ………………………………..…..71 Chapter IV What is Microcinema? ………………..………………………………......109 Chapter V Microcinema in a “Cultural Metropolis” ……….….……………...…......190 Chapter VI Blue Sunshine ……………………....…………….………….……….….242 Chapter VII Conclusion ……………….…………...……………………………….…284 Bibliography …………………….……………………………………………….…….292 Appendices ………………………………..………………………………….…….....310 Chapter I: Why Microcinema? Culture scenes form structures of sociality that can encourage a productive and diversified cultural economy in the context of globalizing homogenizing forces.1 Janine Marchessault Hollywood dominates the huge space of “entertainment” within the public culture, and all other kinds of film and filmmaking must position themselves in relation to it.2 Sherry B. Ortner It was some time in the early 2000s that I experienced my first alternative film exhibition event. And by alternative, I am referencing a film event other than a mainstream commercial one. I was living in Austin, Texas at the time, and it was becoming somewhat common for cafes to show movies on DVD in a back room or on their outdoor patios, without copyright permission of course. Until this point, I had seen moving images exhibited in creative ways in commercial art contexts—galleries, museums, art festivals, and outdoor venues—as I worked in the contemporary art domain. But the event I headed to this one evening was going to change my understanding of what film exhibition could be. Travelling to pre-gentrified East Austin, with the address scribbled on a piece of paper, I didn’t know what to expect; it was very rare for there to be anything of cinematic interest going on in that part of town. In a remote and industrial area, I found the Blue Genie warehouse space. Bleacher-like seats accommodated about forty people. The film being screened that night was Beaver Trilogy (Trent Harris, 2000) about a male Olivia Newton-John impersonator. While the film made an impression on me, it was the pleasure derived from being part of something that few people knew about, the experience of having to find the place in an unfamiliar area on the edge of town and the 1 Janine Marchessault, “Film Scenes: Paris, New York, Toronto,” Public #22/23(2002): 69. 2 Sherry B. Ortner, Not Hollywood: Independent Film at the Twilight of the American Dream (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2013), 8. 1 makeshift ambience of the unsanctioned space that stayed with me. Not surprisingly, the Blue Genie stopped hosting underground film events as it focused on more commercial art activity. And thus began my understanding that the charm of these microcinema spaces was their ephemerality. Though it was sad to see one go, I knew another similar venue would likely pop up, and I would be as excited to venture to it. It became clear over the years these scenes were rooted in a persistent transience, and the precariousness of their status was precisely what imbued them with the mystique that curious cinephiles like myself found alluring. In Window Shopping, Anne Friedberg considers cinemagoing as a consumer practice that originates beyond the four walls of the theater space, effectively expanding the focus of critical literature of the early 1990s, when it was first published, in a much- needed recalibration with the actual history of film exhibition. She connects film consumption to various historical cultural practices; perhaps her most insightful observation is the connection of modern day, postmodern, moviegoing to malling as a cultural activity, both of which are “commodity-experiences.” The cultural practice of moviegoing was once considered as special as attending other creative art forms, like a stage play or even the opera, but Freidberg and others observe that it became as quotidian as buying shoes.3 The mallification of movies should come as no surprise, however, as the motion picture industry in the United States has been motivated by profit since its inception. And these two cultural practices—malling and going to the movies—have 3 “If mallgoers loved to browse and make ‘impulse’ purchases for items from shoes to records, why shouldn’t they be able to do the same thing for movies?” Douglas Gomery, “Thinking about Motion Picture Exhibition,” Velvet Light Trap 25 (Spring 1990): 6. Quoted in Anne Friedberg, Window Shopping: Cinema and the Postmodern (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), 122. 2 been linked since the 1960s when cineplexes first began being added to or included in the design of shopping centers throughout the US and Canada. However, the mall multiplexes