n the Friday following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, box office numbers at movie theaters nationwide hit staggering lows, a hint that the impact on the film industry might be far greater than the reshuffling of release dates and the digital tinkering of New York's skyline.
But Saturday, ticket sales rebounded, and rebounded with vigor, sparing films like Hardball and The Glass House from opening weekend disaster.
At Duke, the trend was similar. Freewater Presentation's Friday night film, Snatch, had poor attendance in the Griffith Film Theater in the Bryan Center, but Quadflix's Saturday and Sunday showings of the RenZ
The message? People across the country and at Duke desperately needed the escape of the movie-going experience in such a time of crisis--a need that is present even without national tragedy.
Other than staying in one's dorm room, movie going at Duke is by far the most popular alternative to the campus' alcohol culture. With Freewater and Quadflix, both under the umbrella of the Duke University Union, and the Film and Video Program's Screen/Society, students, faculty, staff and community members with a taste for a good film enjoy a diversity of options.
"It's far more opportunity than most Duke students realize or ever take advantage of," says Isham Randolph, programming coordinator for Screen/Society. "[The films] reflect the taste, backgrounds and interests of Duke students."
Freewater and Quadflix are the two most recognizable movie names on campus. The groups are one in the same, as the student members involved in Freewater are also responsible for Quadflix. Tuesday and Thursday nights, Freewater shows five-film series on subjects as varied as rock-umentaries and martial arts to actor Jack Nicholson and director Billy Wilder. Duke students get in for free, while Duke employees pay only $4, the general public $5.
Friday nights, Freewater kicks into higher gear with smaller films released in the last year, like Pollock and In the Mood for Love. Hollywood's biggest recent releases get a second running Saturday and Sunday, with blockbusters like Shrek, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Rush Hour 2 on the schedule. These films are $4 for Duke students and employees and $5 for the general public.
The prices constitute a one-dollar increase over last year, a rise that Freewater chair Matt Simon says is necessary.
"We're moving more away from 16mm films to 35mm films in order to get the best quality," says Simon, a sophomore. "Most 35mm cost a lot more, and so our costs are going up. We also want to keep Freewater free for students."
Running films on 35mm has actually been the biggest problem so far this year with Screen/Society, which focuses more on the academic study of film, rather than pure entertainment. With the opening of the new Richard White Lecture Hall on East Campus, almost all of Screen/Society's films were supposed to be shown in the new building. But the 35mm projector in the main lecture hall has yet to be installed, so most of the films on that format have been moved to the Griffith Theater.
However, when the projector does arrive, Duke community members can expect to see some great films in a beautiful venue. Screen/Society sponsors five free series and special events every year: Public Exhibition, Southern Circuit, the Latin American Film Festival, Cinemateque and the annual Documentary Film and Video Happening.
Highlights this semester include a French and Francophone series as well as appearances by Southern Circuit director Alan Berliner and documentarian Les Blanc.
"Between Screen/Society, Freewater and Quadflix," Simon says, "you can definitely find a great movie to see every night."
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