In the wee hours of a winter morning, Chris Kelly '96 and Michael Ellenberg '97 decided to change the face of Dartmouth film culture. The praxis of this regeneration will come to be known as "Cahiers du Dartma," and the first issue is published tomorrow.
"When selecting the name, we thought, 'Hey, why not rip off the most famous film journal in history, Cahiers du Cinema?'"
Ellenberg said, "Chris and I had a late- night conversation in which we discussed the absence of any film literature at Dartmouth. Most Dartmouth students do not get to discuss film comprehensively in other publications, although there are thousands of students who go to Spaulding or Loews to watch films. We are targeting most Dartmouth students with this publication, not just those versed in film criticism."
"When we were formulating the journal, the vision we had in mind was a balance between "Entertainment Weekly" and film comment. We wanted to bridge high and low film culture, so that the journal will appeal to a wide range of interests. Put it this way: we are trying to ride the wave of popular culture on an academic surfboard," Kelly said.
Ellenberg and Kelly say that this is why the articles in the first issue range from a Bruce Willis retrospective to a more serious, academic piece on the application of psychoanalysis to the films "Blue" and "Naked."
Kelly said the Bruce Willis piece was designed to coincide with the release of "Die Hard: With a Vengeance."
"We are looking to maintain in each issue currency and relevance to film at Dartmouth.For example, we have a review of the last DFS series in this issue," Kelly said.
One of the regular features of the journal will be a neo "spare-ribbings" component, derived from Spare Rib, a gender issues publication.
Ellenberg said, "Well again, like cinema does, we take inspiration from various sources. In this case we have taken the cue from Spare Rib. For us it's 'Overheards.' I think that everyone can relate to the experience of walking out of the movie and hearing the clever little comments of your fellow filmgoers."
Both Kelly and Ellenberg have garnered experience in cinema criticism as directorate members of DFS. Kelly, an English major, will be working next year on a project about film festivals for his senior fellowship.
He said that he has always loved movies, and cites the Muppet Movie as one of his quintessential childhood moviegoing experiences.
Ellenberg, a government major and film minor, will be researching the director Fritz Lang on his Presidential scholarship.
The journal also has a faculty advisor, English Professor Alan Gaylord.
"Professor Gaylord was the natural choice because in addition to being one of the finest professors at Dartmouth, he is very active in film society. Both Michael and I have taken a class with him, and it was there that we discovered that he combines an extraordinary love for film with great attention to writing and thinking critically about film," Kelly said.
Cahiers du Dartma will be published every term.
"We also hope that it can become somewhat of a campus institution," Kelly said. "We would like to create a forum for stimulating discussion about film and to reestablish a film culture at Dartmouth. This begins with critical writing, but we are also interested in other activities, such as bringing film critics up to Dartmouth."
