75 years Cinematek: let’s celebrate!

Cinematek is not letting its 75^th birthday pass unnoticed. Strikingly, however, the programme of festivities is not dripping with nostalgia but is entirely focused on the future.


BEHIND THE SCENES
A guided tour of a depot doesn’t exactly sound great. In fact, a sloppy kiss from an ageing aunt you barely know actually sounds like a more exciting prospect. And yet, this guided tour is an exceptional opportunity. The depot in question does not house trams or archives of the annual accounts. With more than 150,000 copies of no less than 71,000 titles, the Film Archive conserves one of the richest film collections in the world. And this film treasure is protected from prying eyes. The depot is not open to the public. On the occasion of its 75^th birthday, however, Ali Baba’s cave will open temporarily. Prior registration is required. The visit includes information about the Film Archive’s origins, the various conservation techniques, digital and analogue restoration, and a visit to the cold stores where Belgian films and unique pieces are conserved with even greater care.
Open Doors Film Depot • 16 & 17/11, 10 > 18.00, rue Graystraat 178, Elsene/Ixelles

FESTIVE OPEN HOUSE WEEKEND
Cinematek not only welcomes inveterate, lonely cinephiles, but also families with young children. For example, during the festive open house weekend, the latter can go to KlikKlak, a picture concert for children from four years old, full of colour, jollity, and excitement. There is also a workshop of the same name in which children learn to be inventive with a variety of materials. The idea is to use every-day materials to make magic lantern figures. At the end of the lesson, the children present their hand-made figure in the magic lantern. The magic lantern was invented circa 1659 by the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens, and is one of the precursors to cinema. The origins of cinema also play a central role in the multimedia extravaganza The Living Nickelodeon. Nickelodeons were film theatres that admitted entry for one nickel: 5 cents. Before the development of feature films in the mid-1910s, short “films” shared the silver screen with “illustrated songs”. While the film was being rewound, glass plates were projected while a singer/pianist put on a show and the audience were invited to sing along. Rick Altman is coming to give a demonstration with real, hand-made glass magic lantern pictures.
Open Doors Cinematek • 16 & 17/11, Cinematek

BARGAINS
The Documentation Centre is exhibiting a number of masterpieces from its collection of books, magazines, photos, and press cuttings about film. About 2,000 duplicates will also go on sale. The Documentation Centre is located in the Hotel van Cleve, one of the few remaining aristocratic townhouses in the Brabant Gothic style. You can also pick up some original Christmas gifts for the film freaks you know at the temporary festive shop in the Foyer of Cinematek. The vintage department offers the books, flipbooks, catalogues, postcards, and posters that Cinematek has published over the years. The flipbook Alechinsky made to celebrate Cinematek’s 50^th birthday may well prove to be very popular.
Open Doors Documentation Centre • 16 & 17/11, Cinematek & reading room, rue Ravensteinstraat 3, Brussel/Bruxelles


CARTE BLANCHE TO BELGIAN DIRECTORS
No fewer than 125 Belgian film directors were asked to name the figures and films that inspire them most. A film programme featuring 170 titles has been put together on the basis of their choices.

At least one of the three films named by each director had to make it onto the list, and all the films that were named more than once made it into the programme automatically. But no more than three films by any one director will be screened. What do the results show? Belgian film directors love David Lynch, Ingmar Bergman, Charles Chaplin, John Cassavetes, Federico Fellini, and Andrei Tarkovsky. The series is starting with the film that was named most often: The Deer Hunter by Michael Cimino. Wim Vandekeybus, Pieter Van Hees, Olivier Masset-Depasse, Nabil Ben Yadir, and others are coming to explain why they love watching Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken play Russian roulette so much.
Carte Blanche to Belgian Film Directors • 16/11 > 31/12, Cinematek


NANOOK OF THE NORTH
The festive programme culminates in a rare projection of Nanook of the North in the grand Henry Le Boeuf Hall at Bozar. Nanook is a legendary documentary made in 1922. With a great sense of drama and a keen eye for beautiful images, director Robert Flaherty filmed the tough daily life of the Inuit in Canada.

Gabriel Thibaudeau, conductor and resident pianist of the Film Archive of Quebec, wrote a score to the film for an ensemble of nine musicians, including two Inuit throat singers. An additional reason for making this film concert the highpoint of the celebrations is a story that is going around about Jacques Ledoux, the man who made the Film Archive great. During the Second World War, he went into hiding in the Abbey of Maredsous, and allegedly found a copy of Nanook there. After the liberation, he apparently took the copy with him when he went to the Film Archive. Some people say the story is no more than a legend. But the old register “Collection de la Cinémathèque” does state that Nanook was donated by Ledoux.
Nanook of the North + ciné-concert • 12/12, €10/20, BOZAR, rue Ravensteinstraat 23, Brussel/Bruxelles


75 YEARS CINEMATEK • > 31/12, Verschillende locaties/Divers lieux/Various venues & Cinematek, rue Baron Hortastraat 9, Brussel/Bruxelles, www.cinematek.be

> READ OUR INTERVIEW WITH CURATOR NICOLA MAZZANTI