Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 11, 1993 TAG: 9306110102
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Chicago Sun Times film critic Roger Ebert, who led a two-day, shot-by-shot dissection of "Citizen Kane" at last year's festival, will handle similar duties this year. The title of the work he will analyze is not yet available.
Other titles have not been announced either, though the most famous examples - "Double Indemnity," "The Big Sleep" and "Body Heat" - might well show up on the program, along with newer films and premieres.
In a written release accompanying a news conference to announce the theme, festival director Laura Oaksmith said that noir was chosen "to create an exciting event of national importance, with a significant intellectual and cultural agenda. Film noir is an apt and dramatic focus that will provide a wealth of opportunity for stimulating discussions among directors, writers, scholars, actors, students and the general public."
Noir is certainly one of the most popular genres to come out of Hollywood. The best noir films combine complex plots with atmospheric settings, vivid characters and often-doomed passions.
As Bruce Crowther said in his book "Film Noir: Reflections in a Dark Mirror": "The movies which make up the film noir genre were not made for a select group of connoisseurs but for the general public. . . . These movies were made as "entertainment"; their makers had no idea they were creating a cult, but were simply going about their business, treating the movies as a job of work to be completed efficiently, on time, and ideally under budget."
For information about the Virginia Festival of American Film, call 1-800-UVA-FEST, or write VFAF, Box 3697, Charlottesville, Va. 22903.
by CNB