Critics Salute BU Cinematheque

In one of the biggest Cinematheque events, Seinfeld writer, producer, and Emmy-winner Larry Charles spoke last September to a standing-room-only crowd that spilled outside the Photonics Center auditorium. Photo by Matthew Healey

Gerald Peary is very happy that the 22-year-old Cinematheque screening and lecture series, which brings some of the most creative minds in film and TV to campus, has been honored by the Boston Society of Film Critics (BSFC) with a 2016 commendation. But, the College of Communication series curator says cheerfully, that it isn’t something he set out to do.

“There was a person named Mel Howard who was the chair of the film and television department, and he started bringing in filmmakers, but quickly got tired of it, and I guess he handed it off to me,” says Peary. “I’ve been doing it ever since.”

That was in 1997, when COM lecturer Peary, a retired Suffolk University professor of communications, was teaching cinema at COM. He’s a longtime cineast-about-town, whose résumé includes many years as a film critic for the late lamented Boston Phoenix.

The BSFC two weeks ago commended Cinematheque for bringing more than 300 filmmakers, producers, writers and actors to speak at screenings. “Always free of charge, these screenings feature lively discussions that provide up-and-coming filmmakers, industry professionals, and the general public access to a range of perspectives on the business and art of film,” the critics wrote.

Peary’s many industry connections have enabled him to bring in big names—among them Seinfeld cocreator Larry Charles, who filled the Photonics Center auditorium to overflowing in September. And he’s made the occasional offbeat choice, like the program’s other biggest draw, Hollywood producer and promoter Jeff Dowd, the model for Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski in the Coen Brothers’ The Big Lebowski.

Peary is proud of the talent he spotted early: there was Lena Dunham of Girls, who held a Cinematheque screening for her movie Tiny Furniture in 2010, when few people had heard of her, and director Damien Chazelle—director of La La Land, the BSFC’s choice for this year’s best picture, a leading Oscar contender, and nominated for seven Golden Globe awards—who came in 2009 with his little-known first film, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench.

He is most proud, however, of having introduced some of Hollywood’s greatest screenwriters in the program: Budd Schulberg (On the Waterfront), Robert Towne (Chinatown), Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver), and Betty Comden and Adolph Green (Singin’ in the Rain).

“It’s my dream agenda, hoping that students learn about the history of cinema and learn the wonderfulness of old movies while at the same time getting excited about young, innovative filmmakers,” Peary says.

He notes that a large number of Cinematheque speakers have been alums, among them indie filmmakers, and brothers, Josh Safdie (COM’07) and Benny Safdie (COM’08) (Heaven Knows What), TV writer Corinne Brinkerhoff (COM’04) of Jane the Virgin, and journalist Gerard O’Neill (COM’70), who appeared with writing partner Dick Lehr, a COM professor of journalism, at a screening of the movie Black Mass, based on their book about Whitey Bulger.

The spring Cinematheque schedule has not been announced, but Peary says it will begin January 20 with the Best of Boston Short Films, featuring five filmmakers, and that screenwriter and former Phoenix critic Stephen Schiff of The Americans will be among the guests.