Hirschfield Series Brings Foreign Films to Campus

Every Saturday in Dana Auditorium at 3 and 8 p.m., the Hirschfield International Film Series screens foreign and independent movies to the Middlebury College community for free. And yet, little is known of its history. The Hirschfield Film Series was originally called the ‘College Street Film Series’, an idea conceived by the retired Fletcher Professor of the Arts Emeritus Ted Perry back in the days when the College first bought Twilight Hall, a retired middle school.

“I convinced the administration to build an auditorium there,” Perry said. “The original idea was to engage the community and build an awareness of good quality films that aren’t shown in the popular theater, which the position of Twilight Hall enabled.”

It was not until Perry served on the board of the American Film Institute with Alan Hirschfield — who was the head of both 20th Century Fox Film and TV and Columbia Studios — that Hirschfield got involved with the College.

“We both talked a lot on the board, and we sort of connected,” Perry said. “He had children here, and he liked Middlebury. One day he came to me and said that he would like to give the school some money, and asked if, as a friend, I had some ideas where the money should go. So in 1985, his endowment became the Hirschfield Speaker’s Fund. But a few years later, I realized we had too much money, so I asked him whether we can split it into two — one for the film screenings and one for speakers.”

The film series moved to Dana Auditorium upon its construction, and started to screen more recent films, which contributed to a higher attendance rate.
“There used to be panel discussions between the two screenings, and I missed that,” Perry said.

Back in the years when Perry first taught here, liberal arts colleges had the reputation of being impractical. Perhaps to offset that criticism, the College had only one professor tenured in the arts.

“We were pushing for the tenure for a professor in the dance department. As we were discussing, someone said, ‘Well, she could break her ankle!’” Perry said. “I mean, professors can just get Alzheimer’s or something.”

Today the selection process takes place when the film department and the language departments pool a list of about 40 movies according to preferences of the industry, as collected from recent reviews, awards and yearly top ten lists. The films are then narrowed down by the faculty based on availability and prices.

“We invited students to participate in the process, but no one came,” said Leger Grindon, the Walter Cerf Distinguished Professor of Film and Media Culture.

The purchase of the screening rights is also sponsored by the language departments, as the program aims to screen a film in every one of the languages taught at the College. The Holocaust Remembrance Film Fund also pays for a film every year. Sue Driscoll, the College’s Catalog and Acquisitions Associate, then purchases the screening rights from film companies, which are extremely costly. According to Drexel, the average cost for screening rights this year is about $450-550 per movie, while the prices generally range from $200-750. The most expensive rights this year is “No,” which cost $700.

Recently, the series screened “A Touch of Sin,” which was screened in lieu of “The Grandmaster,” Wong Kar Wai’s latest piece, which was cancelled because the College could not obtain its screening rights.

“A Touch of Sin” won the Best Screenplay in Cannes and has only been screened in film festivals, It has not even been screened in theatres, and yet the screening rights acquisition process was relatively straightforward. According to Driscoll, all she had to do was find and call the film company that had its distributing rights, which sold it to her for $250.

“Usually film companies won’t release theatrical screening rights because they might lose money,” Driscoll said. “And the movie has to be released in the United States so then someone owns the screening rights.”

One of the reasons why “The Grandmaster” was not shown is because its U.S. release date is in November. And yet, somehow she still acquired rights for “A Touch of Sin.”

“Like the prices, these things are not predictable,” Driscoll said. “The company for ‘A Touch of Sin’ sold it to us but  [the company of] ‘The Grandmaster’ did not. Maybe it has something to do with the prestige of the director.”

As it has not been released yet, Davis Family Library cannot keep a disc copy of “A Touch of Sin.”

There is also a ritualistic veneration for the 35mm film, which is the format the film department always insists upon for Hirshfield screenings, despite their heavy weight and therefore higher shipping prices. The media services does a practice screen for the film once before the screening. If it does not work, a blu-ray disc is used instead.

The majority of the audience tend to be locals and other members of the community.

“People come because it’s free,” Perry said. “But I think the series has succeeded in that it has ‘stretched the envelope’ of locals. I wish more students and faculty would attend. I mean, not a lot of film majors come because they had probably watched it. Some political science faculty would come, but very few do.”