by David C. Barnett
The Cleveland Cinematheque bid farewell to its home for thirty years, Thursday night. The film? The 1971 black & white drama, The Last Picture Show.
Since 1985, the Cinematheque has won international praise for its devotion to the art and history of film --- when most movie houses specialize in comic book adventure flicks and raunchy romantic comedies.
The Cinematheque is about to open a new digital facility. Leading the way is the master chef behind this stew of modern movies and cinematic classics --- John Ewing.
Ewing says he was turned on to the power and the magic of the movies as a kid when the family went to a drive-in screening of the 1953 western Shane.
It鈥檚 a great story, he says. I think it works on multiple levels. It鈥檚 beautifully made, it鈥檚 well acted. But, I like so many films; my tastes are so eclectic.
In 1974, Ewing鈥檚 future wife Kathy got a sense of that鈥� the first time they went out. Our first date was to see Fasbinder鈥檚 Beware the Holy Whore at Kent State, she recalls. And it wasn鈥檛 the most romantic first date. It was a pretty dreary film. And I think John didn鈥檛 even like it that well.
Over the course of three decades, John Ewing has screened a diverse selection of films in a Cleveland Institute of Art auditorium. The New York Times dubbed the Cinematheque 鈥渙ne of the country's best repertory movie theaters鈥�, in 2009. Two years later, the French government gave Ewing a Knighthood in Arts & Letters. But, the unassuming Canton native says he doesn鈥檛 focus on the accolades.
As long as I can be here to provide those opportunities to see this kind of stuff, then I feel I鈥檓 doing my job, he says.
Bill Guentzler, Artistic Director of the annual Cleveland International Film Festival, says Ewing has an encyclopedic knowledge of epic American westerns鈥� edgy European cinema --- and everything in between. He knows much, much more than I know --- or will ever know about film, Guentzler enthuses. And he loves it so much. He lives and breathes it.
Another John Ewing admirer is film scholar Louis Giannetti who has introduced numerous Cinematheque screenings, over the years. He says Ewing features a wide-range of movies, but largely using 35-millimeter film projection in a world where digital cinema is now the rule --- preferring the warmth of a film image over the cold clarity of digital But, Giannetti wonders if that鈥檚 a battle worth fighting.
There are those people --- John is one of them --- who can tell the difference between film and digital. But, I think digital is at such a sophisticated level now that I can鈥檛 tell the difference.
In recent years, Ewing says, he鈥檚 modified his formerly purist stance, acknowledging that digital projection isn鈥檛 the biggest threat to movies in an era of flat screen TVs and streaming video.
If it looks good, I鈥檓 okay with it, he says. I think, more important, is just viewing it communally with an audience --- that鈥檚 what we want to preserve.
He's never home, says Kathy Ewing. He works --- I computed it once, years ago --- 50, 60 hours. John is a workaholic.
She says she鈥檚 resigned herself to the fact that Film is her husband鈥檚 mistress
My wife has been more than generous, letting me not be home, John Ewing muses. It can be a strain. There are times when she鈥檚 resentful, and there are times when I鈥檓 resentful, actually, about not being able to be home. But, it鈥檚 hard to complain. I鈥檓 a pretty lucky person, actually.
The new Cinematheque theater is decked out with comfortable seats, the latest digital equipment, and even a pair of old-school film projectors. After a gala celebration this weekend, the first regular screening in this facility will be Casablanca, an American classic that --- at least partially --- is about looking for a new sense of comfort in a changing world.
Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine: Louie, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
