Storaro to Accept Coolidge Award April 6 in Boston
BOSTON, MA - The Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, Massachusetts, has planned a month-long celebration showcasing the work of internationally acclaimed Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, ASC, AIC. Last month the Coolidge Corner Theatre announced that Storaro will be the recipient of the annual Coolidge Award, honoring a selected film artist whose work advances the spirit of original and challenging filmmaking. Storaro is scheduled to arrive in Boston to accept the honor at a special ceremony on Wednesday, April 6 at 8 p.m. The gala celebration will include testimonials from filmmakers and scholars, selected scenes from Storaro's body of work, live music and dance performances, and the presentation of the award.
While in Boston Storaro will participate in related festivities. On April 7 at 1:30 p.m., the Coolidge has programmed a filmmaker panel, Writing With Light: A Discussion on Cinematography. Storaro will be joined by colleagues in the industry to share stories of their artistic choices and experiences. Panelists scheduled to participate include documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles (Grey Gardens) and cinematographers Maryse Alberti (Happiness), Ed Lachman (Far From Heaven), and Ellen Kuras (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). Bob Fisher, historian/journalist and honorary member of the American Society of Cinematographers, will moderate. On the evening of April 7, the Coolidge will screen the 1982 film Reds, directed by and starring Warren Beatty. Storaro, who won his second Best Cinematography Oscar® for the film, will be in attendance to introduce the screening and to conduct a question-and-answer session with audience members.
The Coolidge has programmed several screenings of Storaro's work and four seminars to precede the awards gala. Moviegoers can indulge in Storaro's radiant camerawork throughout consecutive Mondays in March when the Coolidge unspools four classics in their beautifully restored 600-seat Movie House I, featuring a giant screen and state-of-the-art Dolby digital surround sound. It all begins on Monday, March 7, with a new 35mm print of the 1973 classic film Last Tango in Paris. Boasting the combined talents of Storaro and director Bernardo Bertolucci, this controversial and visually striking film is a lush and powerful tale of an anonymous erotic attraction featuring legendary performances from American icon Marlon Brando and French actress Maria Schneider.
March 14 brings an archival 35mm print of Bertolucci's The Conformist, which launched Storaro to international acclaim and earned him a 1970 Best Cinematography recognition from the New York Film Critics Circle. The Bertolucci/Storaro magic continues on March 21 with a screening of 1900, an epic tale that spans over 45 years exploring Italy's era of Fascism through the parallel lives of a peasant (Gerard Depardieu) and a wealthy land owner (Robert DeNiro). On March 28 the Coolidge presents director Francis Ford Coppola's landmark Apocalypse Now. This was Storaro's his first American production and is recognized as one of the most powerful and extravagantly shot war films ever made. It earned Storaro his first, of three, Academy Awards for cinematography.
Storaro's visual mastery and diversity extends beyond epic productions. He has also worked with noted directors on a variety of films that have become cult classics. The Coolidge has reserved a few midnight slots and some matinees to showcase this work. On Friday and Saturday, March 25th and 26th director Richard Donner's Ladyhawke will be screened, a romantic medieval tale of knights and sorcery. Elaine May's Ishtar, takes the screen on Friday, April 1 (appropriately April Fool's Day), the notoriously big-budget flop whose "dumb and dumber" humor between Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman was ahead of its time. On Saturday, April 2 the Italian horror filmmaker Dario Argento's tense slasher thriller The Bird with the Crystal Plumage has a rare screening. Finally, two spectacular dance films from Spanish director Carlos Saura, Flamenco and Tango, take the screen respectively for matinees on April 2 and April 3.
Four film seminars are also programmed throughout March, providing Boston filmgoers an opportunity to learn more about Storaro's pivotal contribution to world cinema before his arrival. On Wednesday, March 9 Emerson College professor Peter Flynn leads the seminar Shadows and Light: The Art of Cinematography, exploring cinematography as a language expressed with images and light. On Wednesday, March 16, the legacy of such distinguished directors as Rossellini, De Sica, Fellini, Antonioni, Argento and Bertolucci is discussed in Cinema Italiano: An Overview of Italian Cinema, led by Professor Piero Garofalo (author of A Concise History of Cinema in Italy). On March 23, Professor Jeff Kline (author of Bertolucci's Dream Loom and I Film di Bertolucci) explores the unique director/cinematographer relationship with a seminar on Dream Team: Bertolucci and Storaro. And, on Wednesday, March 30 Boston University professor and filmmaker Colin Decker conducts the seminar The American View: Coppola & Beatty.
All programs are open to the public and admission to the seminars is $15 with a reduced $10 Coolidge Members admission (available day of seminar only).
The Coolidge Award presented to Storaro includes a specially commissioned inscribed memento and an unrestricted cash award of $10,000. The Coolidge Corner Theatre is one of the nation's few independently operated movie theatres, run by the not-for-profit Coolidge Corner Theatre Foundation. In the past few years the Coolidge has won several awards and special acknowledgements, most notably for a successful capital campaign supporting upgrades, renovations and a stunning restoration to the theatre's original Art Deco detail. The inspiration for the annual Coolidge Award comes from a continued commitment to celebrate bold filmmaking and a recognition of the Coolidge's role in building audiences for this work. The focus of the award rotates annually to highlight the many categories of films that the Coolidge has championed over the years in its mission to showcase high quality and diverse programming. The award was launched in 2004, and the inaugural recipient was Chinese director Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers).
The complete line-up of events, screenings and ticket information for the Coolidge Award Ceremony honoring Vittorio Storaro is posted with updates on the theatre's website, www.coolidge.org. People are encouraged to buy tickets in advance, which are available at the theatre box office, or on-line through the website.
The Coolidge Award 2005 is made possible by the generous support of the Patricia Larsen Foundation, Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Scott Rosenberg, Susan and Robert Stoller, LEF New England,, Chobee Hoy Real Estate, Inc., Harlyn Foundation, Kodak, Brookline Courtyard by Marriott, WGBH, Stoltze Design, NobleHeart Productions, Rule Broadcasting, The Boston Phoenix and Massachusetts Cultural Council . Additional support continues to grow from numerous individuals, sponsors, and community-based businesses. The Coolidge Corner Theatre is located at 290 Harvard Street in the heart of Coolidge Corner, Brookline, Massachusetts. For information on programming, call 617-734-2500, or visit the website at www.coolidge.org.
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