Stop Making Sense will be lauded in a hundred ways in the coming weeks, but the best summary I can give is to quote American composer-writer Ned Rorem, who, praising the music of the Beatles in 1968, wrote: "genius doesn't lie in not being derivative, but in making right choices instead of wrong ones." 

I. Sound

Ragtag is an independent cinema running 35mm film whenever possible, but it sometimes seems like we don't get to talk much about why we continue showing on film (I use film throughout to refer specifically to analog film: 70mm, 35mm, and the like.) Why do we contend with faded or worn prints, the difficulty of locating prints, increased shipping and equipment costs, and the need for specialized labor from within our projection corps? 

Before the development of Ragtag's Screentime series came about, parents regularly suggested that it should exist, and Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) was usually the newest title suggested among a long slate of beloved classics. Even as they mentioned the film, people became more and more excited as they recalled it, amplifying their suggestion from "What about" into "You absolutely must." Wes Anderson's exuberant animated film is packed with life, including a sprawling cast of animal and human characters, careening action…

The term experimental film still attracts annoyance, but I wonder if this is actually an expression of frustration. People annoyed by experimental may be saying that while they assume an insider knows what it means, they don’t, because it’s an inadequate descriptor. There are other words used for this kind of work, including artist film and personal film. But while experimental is inaccurate and vague, the other terms are uncomfortably specific. They point directly at one individual maker, often working…