Back to the mythical future with movies, Oscar, BIFF

Back in the ?80s, before I got a ?practical? degree in something technical so I could embark on a ?practical? technology career (which abruptly ended the Friday before 9/11), I had a lot of fun, and made absolutely no money, as a graduate student drawing analogies between religion and film.
Back in the really olden days people learned about the world ? how it all came into being, what happens after you die, the meaning of the Earth?s natural forces, how people should relate to one another, and other vital tribal beliefs ? through storytelling.

Folks would gather at night around a fire, and the elders would communicate the tribe?s deepest beliefs and facts of life through stories, songs and dances. So truth became associated with what is learned while watching figures lit with warm light in the center of the dark world.

I am not making this up, but don?t have space here for footnotes. There?s lots of books and more than one academic journal dedicated to such study; see, for example, The Journal of Religion and Film and The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture.

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That?s one reason why we like the movies so much: They?re a reminder of how we used to gather, huddle, watch, listen and learn.

It also explains why we trust movies to tell us the truth: Those characters who tell stories, sing and dance by the light of the projectionist?s lamp are analogous to our tribal elders who told us the secrets of the universe.

It?s also why HBO, videos and DVDs haven?t killed the film industry. Although watching a movie from the comfort of your own Barcalounger on own wide-screen home theater while munching designer popcorn is mighty convenient, it doesn?t have the mythic proportions we associate with the smell of ersatz butter, the sound of rogue cell phones, the sight of that big head in front of you and the larger-than-life elders who glow as if by a magical fire.

So if you found yourself glued to the tube last Sunday until waiting to find out which of our ?tribal elders? won academy awards (and more important, what they wore), you were far from alone. Some 41.5 million viewers tuned in nationwide.

While at 40 Chris Rock seemed a tad youthful to have much tribal wisdom to impart, those more mature storytellers ? Morgan Freeman, Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, Sidney Lumet ? have all put in their time on the silver screen informing us of the facts of our American life.

Closer to home, the inaugural Boulder International Film Festival the weekend of Feb. 17-20 brought in 26 filmmakers, 55 films and some 5,000 participants, resulting in an unexpected budget surplus for the organizers.

BIFF Executive Director Robin Beeck attributed the success to two things ? the filmmakers and the volunteers.

For about half the films the filmmakers were in the audience as well. ?So anybody could stand up and ask any questions,? Beeck said. ?It was like going to a bookstore signing.?

The volunteers? ?dedication and the spirit? made the festival go on without a hitch, she continued.

What stood out was the constant communication between staff and volunteers, most of whom were wearing headsets. ?People Manager? Michael O?Neill came up the headsets, Beeck said. ?It was the best thing we did. That really prevented any problems that we could have had.?

Although the souvenir T-shirt has more logos on it than a NASCAR driver, Beeck said next year?s BIFF ? to be held the same dates in 2006 ? will have more sponsors.

?Everything surpassed our wildest dreams,? Beeck said ?There?s a hearty appetite for independent films.?

I think there?s an appetite for more than indie shorts, documentaries and animated and full-length movies. It?s called truth.

The truth is not such in the content of the films ? although religious themes did loom large at the festival in Danny Boyle?s ?Millions,? Sean McAllister?s ?The Liberace of Baghdad,? Eli Craig?s ?Tao of Pong,? Will Parrinello?s ?Dreaming of Tibet,? Curtis and Paul Hannum?s ?The Real Old Testament? and Velcrow Ripper?s ?Scared Sacred? ? but in the ritual of film-going.

BIFF couldn?t have chosen a better temple than the beautifully preserved nearly 100-year-old Boulder Theater. Although it opened in 1906 as an opera house, in 1936 ? the height of the Great Depression when movies provided a ritual of escape from hard times ? the theater was expanded and decorated in the art deco style popular at that time.

We gather, we sit in the dark looking into the light, watching and listening to stories in a ritual of learning our ancestors devised, that we still associate with the deepest truths.

Contact Caron Schwartz Ellis at (303) 440-4950 or csellis@bcbr.com.