Dear Kathy, What you describe is certainly public performance but rather than naive, I would suggest courageous and let me provide some encouragement. Film Societies were an extremely important part of campus life through the 1980s and enriched an incredible number of students with knowledge of cultures, ideas and philosophies that cannot be taught in the classroom. And the audiences weren't the traditional film geek (at least in my experiences, being one myself) but by dancers, artists, writers and scientists (a big follower of films, as a matter of fact) who came out as much better students after each and every screening.
And you're correct, those colleges that still have a strong film society (University of Chicago, Wesleyan, UC Berkeley, Sonoma State University, Cornell University, UCLA, Ohio State University to name just a few) provide an amazing experience for the students and at a cost far less than most other activities on campus. (In my fair state, Rutgers brought in Snookie for $32,000 which can finance a great film society for two years.) Rather than giving in to the idea that if rentals are not free, it can't be done, you can try to find the money and the organizations that would help fund and staff a proper film society with great projection and sound. (After all, Clemson is a first-class institution.) And good distributors are very willing to work new film societies to help them prosper and you will have access to trailers, posters and even filmmakers (either live that you bring in with student activities or willing to do phone interviews with the local media) that will help you succeed. Renata Jackson at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts is a regular member on this listserv and I'm sure she has invaluable advice. Best regards, Dennis Doros Milestone Film & Video/Milliarium Zero PO Box 128 Harrington Park, NJ 07640 Phone: 201-767-3117 Fax: 201-767-3035 email: milefi...@gmail.com www.milestonefilms.com www.ontheboweryfilm.com www.arayafilm.com www.exilesfilm.com www.wordisoutmovie.com www.killerofsheep.com <http://www.killerofsheep.com/> AMIA Austin 2011: www.amianet.org Join "Milestone Film" on Facebook! Follow Milestone on Twitter! <http://twitter.com/#!/MilestoneFilms> > On Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 5:07 PM, Kathy Edwards <kat...@clemson.edu> wrote: > >> I’ve been exploring what latitude I have here at my institution to include >> films on DVD in our collection in a film series on world cities. The aim of >> my series would be to expose students to realms they have yet to imagine >> (much less experience) and get them thinking and talking about their filmic >> experience in an enlightening, horizon-expanding way. Which is where my >> recently developed interest in PPRs comes into it: if my proposed series is >> not shown in a scheduled class as part of a scheduled course, viewed only by >> students registered in that course, can I show a film at all? My >> understanding at this point is that the answer is “No.” **** >> >> ** ** >> >> Well then, does a so-called ‘institutional license’ or ‘institutional >> price’ convey the right to include a film (by default, a documentary) in a >> free, educational, on-campus film series? I’m assuming this depends upon the >> terms of said license—unless this caveat amounts to allowing vendor >> ‘licensing’ to constrain the right to use material for educational purposes. >> Is ‘fair use’ legally bounded by an educational institution’s course >> catalog? **** >> >> ** ** >> >> So I’ve been trying to understand the where/when/how of PPR within the >> academic environment. (The ‘given’ in all this is that university counsels >> are quite conservative in anything related to Fair Use. No surprise.)**** >> >> ** ** >> >> Ideally, my series would contain theatrical release films as well as >> documentaries. But the more I learn, the more ‘ideal’ turns into ‘naïve’… >> **** >> >> ** ** >> >> *Kathy Edwards* >> >> *Art & Architecture Reference & Collection Development Librarian* >> >> *Emery A. Gunnin Architecture Library* >> >> *112 Lee Hall* >> >> *Clemson University* >> >> *Clemson SC 29634* >> >> *kat...@clemson.edu* >> >> ** ** >> >> >> --
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