City Lights shines with diverse films

"King Kong," "The Bride of Frankenstein," "Safety Last" and "Playtime" will be presented at this season's City Lights festival.\n"City Lights is a free film series open to the public and University community. It shows 16 mm prints of cinema that rarely find their way to the big screen," said graduate student Drew Todd, co-founder of City Lights.\nTodd and fellow film studies graduate Eric Beckstrom began the event two years ago because they thought such an extravaganza was something the IU campus was lacking.\nNow it has become a local attraction sponsored by the Film Studies and Communication and Culture departments. Screenings take place at 7 p.m. Fridays in Ballantine Hall's lower level. \nSome of the films to be shown this season include "everything from 'King Kong' to the Beatles and Hitchcock," Todd said. "We strive to choose a wide variety of films so that there's something for everyone -- something that will appeal to each member of our loyal audience and something that will bring in new faces."\nCity Lights board member and graduate student Lori Hitchcock said her favorite films are "The Bride of Frankenstein" and "The Ballad of Narayama." \n"I had never seen 'The Bride of Frankenstein' before, but when I screened it this summer in preparation for the fall series, I was amazed at how many cultural references I recognized," she said. On the other hand, she said she likes "The Ballad of Narayama" because, "I'm always happy when a film series is able to show something outside the Hollywood canon."\nThe City Lights board said they are excited about this season of films. Some of the special attraction screenings include the Halloween double feature of "The Bride of Frankenstein" and "King Kong," and the showing of "A Hard Day's Night" to honor the birth and death of John Lennon.\n"City Lights really is a labor of love for everyone involved, and I hope that people continue to turn out and support what we are trying to do," said board member and graduate student Jonathan Nichols-Pethick. "I think something like City Lights makes our community that much more interesting and attractive, and, in that sense, I think we are a part of the solution."\n"We just hope to continue to expose people to interesting cinema from around the world and past decades," Todd said.