Yale Film Society shoots for a big year

Last year, the Yale community was pleasantly surprised by the emergence of the Yale Film Society (YFS). Students heard Oliver Stone discuss the meaning of good and evil. They heard Lloyd Kaufman explain why his film Tromeo and Juliet is truer to the original Shakespeare than other recent versions. This year, YFS plans to offer events like these, along with added attractions.

The YFS, Yale's only undergraduate film society, was created in the 1940s but fizzled out of existence in the early '80s. Paulina Hatoupis, SY '00, and Rene Brar, ES '99, decided to revive the forgotten society two years ago. Despite warnings that it would be a difficult endeavor, Hatoupis and Brar spent the summer of 1997 acquiring cash from alumni and making preparations. At the start of their drive, they had nothing except "maybe $500 from the goodness of Jodie Foster's, CC '85, heart." Soon they had collected $25,000 by selling advertisements and memberships, making the organization Yale's first film society to break even. And they did so with no financial backing from the University.

Not only did Hatoupis and Brar help rejuvenate the society and stabilize it financially, they also organized impressive events. Kenneth Branagh gave a lecture, as did Jack Lechner, vice president of Mirimax, Walter Parkes, president of Dreamworks, Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma, and Oliver Stone ("He came, he spoke, he ate, he went," Hatoupis said). The YFS also premiered Steven Spielberg's Amistad.

Despite a largely successful year, the YFS did encounter problems. Due to their society members' lack of experience and YFS's lack of support from Yale, the group had some initial organizational problems. And because the YFS functions like a real business or film studio, members like Hatoupis spend 40 hours a week to keep the operation up and running. Some members even chipped in their own money to give YFS a jumpstart.

"It was originally going to be just a Saybrook thing," Hatoupis said. "We had no idea it would blow up into such a monster," Brar added. Eventually, complaints about additional membership costs sprang up. Some confused and angry members e-mailed the YFS member list about the two-dollar-per-movie supplemental charge. Responding to the complaints was a serious obstacle, but Hatoupis, Brar, and the rest of the board made adjustments to the system, and plan to make the program to be more organized and more exciting this year.

Currently, all regular YFS screenings will be free to members; there will be an extra charge only for special events. Plans include the premiere of Todd Hyne's Velvet Gold Mine, as well as Happiness, the controversial film by Todd Solondz, TC '81, of Welcome to the Dollhouse fame. In addition, the Society is organizing a "Women in Film" conference in the spring featuring--among others--Meryl Butler, Mirimax's head of production. The YFS also plans to screen the silent film Nosferatu with the Yale Symphony Orchestra providing live accompaniment. This fall, the YFS will launch a 16 millimeter series including feature films such as Fritz Lang's Metropolis--films that Hatoupis says will "change your life."

The Society's ambitious plans have been the secret to the YFS's success so far. Hatoupis and Brar saw Yale, with no tenured film professors, as a community in need of an undergraduate film society. The YFS shows films in 35 millimeter, the way directors intended them to be seen. "The opportunity to see some of these films in 35 millimeter is such a rare experience," Hatoupis said.

And because the YFS wants to present the best of the best, the selection process for films to be screened is rigorous. "We're trying to find a balance for a heterogeneous audience," Brar said.

Once upon a time, Yale had a thriving film society, which brought cinema giants like Lang and Jean-Luc Godard to campus. Now the YFS is back and stronger than ever, and its success has been "beyond our wildest expectations," Hatoupis said. "You're two people that write a letter to Oliver Stone--he responds, he comes--you're nobody. Do you expect that?"

Graphic by Sara Edward-Corbett .

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