REDCAT has films too

While we are very grateful to see REDCAT’s curatorial achievements highlighted by the L.A. Times [“Time for an Aesthetic Report Card for REDCAT,” Nov. 30], we are puzzled to discover that only the theater and music programs are mentioned, as well as the exhibition space, but not the film/video program. When The Times used to run a weekly column called “Screening Room” devoted to “alternative” screenings, the critics in charge were interested enough in REDCAT’s Film and Video Program to discuss and review it on more than one occasion. It created a welcome dialogue about the nature, function and aesthetics of noncommercial cinema.

There has been a filmic avant-garde in Los Angeles from very early on, and neglecting to cover “alternative screenings” is de facto eradicating a very important chapter of L.A.’s cultural history. Moreover, due to the fact that “the industry” provides jobs for young artists, there is a very vibrant independent film community here -- which, in addition to people waiting for a three-picture deal from the studios, includes many young film and video makers who are genuinely passionate about using cinema as an art form and a medium for personal expression and formal exploration.

Finally in Los Angeles there are a number of extraordinary venues dedicated to showing noncommercial cinema, such as the Los Angeles Filmforum, the UCLA Film & Television Archive, the Echo Park Film Center, the Silent Movie Theatre, Outfest, the film/video programs at the Getty Center and LACMA, and the American Cinematheque.

We are saddened by the fact that the Film/Video Program at REDCAT was not reviewed with the same care as the other programs in the space. We are ever more saddened by the fact that The Times seems to have lost interest in covering alternative film screenings and the work of the people who curate them.

Steve Anker, Berenice Reynaud

Anker and Reynaud are co-curators for film at REDCAT. Anker is dean of the School of Film/Video, California Institute of the Arts, and Reynaud is on the faculty.

Screening Room continues to run every Thursday in Calendar.