Leah is a Film Projectionist. Read her LA Times Piece about Resurrecting a Dying Craft
This week, the Los Angeles Times ran an opinion piece by Pitch! host Leah Saint Marie where she opines on her love of film, her history as a projectionist, the movie she's writing/directing, and her experience location scouting for tiny forgotten Italian theaters.
Opinion: A film projectionist once more, now in L.A. — resurrecting a dying craft
Ten years after most movie theaters transitioned to digital, I’m back in the projection booth, at the Vista in Los Feliz.
Leah Saint Marie
Here's an excerpt:
I’m practiced at the art of dying things, but I’m a resurrectionist too, being a projectionist and writing poetry. And everyone who attends a film at the Vista, or at the other few theaters around the world still using film, is a resurrectionist as well. We tacitly agree that this is the way to see movies, with all their heart and poetry.
I like to think of the Vista as a museum and it’s that light in the booth shining through a 35mm or 70 mm print that brings the awareness of the brevity of life to an audience. Walter Murch, the film editor, director, writer and sound designer who worked on the “Godfather” films, among others, said that with film you always feel as if someone is about to enter the room. With digital, you feel like someone’s about to leave it. So, whether at the Vista or elsewhere, come to the museum. Be a resurrectionist. Bear witness. Come, see the art of a dying thing.
You can read the full article on the LA Times website.