The Big House documentary

Submitted by scanner blue on

"The Big House" will be showing June 2 at 7pm at the State and June10 at 1pm in the Michigan Theatre Screening Room as part of the Cinetopia Film Festival. This has previously screened at the AA Film Festival, the Freep Film Festival and The Berlin Critics Week.

This is a film by visiting professor Kazahiro Soda and 16 other (U of M) cinematographers/editors let loose on two different Saturdays during the 2016 season. Their motto "film anything but the game" gives you 2 hours of everything happening at Michigan Stadium sans football.

 

Link to review with trailer

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/big-house-1085842

Cinetopiafestival.org for tickets.

LSAClassOf2000

May 30th, 2018 at 9:24 AM ^

I'll be by myself this weekend thanks to my in-laws planning a trip that my wife and kids decided to go on, so I may catch the showing at the State if I am done with the long list which I am sure will be left on the counter when I come home on Friday afternoon. 

Unicycle Firefly

May 30th, 2018 at 9:54 AM ^

Based on that preview, it seems like this might be more of a sensationalist piece with cherry-picked images and moments designed to make either Ann Arbor or the country as a whole look bad. Hopefully I’m wrong, but that wasn’t very encouraging.

M-Dog

May 30th, 2018 at 11:56 AM ^

Hopefully not, but it does show you that you could film any event and make it look any way you want to by cherry-picking images. 

Was the oppressed looking black dishwasher really washing trays during the Star Spangled Banner while the blissfully detached little college kids sang along, or were they just piecing together a storyline they wanted to tell all along?

Any large gathering of people is going to have enough "scenes" going on to create any narrative you want.

A Michigan football game could be portrayed as Woodstock . . . or a Nuremberg rally.

Your choice.

 

QuickDarshan

May 30th, 2018 at 12:39 PM ^

The film will have a DVD release but since it was part of a class project, distribution is a little tricky. Also, beside film festivals, there will likely be some screenings tied to Alumni events.

As for the trailer, it’s like any other trailer (audio and shots pulled from different parts of the movie). The shot of the dishwasher and the Star Spangled Banner are from different parts of the film. Also, this is the international trailer and that audience is much more interested in the cultural aspects of the film (more interested in the time, than the place.)

Ultimately, it’s a film about people. The staggering amount of people who work to put these events together and the even more staggering amount of people drawn to the stadium on a football Saturday (including the Preachers, Bongo players, scalpers, etc.). Even if you’ve been going to games your whole life, you’ll see a lot of eye-opening stuff you never knew about. At least, that’s the response the film has gotten at other local screenings.

QuickDarshan

May 30th, 2018 at 12:39 PM ^

The film will have a DVD release but since it was part of a class project, distribution is a little tricky. Also, beside film festivals, there will likely be some screenings tied to Alumni events.

As for the trailer, it’s like any other trailer (audio and shots pulled from different parts of the movie). The shot of the dishwasher and the Star Spangled Banner are from different parts of the film. Also, this is the international trailer and that audience is much more interested in the cultural aspects of the film (more interested in the time, than the place.)

Ultimately, it’s a film about people. The staggering amount of people who work to put these events together and the even more staggering amount of people drawn to the stadium on a football Saturday (including the Preachers, Bongo players, scalpers, etc.). Even if you’ve been going to games your whole life, you’ll see a lot of eye-opening stuff you never knew about. At least, that’s the response the film has gotten at other local screenings.