Film co-ops struggle to keep the classics alive
It's a classic confrontation:
Citizen Kane vs. Superman. Char-
lie Chapli vs. Cheech & Chong.
"Casablanca" vs. "The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre".
ANs the winners may deter-
mine whether Ann Arbor's Film
Cooperatives survive, sell out-
or fizzle away.
, huge turnouts are essential.
•ut attendance has been drop-
ping. And part of the reason
seems to be the relentless local ri-
valries for the film-goers' dollar.
"There's so many film groups, es-
pecially in the fall —el'^ -""ifin
altogether," says Cin s
Cheryl Yanksev' liii
competition gets 1.1.01 v^i nil the
time."
LATELY, students have been
wooed away by cheap flicks -
Tuesday "Dollar Days" - at the
big theater chains. "I think that's
definitely having an effect,"
Yakes says. "It's true, if we show
films on Tuesday night, we only
have a fraction of the audience we
used to."
And thanks to Michigan's cur-
rent economic woes, people just
aren't spending money like they
used to. But Yanksevitch wonders
if maybe students' tastes aren't
changing, too.
"There's a lack of interest in
older films," she says. "We just
aren't doing as well with the older
films as we are with the block-
busters. What we're doing is com-
peting for the big titles, and for
the more esoteric films we want
to show, we have less leverage,
because the audience isn't there.
"It's just not as profitable as it
once was."
The films of Chaplin, Keaton
and Bergman don't draw crowds
like they used to, Yanksevitch
says. Perhaps they've been
shown too often, she speculates -
or perhaps Ann Arbor film-goer?
have reached a saturation point.
Whatever the reason, effects of
the financial crunch are already
becoming visible. The AAFC has
cancelled nine evenings of fib s
this summer - films sucn '
"Tro "aradise," "Min-
gus" ciiiu They Came From
Within" - in an effort to mini-
mize losses. -
And if financial problems per-
sist, the co-ops might become less
willing to take artistic risks in the
—Hire, preferring safe, commer-
cial hits over dusty old classics.
After all, why run a "Nanook of
the North" when a "Popeye"
packs'em in?
"None of the film groups want
to put together that kind of sched-
ule," Yakes says. "But I have a
fc- ";:• •A'e'reallcMii-.".''i-'m.) add-
ing i ; eof those i^r.^- 'n »son
our fall schedules, just to stabilize
our finances."
Nevertheless, in the never-end-
ing clash between Art and the Al-
mighty Dollar, you have to draw
the line somewhere - whatever
the price. As Yanksevitch ex-
plains: "We simply don't want to
dilute our standards. After all,
we're not just in it for the mon-
ey."
| NEWS SPECIAL WRITER
It's a classic confrontation:
Citizen Kane vs. Superman. Char-
lie Chaplin vs. Cheech & Chong.
"Casablanca" vs. "The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre."
And the winners may deter-
mine whether Aan__^rbor^-4ilm
coop^'^' s survive, sell out -
'or-fix -ayr"'"
For over 30 years, a flock of
film groups - Ann Arbor Film
Cooperative, Cinema Guild, Me-
diatrics, and others — have
brought cinematic classics to the
U-M campus. And for years, film
buffs have flocked to these bar-
gain-priced movies.
But lately, the co-c p fal-
len on hard times. Tir .. i. n-»smg
money, cancelling shows. Their
audiences are dwindling.
Why?
"K just seems to be a cluster of
' unfortunate coincidences and spi-
.railing costs," says Nancy Yakes,
business manager of The Ann Ar-
bor Film Cooperative.
( COSTS ARE, indeed, rising.
Within the past year, there's been
a 50 percent increase in such costs
as auditorium rentals, projection-
ists' fees, security expenses, jani-
,' torial fees and film rentals.
According to Yakes, it now
costs $300 just to open the doors
each night — which means that
150 people must show up (at $2 a
head) just for the co-op to break
even. And for films like "Stardust
Memories," which costs $600 to