The campaign to restore classic and international cinema programming at LACMA continues. Some readers may have heard about the $150,000 donation accepted last week in the wake of our Save Film at LACMA protest. But as reported in yesterday’s New York Times, big questions remain regarding the content of the program. Will it be a continuation of the much beloved series of the past 41 years, or will it entail a new vision described in ambiguous terms by LACMA’s CEO Michael Govan? The Times reports:
. . . Mr. Govan acknowledged that his choice of words ‘was maybe a little unfortunate’ but said his intentions have been ‘misconstrued in the fever’ about the program’s future.
‘I in no way meant that filmmakers are not artists,’ he said, or to imply that movies with conventional narratives would be replaced by ‘weird, esoteric films’ without plots, made by people who are primarily painters or sculptors.
‘I don’t want to retract what I said, but I realize it was poorly phrased,’ Mr. Govan said. But, he added, ‘We can’t just deal with the classic history of film, which is now slightly codified.’”
I’m not sure what he means, but I hope to get some clarification as to what kind of program the donation will fund in our meeting with Mr. Govan on Tuesday. Stay tuned . . .