I Only Have Two Eyes 2013

Though we've been conditioned to expect the cinema to be a place to watch brand-new movies, and for our exposure to cinema history to come largely from our own personal screens at home (and, increasingly, on the go), I've often wondered why this state of affairs couldn't be reversed. So many of the modern movies filling communal screens feel as disposable as the planned-to-be-obsolete technologies that we surround ourselves with, while the cinema experience cries out for "content" (to reclaim a tech-world term I'v grown to hate) as timeless as the moviegoing experience has been over the century or so that dedicated movie theatres have been in existence.

Fortunately, the San Francisco Bay Area is still a place where we can watch a time-tested work of cinematic art in a movie palace or specialized screening space amidst other members of our community. Although the long-term future of the cinematic experience, and especially the experience of watching 35mm prints, has in recent years come into some doubt (a recent KQED blog does a very good job describing the stakes and the challenges), we're lucky here on Frisco Bay to still be able to experience a reasonably diverse array of moviegoing options other than the newest beneficiaries of hype.

This is now the seventh year I've conducted a survey of local movie lovers who make repertory and revival screenings a priority. As always, I've asked for up to ten choices of favorite screenings of (very to slightly) older films seen in Northern California cinemas in 2013. I'm always impressed with the thoughtfulness and breadth of selections made by participants, and would like to take a moment to publicly thank them all for their involvement. I'll be updating this page multiple times daily for the rest of the month with links to more participants' lists, so keep watching this space!

January 27: Michael Hawley, who blogs at film-415.
January 27: Terri Saul, cinephile, writer and visual artist.
January 28: Veronika Ferdman, who writes for Slant magazine and notcoming.com.
January 28: Lincoln Spector, who runs Bayflicks.
January 29: Susan Hahn, who blogs at six martinis and the seventh art.
January 29: Lawrence Chadbourne, whom you can follow on twitter.
January 30: Jason Wiener, who blogs at Jason Watches Movies.
January 30: Ben Armington, Box Cubed manager & moviegoer.
January 31: Maureen Russell, film festival volunteer, member and aficionado.
January 31: David Robson, who blogs at House of Sparrows.
February 1: Carl Martin, who maintains the Bay Area Film Calendar.
February 1: James Brown, cinephile, musician and blogger.
February 10: Michael Guillén, who blogs at The Evening Class.

February 10: Brian Darr, your host.

THIS POST WAS ORIGINALLY CREATED JANUARY 27, 2014, AND WAS UPDATED TO INCLUDE EACH NEW RESPONDENT.