Friday, June 28, 2024 - 6:00 pm
June 28 - Television Event (2020), 91 minutes, directed by Jeff Daniels, featuring Nicholas Meyer, Edward Hume, and Ted Koppel.
Weaving together contemporary interviews and archival footage, Television Event revisits the making of the astonishing 1983 television movie The Day After. The realities of producing a film for television, in contrast to a theatrical release, are startingly well presented. And The Day After was truly a “television event” unlike any before or since. How is ABC going to sell ad revenue for a film that promises to bring the nuclear holocaust into American living rooms? And will anyone watch? Turns out The Day After was a cauterizing moment in American culture, eliciting national debates and even inspiring an arms reduction agreement between President Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev.
June 2024 CinemaLit - Documentaries: The Real and Surreal
June at CinemaLit features four outstanding and eclectic documentaries. Together they represent the great range of subjects available to the genre. Join us for The Cockettes (2002), Spellbound (2002), Umberto Eco: A Library of the World (2022), and Television Event (2020).
Matthew Kennedy, CinemaLit’s curator, has written biographies of Marie Dressler, Joan Blondell, and Edmund Goulding. His book Roadshow! The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s, was the basis of a film series on Turner Classic Movies. His most recent book, On Elizabeth Taylor: An Opinionated Guide, examines the screen legend's entire career.
“I don't have a favorite film,” Matthew says. "I find that my relationships to films, actors, genres, and directors change as I change over the years. Some don't hold up. Some look more profound, as though I've caught up with their artistry. I feel that way about Garbo, Cary Grant, director John Cassavetes, and others."
“Classic films have historical context, something only time can provide,” Matt observes. “They become these great cultural artifacts, so revealing of tastes, attitudes, and assumptions.”
Mechanics' Institute Members Free
Non-Members $10
Cafe opens at 5:30 pm with wine, beer, sparkling water, juice, and fresh-popped popcorn for sale.
Register with Eventbrite below.
Please note: Photos and/or video may be taken during this event.
CinemaLit Films
Future CinemaLit Films
May 17 - 6:00 pm
CinemaLit: National Velvet (1944)
May 2024 CinemaLit - Elizabeth Taylor: Actress and Superstar
May 31 - 6:00 pm
CinemaLit: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
May 2024 CinemaLit - Elizabeth Taylor: Actress and Superstar
Jun 7 - 6:00 pm
CinemaLit - The Cockettes (2002)
June 2024 CinemaLit - Documentaries: The Real and Surreal
