Bryn Mawr Film Festival
Last weekend I volunteered at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute Festival. The Bryn Mawr theater is being renovated back to its full formal glory. They knocked out the first story roof to revive the two story gallery- and found that the glass paneled ceiling had been sealed over! Right now I think it’s a perfect mix of old and new. I don’t think they should completely modernize the theater. Leaving it in sort of a middle state evokes the nostalgia of the old one instead of designing a simulacrum of the old. Now it’s definitely an alternative film venue playing the independent and foreign films (like Volver and Pan’s Labyrinth).
The guest of honor at the BMFI Festival was Robert Osborne. Who? Oh, the Turner Classic Movies host. It was interesting to see people get so excited over a D-list celebrity, but if you consider that it’s his job to chronicle film history, the association with BMFI fits. He brought his huge “75 Years of the Oscar” books and signed them, posed for pictures, gave little speeches, etc. I thought he was actually pretty interesting, especially when he talked about his experience with Lucille Ball and Desilu Studios. He just happened to be working near her, she liked him and hired him. Before he knew it he was eating dinner at her house. She told them weren’t enough people writing about
The Gala was also an interesting event. It featured two celebrity impersonators, a red carpet, paid paparazzi to photograph the guests, and a photo booth where they photo-shopped your face onto a movie cover. It was supposed to be an event where one could be a celebrity for an evening- at $500 a pop. The website reads:
“Experience
Cinematic surprises? I don’t know about that. But the gala was very snazzy- the raffle featured a Tiffany diamond star necklace- so you can always feel like a star! It was definitely about the dream idea of
The Marilyn Monroe impersonator was just scary. That breathy voice coupled with a fifty year old actress- just didn’t work for me. But I did like the Groucho impersonator. First of all, I love the Marx Brothers. I considered their films to a series of the best comedies EVER. True comedic genius. And this guy knew his stuff. We gave him random quotes and he told us what movies they were from. He carried around a big cigar and had the perfect hunch and walk. My favorite Marx Brothers movies are Duck Soup and Horse Feathers (no, not A Night at the Opera). Besides Pride and Prejudice, those are probably the only movies I can quote from beginning to end. I can also watch them over and over and over again, although distractedly. Why are they so good? First, the Marx Brothers never care about the straight plot. There’s always some couple facing an obstacle, and the details change very little. It’s more of an obligatory nod to the film industry than anything else. Second, they balance slapstick with wit. Harpo does the physical humor and Grouch does the verbal;
FYI, there’s a Swat T-shirt that quotes Groucho: Outside of a dog, a book is
man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. 
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