Hey everybody. Now that we’ve finished with this year’s inductions, I thought I’d chime in with some thoughts of my own, outside of my capacity of Muriels administrator, on the films we’ve honored so far. In the three years we’ve been doing this, we’ve inducted a good mix of movies, ranging from the 1920s to the 1960s and encompassing damn near every major genre world cinema has had to offer. We have thusfar honored films from eleven nations spanning three continents, with countries ranging from Mexico to India to Denmark. Heck, we’ve even included a female director, which considering how limited opportunities were for women filmmakers throughout the world fifty-plus years ago is pretty good for us.
In short, our goal has always been to cast a wide net, and we’ve done a pretty decent job of that so far. Now let’s keep it up.
If you look at the films we’ve inducted to date, we’ve inducted many of the obvious canonical classics (at least, those that have been eligible). I hope that this will compel us to embrace some less obvious choices in the future alongside the as-yet-unrecognized classics. There are a number of important (or at least interest) national cinemas we have yet to recognize. To cite one example, the sixties were a prime time for cinema in Eastern Europe, particularly in Poland and Czechoslovakia. It’s hard to imagine recognizing the greatness of film during this period without honoring important filmmakers like Andrzej Wajda, Milos Forman, and a young tyro named Roman Polanski- to say nothing of seminal works like THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT and CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS, all of which will become eligible in the next few years.
Granted, availability can be a factor when it comes to some national cinemas. Good luck trying to get your hands on key titles from Brazil’s Cinema Novo movement or pretty much anything from Africa from the period (though BLACK GIRL, now streaming on Netflix, becomes eligible as of the ’16 Muriels). Still, there’s plenty of good stuff out there if you know where to look. Quite a few golden age Chinese titles can be found on Fandor (though, sadly, not THE GODDESS), and Indian popular cinema is pretty well-represented on DVD if you have a Netflix account. Because while I realize we’ve already inducted an Indian film, their national cinema tradition is so strong that there’s plenty of room for more Indian films in the Hall of Fame.
Additionally, despite the relatively low number of eligible female-directed titles, there are several worthy films from female filmmakers to join Agnes Varda in the Hall of Fame. The most obvious example would be Maya Deren’s MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON, a major example of avant-garde cinema that has appeared on the final Hall of Fame ballot more than once. Another title I included on my initial ballot thisyear is Furough Farrokhzad’s lovely THE HOUSE IS BLACK, which would also allow us to recognize a key work of Iranian cinema, which would become so formidable in later decades. Then there are other female-directed greats like DAISIES, WANDA, A NEW LEAF, and particularly JEANNE DIELMAN, which will all become eligible within the next ten years.
That’s not to say we should discount the established classics altogether. After all, there are plenty of old favorites still to be inducted (Godard, anybody?). But if you’re like me, you probably came of age as a filmgoer at a time when most college courses and critical texts concentrated primarily on the USA, Western Europe, Russia and Japan, and though there are plenty of good films to honor from those regions, perhaps it’s time the Muriels Hall of Fame starts thinking more globally the films it honors. After all, cinema has long been an international medium, and it’s only right that we reflect that reality as well.
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