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    • This Portland film collector shows movies how they should be seen
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    This Portland film collector shows movies how they should be seen

    Harry Posted on

    Previous screening at Kinonik. Photos courtesy of Kinonik

    Watching movies used to be very different.

    I don’t sound like a grumpy old bum sitting in his rocking chair, but the experience was better, too.

    I watch most of my movies digitally these days to gain the trust of the listening majority. This is what’s available everywhere, even if you’ve set up your own video store at home when streaming services decide a movie is no longer worth offering.

    However, movies were created on film and watched that way. And it was better.

    Going to the movies was an event. It’s a commitment between you, the theater, and the filmmaker to sit in a chair and surrender to what they’re doing for 90 minutes of your life. And the movie was part of that; the clicks and buzzes from the mysterious little room above your head were a human connection to the tangible process of filmmaking. And the flickering light that thrilled you, broke your heart, or made Sno-Caps laugh dangerously through your nose was a gift; Not “satisfaction”.

    There’s a place in Portland called Kinonik.

    This is a modest repository of film history; all lovingly selected and preserved in the film. Home to hundreds of boxes of valuable 16mm films from the birth of cinema to the glorious auteur golden age in the 1970s, Kinonik shows movies on film.

    Kinonik’s impressive movie collection.

    A selection of pristine prints from collectors and organizations exiting the film business as expensive and delicate film is a film lover’s dream. And as Kinonik’s mission statement explains, his commitment to going to the movies as a shared human pleasure runs deep in his own cinephile way: “The lonelier our world becomes, the less we experience common experiences.”

    But what if this celluloid movie-going experience could become even richer? This is where Carolyn Swartz comes into play. Carolyn Swartz and a beautiful old piano.

    There’s old school, and there’s old school.

    As part of Kinonik’s new silent film series to be screened at the Portland Conservatory of Music, Swartz will accompany FW Murnau’s “Faust”, one of the classics of silent cinema, with live piano accompaniment on Sunday at 19:00.

    More than just a throwback to the days of silent movies, when each theater had its own dedicated musicians accompanying the latest film, these screenings are a fascinating amalgamation of artists from across the decades. Swartz, himself an acclaimed author and former executive director of the Maine Jewish Film Festival, will accompany Murnau’s ever-timely adaptation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s tale of what happens when you make a deal with the forces of evil.

    “This is a movie that most people wouldn’t be able to find by searching,” explained Kinonik board member Swartz. “I usually like a fresh start, but I watched this one multiple times to prepare. There’s a lot of complexity, lots of twists and turns, and weird visual effects; So I kind of wanted to absorb the essence of the film to understand the changes and moods.”

    Art has been reawakened by a modern artist.

    If this sounds like Swartz wouldn’t be playing an existing, traditional score of the 1926 German classic, that’s because each screening of “Faust” is a subtly different and entirely original blend of film and music. As Swartz explains, “I often walk in with no idea what to do. “I watch the movie beforehand to see where the changes are, but I don’t know what to do right now.”

    A still from “Faust,” which Kinonik performed at the Portland Conservatory of Music on Sunday.

    Referring to his side career as a jazz pianist, Swartz sees this unique accompaniment as something closer to performance art. “It’s like there’s a kinetic finger response where the theme comes to me as I play,” he explained. “A lot of people who do this kind of thing play step piano – more like Keystone Cops – which I don’t do. I want to respect the director and score the film, but I don’t want to manipulate the film or emotions or simulate conversations. You don’t have to change it every cut. I can let a moment resonate, I can go atonal, I can go dissonant. I answer sincerely.”

    To achieve this unique resonance, Swartz is quick to credit his partner at the Portland Conservatory of Music with his 7-foot Steinway Model B piano. “This is a game changer,” Swartz said excitedly. “In some places I have to play on the electronic keyboard, but there is no resonance, nothing comes back.”

    Watching movies with others makes the world a little less isolated.

    When it comes to Kinonik’s position as one of the film-on-film guardians, Swartz’s praise for the organization strikes many parallel notes. “Kinonic relates to films that are preserved as geared films.” Noting that Kinonik members can even rent a projector for a 16mm screen, Swartz said: “Watching movies on small devices and televisions is possible alone. Kinonik’s screenings bring people together to see movies as they were meant to be seen on film, rather than digitally.”

    Again, the beam of light, the hum of a projector somewhere in the dark, and a fully engaged musical artist creating live, original music right next to the audience. It’s a long-lost experience that Kinonik feels he needs to return to. So am I.

    “Faust” premieres Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Portland Conservatory of Music, 28 Neal St. Tickets are $15/$10 for Kinonik members; If you love movies this is something you should consider becoming. (And if silence isn’t your thing, come along to Kinonik’s next screening, a restored 35mm print of Howard Hawks’ 1938 madcap masterpiece “Bringing Up Baby” on Wednesday, Nov. 20, at Kinonik, 121 Cassidy Point Drive, Portland.)

    Dennis Perkins is a freelance writer who lives in Auburn with his wife and cat.

    Harry
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