Dryden Theatre salutes filmmaker John Cassavetes with a film series, featuring visit from actor Ben Gazzara

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Dryden Theatre at George Eastman House recognizes the extraordinary work of filmmaker John Cassavetes with a film series in May and June titled "John Cassavetes: More Than Independent." The centerpiece of the celebration will be a John Cassavetes Weekend May 16 though 18, featuring visits from actors Ben Gazzara and Seymour Cassel and producer-cinematographer Al Ruban. The series kicks off May 7 with a screening of Cassavetes' seminal first film, Shadows, followed by a discussion with film critic and former Rochesterian Marshall Fine, who has authored a Cassavetes biography.

"Perhaps we're not doing any favors for John Cassavetes or his films when we call him the 'father' or 'godfather' of independent cinema," said Jim Healy, George Eastman House's assistant curator of exhibitions, Motion Picture Department. "Today, the word has been devalued by the fact that these so-called 'independents' are actually smaller-budgeted films funded by — or acquisitions released by — boutique divisions of large studios, the studios themselves being divisions of large-scale multinational corporations."

Coincidentally, Cassavetes' untimely death at age 59 on Feb. 3, 1989, came just two weeks after the Sundance Film Festival premiere of Steven Soderbergh's independently made Sex, Lies, and Videotape, a watershed event for American indies and Sundance. Sadly, there remains few links between the defiantly personal films of Cassavetes and the avalanche of low-budget, yet decidedly non-personal efforts calculated to appeal to mainstream tastes and acquire distribution that appear every year at Sundance.

An accomplished actor with experience in film, theater, and television before he became a writer-director, Cassavetes was a born rebel who challenged the studio' and the audience's expectations and understanding of cinema at every opportunity; his films felt loose and improvised (although they were usually tightly scripted); they rarely seemed to adhere to the traditional rules of "storytelling"; and they focused on human behavior that was not always easy to accept at first glance.

"Even though Cassavetes independently financed five of his features (three of which he also distributed on his own), by labeling him the "patron saint" of indies, we do a disservice to some of the marvelous features Cassavetes made within the studio system, like Husbands (screening May 18), Minnie and Moskowitz (June 4), and Too Late Blues (May 14)," Healy said. "Not to mention that calling him the 'inventor' of independent cinema is as misleading as saying that sound cinema begins with The Jazz Singer, and unfair to filmmakers like Morris Engel and Lionel Rogosin, who preceded Cassavetes and whose work is being shown in conjunction with this series."

According to Healy, "'Independent' has become a, hip, identifiable genre, or worse, a brand name, but even if we accept that "true independent" filmmaking has been in decline since Cassavetes' death, it is possible to consider his collective body of work as something other than a series of cinematic miracles, made by an angel sent from movie heaven to save us from crass commercialism. What's more inspiring is that all of his resulting films, with all of their strengths and weaknesses, are not only honest about human relationships, but also authentic reflections of his struggles to make movies, whether or not he had the assistance of corporate funding. These films are more than the work of a true independent; they are films by an artist who was a human being."

The films of "John Cassavetes: More Than Independent"

8 p.m. Wednesday, May 7/Marshall Fine in Person!
SHADOWS (John Cassavetes, US 1959, 87 min.)

8 p.m. Wednesday, May 14
TOO LATE BLUES (John Cassavetes, US 1962, 100 min.)

Thursday, May 15/"Before Cassavetes" Double Feature! (Two films for one admission price)
7 p.m. LITTLE FUGITIVE (Ray Ashley, Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin, US 1953, 75 min.)
8:30 p.m. ON THE BOWERY (Lionel Rogosin, US 1957, 65 min.)

8 p.m. Friday, May 16/Seymour Cassel & Al Ruban in Person!
FACES (John Cassavetes, US 1968, 130 min.) (No Take-10 tickets or passes)

8 p.m. Saturday, May 17/Ben Gazzara, Seymour Cassel & Al Ruban in Person!
THE KILLING OF A CHINESE BOOKIE (John Cassavetes, US 1976, 109 min.) (No Take-10 tickets or passes)

7 p.m. Sunday, May 18/Ben Gazzara & Al Ruban in Person!
HUSBANDS (John Cassavetes, US 1970, 131 min.) (No Take-10 tickets or passes)

8 p.m. Wednesday, May 21
A CHILD IS WAITING (John Cassavetes, US 1963, 102 min.)

8 p.m. Wednesday, May 28
A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE (John Cassavetes, US 1974, 146 min.)

8 p.m. Wednesday, June 4
MINNIE AND MOSKOWITZ (John Cassavetes, US 1971, 114 min.)

8 p.m. Wednesday, June 11
OPENING NIGHT (John Cassavetes, US 1977, 144 min.)

8 p.m. Wednesday, June 18
GLORIA (John Cassavetes, US 1980, 121 min.)

8 p.m. Wednesday, June 25
LOVE STREAMS (John Cassavetes, US 1984, 141 min.)

Admission to each film is $6 general admission; $5 students; and $4 members. Tickets for Cassavetes Weekend May 16-18 are available at dryden.eastmanhouse.org, the Eastman House admissions desk, and Dryden Theatre box office. For more information, and complete film descriptions, visit dryden.eastmanhouse.org. This film series is made possible in part through the generous support of Jacques and Dawn Lipson.

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