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.
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