The 1948 Japanese film “Yuwaku (Temptation)” had been shipped to the other side of the world for a festival at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The screening started 22 minutes later. And the equipment was working.
It was up to projectionist Chris Jolie to see if the show would continue.
He had already run the first reel through one of the theater’s twin projectors, but Fritz had a second projector meant to launch the next reel with seamless switching.
As the audience filled the auditorium below the booth, Mr. Jolly pried open the back of the machine with a screwdriver. The moment seemed to be captured by a caricature of an indifferent projectionist pinned to the wall, with the caption reading: And then comes the moment of extreme terror!”
Without hesitation, Jolly decided to put the tools aside and go with one projector. He finished each reel and quickly threaded the next through his one working machine, causing spectators to pause in the dark. Some patrons may have experienced this before, he reasoned.
A decade after digital cinema took the multiplex by storm, 35mm film is booming in New York City.A small group of museums, repertory cinemas and new niche theaters Alamo Drafthouse, nighthawk When Roxy Cinema It still uses outdated projectors to show old, sometimes obscure titles only available on film and finds a ready audience.
This means that the demand for projectionists is increasing. “New York is one of the best places for him to do this job. Metrograph, an art house on the Lower East Side. “It’s taken very seriously.”
no one knows the exact number There are film projection engineers in the city, but Michael Fewx, who represents the film technicians, says, IATSE Local 306The union, which also includes Broadway ticket takers and ushers, estimates that about 50 members regularly work at 35mm. “All projectionists should know primarily digital at this point,” he said, but “movie projection is a skill with emphasis.” You can earn over $40 an hour in overtime.
Jolie’s career, like that of many projectionists, grew out of a childhood love of cinema. But now his work is getting in the way. It is difficult for him to show while watching a movie. Jolie, who spent years as an on-call projectionist in the screening room in Martin Scorsese’s office, likened it to the passengers in the car and the person behind the wheel. “Oh, look at this beautiful scenery!” And you’re like, “I can’t see it – I have to drive.”
Other projectionists came to work as struggling artists in need of steady gigs. Gregory Wolfe and his younger brother James arrived in New York City in his 1980s to study acting, with a particular interest in Shakespeare. While working as stagehands at Lincoln Center, film association.
James’ mustache now contains more salt than pepper. Gregory tells Hells that his family knows if he’s not in the kitchen apartment, so he doesn’t bother owning a cell phone. “I am a star in the universe,” he said.
The brothers work long hours in narrow circles, buzzing with mechanical clatter and fluttering film, managing what Gregory calls a “violent process.” The 35mm projector combines motion and stillness. Grab the film by the sprocket hole, advance the frame, briefly expose it to the beam of a 3,000-watt xenon bulb, then shutter the bulb to restore the theater to its original position. Darkness before teeing up the next frame.
Most of the films in existence use celluloid, which is tolerant of this distortion, but is prone to scratches and punctures and must be passed precisely through the gates of the projector. If the print is held in front of the focused light for more than a moment, it melts so that the projected image is visible and in focus only when the process is in motion. “Cinema is like a living, breathing organism,” said Gregory.
It may take thousands of people to make a film, but the artwork is not fully realized until people project the image onto the screen. would claim to be part of the “You are the final piece of the puzzle,” said James.
technology foundation — Passing light through miniature images — has remained virtually unchanged since the introduction of cinema. So while theaters can show 100-year-old prints of him, you’d be hard-pressed to find a way to watch his VHS tape of “The Lion King.” ”
Just ten years ago, cinema seemed to be on the verge of extinction. Digital technology has promised to reduce the complexity of projection at the touch of a button. Film distributors persuaded movie theaters to replace their 35mm projectors with digital projectors, phasing out production of new prints. Cinephile praised the vanishing media. New York City, which has long required projectionists to pass a difficult exam to become a film operator, has lifted the requirement.
But even as theaters adapted to the digital age, a notable few cinemas continued to use projectors. And ironically, the threat to old 35mm technology has brought new fame. A live screening of a physical print is a singular event that could never be found in a digital projection of an infinitely restartable file, as it contains all its flaws.
Some movie theater owners make a business case for movies. Alamo Drafthouse, a national movie theater chain with three locations in New York City, keeps 35mm in all markets, according to founder Tim League. This will give theaters access to a larger catalog of movies, allowing the chain to screen around 2,000 unique films each year and reach a wider audience. “If you show a weird movie, people will come,” he said. Blockbuster movies still make up the majority of the company’s revenue, but he added that 35mm screenings contributed as much as 5% of his revenue.
Analog nostalgia is also attractive, Metrograph “You offer the same title digitally and in 35mm, but 35mm screenings always sell more tickets,” he said. To make the projectionist part of the movie-viewing experience, Orci cut an additional window into the booth to allow the audience to see inside.
The move to digital has also increased the responsibilities of cinema projectionists. As studios stopped making new prints, old films became more valuable, like works of art that needed to be handled with care.
before each screening at Anthology Film Archive On Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Genevieve Havemeyer-King puts the entire film—one mile long on screen every hour—at your fingertips. She visually inspects her surface for scratches and inspects the edges of the film for rips or jagged splices. “There is no room for error,” she said.
Her respect is practiced. She has a graduate degree in Film Preservation and during the day digitizes and preserves media for the New York Public Library. Preparing for a screening in the anthology’s dark booth, she has only a small entrance to the theater and feels nothing outside. She looked like a submarine captain. “Or a lighthouse keeper,” she suggested.
Film projectionists find it difficult to take time off, which is why they are so popular. On a recent Thursday at the Film Forum, Raymond Utterson said he had worked 11 hours on four days in a row. From his one zig-zag booth that he could easily navigate, he showed movies in four cinemas simultaneously. Hanging on the wall were some scribbled drawings of his son, who spent hours in a booth with his father when he was little. The boy is now in high school.
Utterson, who is more of a technician than a movie buff, said he doesn’t care much about what’s on screen. In his spare time, he pursues an online certification in cybersecurity and is considering his next career when he returns to his native Ghana. But audience “movie buffs” are another matter, he said. “Trust me,” he continued, “movies are still alive.”
One of the main proponents of film preservation is Mr. Scorsese. film foundation It preserves and restores hundreds of prints and funds workshops for projectionists. In an email, he fondly recalled a screening at the old Thalia. New Yorker, and Bleecker Street Cinema admitted that today’s digital technology has made it possible to watch movies at home that are “almost indistinguishable” from what you see or hear in a theater. , the scratches and seams in projected film that were once an essential part of the experience are beginning to feel jarring. “For me, watching movies on 16mm or 35mm is about the history of the art form,” he wrote.
When digitization first arrived, Scorsese continued, projection film technology seemed “to many people as obsolete as repairing an umbrella or a typewriter.” However, he considers it an invaluable skill. A 35mm projectionist “must be someone who truly loves the feel of film in his hand, the task of cleaning it, threading it correctly through the projector to give it the proper tension, and, of course, the feel of the film.” Hmm, the video itself comes to life frame by frame.”
Recently at Lincoln Center, trainee Maeve Fitzgerald Cavadini was threading a projector under the supervision of Gregory Wolfe. While working through images stored on his iPhone, Wolff recalled the opening of his movie theater in 1991.
After examining her handiwork, Mr. Wolf made a few tweaks to put her at ease. The screening went smoothly, but Cavadini was reluctant to do the shift alone. “It’s very different from digital projection,” she said. “You’re actually putting on a show.”
Back at the Museum of Modern Art, the audience exited the theater into a drizzle as the credits for “Yuwaku” rolled. One of them, Kyle Eriksen, said she didn’t understand the dark pauses between reels, but she didn’t care either. In hindsight, she appreciated the brightness of the image. “If you get a gorgeous projected print, it’s one of a kind,” she says.