Keith Carradine and Shelley Duvall in promotional still from Nashville From Wikimedia Commons
The Queen's Film Society mourns the loss of Shelley Duvall, Texas native and cinema legend. She worked with a number of great filmmakers—Terry Gilliam, Joan Micklin Silver, Woody Allen, Tim Burton, Fred Schepisi, Stanley Kubrick, and Jane Campion, to name just a few--but was largely associated with New Hollywood director Robert Altman, who discovered her when he was in the Lone Star State filming that great Houston screwball comedy, BREWSTER MCCLOUD. Altman’s staff members met her by chance at a party and were so taken with her, despite the fact that she had never acted before, that they encouraged her to audition for the director. Once cast, she appeared as a spacy Astrodome tour guide who nearly steals the film away from its large ensemble of eccentric characters.
Altman would cast Duvall in six additional films, including the legendary MCCABE AND MRS MILLER, NASHVILLE, and 3 WOMEN, the latter showcasing what may be her greatest performance as a deceptively shallow young woman with an unexpressed core of rage and fear hidden behind a banal facade. Of course, the Altman film she's best known for is POPEYE, in which she played Olive Oyl, but it was another early 80s film secured her place in the pop culture firmament, THE SHINING, although her performance was initially controversial. Steven King, author of the novel upon which the Stanley Kubrick film is based, hated her performance, and it earned Duvall the ignominy of a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for 1980. However, her performance, like the film itself, has been positively reappraised in recent years. As a number of people now point out, Duvall’s dimwitted affect and hollow line readings as Jack Nicholson’s beleaguered wife, Wendy Torrance, contributes to a spot-on portrait of a character suffering from PTSD, and who is now disassociating from the reality of a long abusive marriage, which the film suggests had been toxic long before the Torrance family moved into the Overlook hotel. Duvall may or may not have been aware of this subtext of trauma threaded throughout the film, likely it was Kubrick who pushed her to perform in that way, but the result stands now as a brilliant portrait of a haunted woman.
Of course, there is much more one can say. Duvall was the producer of the legendary television anthology FAERIE TALE THEATER, which gave us Roger Vadim’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, Tim Burton’s ALADDIN, and Francis Ford Coppola’s RIP VAN WINKLE, among others, as well as a number of subsequent television series. She also worked to promote the visions of struggling artists, like the Winnipeg-based avant-garde filmmaker Guy Maddin, by appearing in their low budget films, surely for less money than she could have made staying in LA and just cashing in on easy money offers.
Duvall was truly unique and always came across as an authentic and likable person up on the screen (well, she wasn't exactly likable in NASHVILLE, though she’s still brilliant in it). She was, however, someone most of us would have loved to have had as a friend.
Bryan, TX – April 3, 2024 – The Queen’s Film Society, a pioneering organization dedicated to bringing films of artistic and social significance to the Brazos Valley, is proud to announce its new status as an affiliate member of The Arts Council of the Brazos Valley (ACBV). This partnership, officially approved on April 2, 2024, marks a significant milestone in The Queen’s Film Society’s mission to enrich the community’s cultural landscape through cinema.
Founded in 2019, The Queen’s Film Society has swiftly become a vital part of the Brazos Valley’s arts community, offering a unique platform for showcasing the art of cinema. The society has been instrumental in presenting a diverse array of films, from international masterpieces to important American documentaries, and organizing engaging events such as film discussions and director Q&As.
“Our affiliation with The Arts Council of the Brazos Valley opens up new avenues for collaboration and community engagement,” said Keith Marrocco, president of The Queen’s Film Society. “We are excited about the opportunities this partnership presents for expanding our programming and reaching wider audiences across the Brazos Valley.”
The Arts Council supports its affiliates by providing funding, technical support, promotional services, and partnership-building opportunities. The Queen’s Film Society’s affiliation will enhance its visibility and facilitate its mission to bring significant cinematic works to local screens. This collaboration also underscores the society's commitment to fostering an appreciation for cinema as an art form and a medium for social commentary.
The Queen’s Film Society has outlined plans for future projects, including a film race and festival, aimed at offering both residents and visitors the chance to create and showcase their cinematic works. These initiatives align with The Arts Council’s goals of building community, promoting quality of life, and encouraging tourism through the arts.
“We believe that film is a powerful medium that can inspire, educate, and entertain,” Marrocco added. “Our partnership with The Arts Council will help us to further our mission and contribute to the vibrant arts and culture scene in the Brazos Valley.”
Affiliation Highlights:
The Arts Council recognized the impact of The Queen’s Film Society in the arts and education sectors within the Brazos Valley.
The Queen’s Film Society will be appointing a liaison to facilitate ongoing communication and collaboration between our society and the Arts Council.
Plans include utilizing ACBV promotional opportunities and facilities for the society's events, enhancing the visibility and reach of our cinematic projects.
For more information about The Queen’s Film Society and its upcoming events, please visit thequeensfilmsociety.org.
About The Queen’s Film Society:
The Queen’s Film Society was established in 2019 with the goal of bringing films of artistic and social significance to the Brazos Valley community. By leveraging a diverse membership base for film selection, it aims to showcase the richness of cinematic art and foster a deeper understanding of various cultures and perspectives.
Contact:
Keith Marrocco, PresidentThe Queen’s Film SocietyEmail: info@thequeensfilmsociety.orgPhone: (979) 493-0588Website: thequeensfilmsociety.org
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Bryan, TX – March 8, 2024 – The Queen’s Film Society is thrilled to announce an ambitious new film series set to enrich the cultural fabric of the Brazos Valley. Thanks to a generous $10,000 arts and culture development grant, approved by the Bryan city council on Tuesday, this yearlong initiative will bring a curated selection of feature-length films and a special week-long "Visions of Texas" film event to both local and visiting cinema enthusiasts.
About the Film Series
The Queen’s Film Society hosts monthly screenings of films chosen based on their cinematic quality, community interest, and the ability to spark thoughtful discussion without provoking controversy. This series offers a consistent cultural experience, with each film introduced by the member who nominated it, followed by a lively discussion led by the society's members.
"Visions of Texas" Week-Long Centerpiece
In September, the series will feature a "Visions of Texas" centerpiece, showcasing films set in the Lone Star State. This week-long event includes screenings of classics such as "The Searchers," "Giant," "Texas Chain Saw Massacre," "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," "Paris, Texas," and "True Stories." Each screening will be accompanied by a 30-minute lecture from scholarly experts, including John Lenihan, Juan J. Alonzo, Harry M. Benshoff, Sean Griffin, and Stefanie Harris, highlighting the cultural and cinematic significance of the films.
Film Competition
As part of the "Visions of Texas" event, The Queen’s Film Society will also host a film race competition, inviting teams to visit the Bryan area, write, film, create, and submit short films inspired by the featured Texas-set movies all within the span of a weekend. This competition is designed to foster talent and encourage creative engagement with the state's rich cinematic heritage. A screening of the films for the general public will occur later in the year.
A Platform for Cultural Exploration
Thanks to the community arts grant, The Queen’s Film Society will continue to provide a year-round platform for cultural exploration and community engagement through cinema. "This grant not only supports our mission to foster the art of cinema but also allows us to reach even more members of our community," says Keith Marrocco, president of The Queen’s Film Society.
"We are excited to offer this series and especially the 'Visions of Texas' event to celebrate and explore the diverse narratives of Texas through film. We believe that cinema has the power to bring people together, spark important conversations, and enhance our understanding of the world."
Event Details and Ticket Information
The monthly screenings will take place at such venues as The Queen Theatre downtown, Bryan’s new Travis Bryan Midtown Park, the high-tech and innovative Lakewalk area, and other areas of significance in the Bryan community. Detailed schedules and ticket information will be available on The Queen’s Film Society’s website. Members of The Queen’s Film Society receive free or discounted access to all events, with tickets for the general public available for purchase. For more information on the film series, the "Visions of Texas" event, and to participate in the film competition, please visit thequeensfilmsociety.org.
About The Queen’s Film Society
Founded in 2019, The Queen’s Film Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the art of cinema and creating a vibrant film culture in the Brazos Valley. Through screenings, discussions, and educational events, the society aims to bring meaningful cinematic experiences to the community, fostering a deeper appreciation for film as an art form.
In a nod to the historic diversity of great film making, The Queen’s Film Society plans to screen Mel Brook’s Oscar winning comedy Blazing Saddles at the Queen Theater in Downtown Bryan March 5. “We are a serious film society, even if our selections are sometimes comedies,” said Keith Marrocco, president of the organization. The screening will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the film’s critically acclaimed original run across the United States. It will include a presentation, led by Texas A&M professor and film studies director Patrick Sullivan, on the historical significance of the Brooks’ farcical satire in the movie. “The satire of social issues from fifty years ago still resonates today,” Marrocco said. This event will be the first of two planned to mark the society’s return to hosting regular events at the theater. Society members voted this month to screen Alejandro Jodorowsky’s “acid Western” classic El Topo on April 9. Founded in 2019, the non-profit society has been instrumental in bringing new and classic films to the Brazos Valley. It aims to foster a vibrant film culture and the art of cinema in the area by screening films of artistic and social significance and promoting local filmmakers. In addition to its feature screenings at the Queen Theater, the society also hosts more casual screenings on the 4th Thursday of each month at The 101 Bar in Bryan. The Blazing Saddles feature will be free for society members who have registered by February 26. Tickets for all others will cost $10 and can be purchased at https://tinyurl.com/queentheatremovie. The theater at, 110 South Main Street, will offer its regular full menu of food and drinks during the screening, and free parking will be available on the street nearby.
On Friday, April 28th, we're bringing you Albert Serra's award-winning film Pacification ( 2022) on the Texas A&M University campus. The screening will take place at the Geren Auditorium ARCB 101, starting at 7 PM. We are proud to offer what the most established periodical in world cinema (Cahiers du Cinéma) calls, "the best movie of 2022" right here in the Brazos valley with free admission and parking. It will be introduced by our very own member, Professor Teresa Vilarós-Soler.
The next great Queen's Film Society/A&M Film Studies Program Cinema Chat will focus on the new version of that grandmother of female vampire tales, Sheridan Le Fanu's “Carmilla.” This 2020 release (straight to virtual cinemas do to the COVID pandemic) is the first directed by a woman and the closest to the original tale. Watch the trailer here:
https://www.filmmovementplus.com/packages/queen-s-film-society-queen-theatre-carmilla/videos/carmilla-trailer
The "Times Literary Supplement" says: "Like Le Fanu, [Director Emily] Harris’s keen sense for Gothic atmosphere is both sumptuous and menacing, often relying on the power of suggestion to build the tension around Carmilla’s true identity and purpose. Her use of gauzy, almost impressionist, light is particularly effective, imbuing the film with a diffuse and watery texture, as is the distinctive colour palette, which trades between daytime pastels and washed-out earth tones and a candelit tenebrism that evokes Derek Jarman’s and Peter Greenaway’s period films "Caravaggio" and "Nightwatching" and Lucile Hadžihalilović’s "Innocence." Additionally, the pointillist sound design accentuates each movement and gesture onscreen, from the scurry of bugs to the buttering of toast, conveying something of Lara’s spine-shivering perspective as she recognizes in Carmilla her own unquenchable desires. The result is an adaptation less about the horrors of the unknown and more about the supernatural pleasures of love and sexuality – and the threat that such passions pose to the domestic and social order. Harris’s "Carmilla" is perhaps one of the most febrile, inventive and truest in spirit to Le Fanu’s original story, while it avoids the baroque clichés that have persistently separated the vampire subgenre from its Romantic roots. (To the director’s further credit, it should also be noted that the film was a largely female-driven project, from its women producers, mostly female cast and heads of department.) Her Carmilla is neither a succubus nor a sex kitten, but a spirited young woman whose embodiment of nature and sapphic desire makes her into a queer feminist, and, thus, a monster to be villainized and othered in the eyes of the patriarchy. "
Our discussion will be led by film scholar Andy Owens (University of Iowa), expert on queer horror and author of the forthcoming book, "Desire After Dark: Contemporary Queer Cultures and Occultly Marvelous Media" (Indiana University Press, 2021). He will be joining us on Zoom on August 12 at 7PM CDT at the following link: https://tamu.zoom.us/j/92828106483?pwd=YlpBTTdIMFB0WmtrS3l6WXFscE5wZz09&fbclid=IwAR3xqXOiTSXncY3BjdbLRfNW2JfZbtWK5HsgCcOIjtoa0vHJp5ybL-tFOAo#success
Meeting ID: 928 2810 6483
Password: QFS
or
Dial by your location
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
To watch the film, visit: https://www.filmmovementplus.com/products/queen-s-film-society-queen-theatre-carmilla?fbclid=IwAR0oS1ebdui3mD2eos1geweFKgtLKWWCOh0EW_2zxyF7WVT9mJ1t-J2X7EI
Check out our other new option, The Killing Floor, which we plan to discuss in a future meeting. https://www.filmmovementplus.com/products/queen-film-society-queen-theatre-the-killing-floor
They’re great!
Rent Carmilla
Rent The Killing Floor
The Queen’s Film Society and the Film Studies Program at Texas A&M University present the latest in our on-line Cinema Chat series: Candyman (Bernard Rose, US 1992) led by Dr. Robin Means Coleman, Vice President and Associate Provost for Diversity and professor of Communication at Texas A&M University. Dr. Coleman will lead a discussion of this horror film’s themes of racial inequality as we look forward the big budget remake, which is due out later this year.
Film Synopsis: Compiling a thesis on urban legends, Chicago graduate student Helen Lyle becomes aware of the prevalent superstition surrounding the legend of Candyman—a hook-wielding phantom who will appear if his name is recited five times into a mirror—among the tenants of Chicago's Cabrini Green project. A senior professor, hearing of Helen's research, explains the historical basis for the legend, detailing how Candyman is believed to be the vengeful spirit of a former slave who was set upon and mutilated by an angry mob when accused of taking a white mistress. When the clinically-detached Helen flaunts her intellectual confidence by reciting Candyman's name five times, she sets in motion an inevitable series of supernatural events...
—Cavett Binion, All Movie
Candyman is currently available to watch on Netflix for subscribers and for a nominal fee ($3.99 or less) via other streaming services. Check here for available options: https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/candyman
Our discussion takes place on Zoom on Wednesday, July 22 at 7PM, CDT via these links:
https://tamu.zoom.us/j/92828106483?pwd=YlpBTTdIMFB0WmtrS3l6WXFscE5wZz09
For more info contact Dan Humphrey at: tamufilmstudies@gmail.com
Candyman… Candyman… Candyman…
Looking ahead:
Our August 12th Cinema Chat topic will be the new vampire drama Carmilla (directed by Emily Harris, UK 2020, 94 min.) Our special guest discussion leader will be Dr. Andrew J. Owens (University of Iowa), author of the forthcoming study of vampire films, Desire After Dark.
Carmilla can be accessed here starting this Friday: https://fmplus.video/queenfilm-carmilla
We had a great turnout during our discussion with director, Christophe Honoré, we invite you to watch it here.
Password: ChristopheTexas
Hello Everyone, A quick reminder that the French director Christophe Honoré will be joining us from France along with David Gerstner from New York to talk about On a Magical Night. Our very own Vice President, Dan Humphrey, set this up and I am asking that you support us by being present at our meeting. Throughout the pandemic the QFS has been able to facilitate some great conversations and this will certainly be one of them. The tone of these conversations are of a relaxed chat about film and we would love to see you there.
Honoré (award winning writer-director of Ma Mère, Dans Paris and Sorry Angel) will discuss his most recent film, acclaimed as “one hell of a fantasy” (IndieWire), and “the first great romantic comedy of 2020” (Criterion Cast)
Honoré will join in conversation with David A. Gerstner, film scholar and co-author of Christophé Honore: An Introduction. A Q&A will follow with attendees.
On a Magical Night: In this playful new film from writer-director Christophe Honoré, we meet Maria (Chiara Mastroianni)*, a woman with a wandering eye. After a heated argument with her husband of 20 years, she spends the night in room 212 of the hotel across the street from their home. There, she has a bird’s eye view of her apartment, her husband, and her marriage. In this comic romp, she confronts her past lovers and relationships on one magical night, fantasizing about the lives she could’ve lived and wondering if she’s made the right decisions.
*Winner of the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress
Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB-guPG0X2w
To watch the film in advance from the comfort of your home, please use the Queen’s Film Society’s link for the film at: www.thequeensfilmsociety.org
Zoom Discussion:
Our online Zoom chat takes place Saturday, June 20, at noon (Central Daylight Time)/1PM (Eastern Daylight Time)/10AM Pacific Daylight Time). Join Zoom Meeting at via this link: https://tamu.zoom.us/j/97989375330?pwd=cXdaUmVxZW42V1c4VnFJRUlIMXFPQT09 Or via the Zoom App:
Meeting ID: 979 8937 5330
Password: Christophe
For more information, contact Texas A&M’s Film Studies Program at tamufilmstudies@gmail.com
Have a wonderful day, Alex Garza The Queen's Film Society President
Join the Queen’s Film Society and the Film Studies Program at Texas A&M on Saturday June 20, 2020 as they proudly present Cinéma Chat, live with Christophe Honoré, the internationally acclaimed director of the brand new French hit On a Magical Night.
The Queen’s Film Society, along with some new cosponsors—the Brazos Valley’s Pride Community Center, Texas A&M’s Film Studies Program, and the LGBTQ Professional Network at Texas A&M—present our next Virtual Cinema offering and community chat.
STRAIGHT UP (James Sweeney, dir., USA, 95 mins, unrated) Todd is a hyper-articulate, obsessive compulsive gay twentysomething whose fear of dying alone leads him to a baffling conclusion: he might not be gay after all. When he meets Rory, a whip-smart struggling actress with her own set of insecurities, the two forge a relationship that’s all talk and no sex. Writer-Director-Star James Sweeney delivers a razor sharp rom-com that’s equal parts Classical Hollywood and distinctly 21st century, exploring just how elastic our definitions of love and sexuality can get.
This film is available through Strand Releasing via the following link:
https://watch.eventive.org/stra…/…/5ec32d18c14036006abc1841…
Our free and open to all community discussion about the film will take place on Thursday, June 4th at 7PM Central Time to help kick off LGBTQ Pride Month. Information to access the meeting is as follows:
Zoom Discussion Topic: Queer Film and Chat Sponsored by the Queen’s Film Society and the Pride Community Center cosponsored by the Texas A&M Film Studies Program and the LGBTQ Professional Network
Join Zoom Meeting via Internet: https://tamu.zoom.us/j/97527443677…
Join Zoom Meeting Via the Zoom app: Meeting ID: 975 2744 3677
Password: 290032
The Queen's Film Society
Bryan, Texas
thequeensfilmsociety@gmail.com
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