IFS offers escape from Hollywood scene

It is the sad state of the film world today that many so-called "art films" or "independent films" are nothing more than lower budgeted Hollywood movies. These films may put a twist on convention, but most fail to depart from traditional Hollywood camera style and narrative form. Rather than map out new subject matter and filming approaches, these "independent" films bow to the cultural dominance of Hollywood modes of expression by adopting its techniques and aesthetics. If you're seeking exposure to independently created pieces of film art on this campus, however, the Independent Film Series (IFS) may satisfy your desire.

In the past, IFS films have suffered from poor attendance because students know little or nothing about the movie being shown. IFS posters are notoriously esoteric and abstract, relaying little information about the film's subject matter. This semester, IFS hopes to draw larger crowds through a more to-the-point and aggressive advertising campaign.

The mysterious nature of IFS films stems from the fact that these are not theater run movies which group members can rent from Campus Video. IFS members sometimes choose films based only on a short description in a catalog, or on the word of one member who has seen the movie. It is unlikely that the entire group has seen or heard of some of the more obscure titles they decide to bring. Every Sunday night the group gathers around a blackboard in Wilder to haggle over upcoming event themes and decide which movies sound like ones they would like to bring to campus.

One of IFS's founding principles is that non-mainstream films can be just as valuable or interesting (if not more so) than theater run movies. Far from artsy or obscure, when shown to an open-minded audience, IFS films prove as entertaining and accessible as any mass-marketed movie. Unlike the Oberlin Films Series, IFS doesn't look to bring movies which sport big-name directors or stars and are sure to attract large audiences. As co-chair junior Lauren Cornell said, IFS chooses films "whose subject matter, because of its obscurity (some of which has to do with low budget), shock/schlock value or politics, have become ignored or 'laid to the wayside' and ultimately become hardly visible." Many IFS films appear wacky and controversial to a mainstream audience, but these films represent voices rarely heard outside of local or low budget film festivals.

Because IFS films are chosen directly by students, the selected films are only as diverse as the members of their group. The larger budgeted OFS offers a more varied selection of films only because they are able to bring more films to campus.

Many filmmakers pour their heart and soul into making movies which they realize have no place in the commercial market. Students involved in IFS are committed to sacrificing personal time in order to expose the campus to these films because the committee views them as engaging, powerful, or simply fun. If OFS is the Turner cable station of Oberlin film, IFS is its quirky Public Broadcasting network.

This weekend you have the opportunity to check out three documentaries being shown by IFS: Graffiti Verite, about aerosol artists of the West Coast, Know Your Enemy, focusing on the group Public Enemy and Knowledge Reigns Supreme, about rapper KRS-1 and Boogie Down Productions. Over the course of the semester IFS will be hosting two special event nights: the first on car movies, consisting of documentaries about cars, parking lots and the people who love them, and the second on music, with live tunes and the film Space is the Place, a documentary on Sonny Rollins.

Students interested in quality films, or who consider themselves independent film buffs because they have seen a few Hal Hartley films, should try to broaden their horizons and break free from societal conventions. By not challenging film expectations and mainstream mass media, a movie-goer can avoid actively thinking about how they are spending their time.