SWIL Movie

From SWILwiki

Schedule

NOTE: The schedule for SWIL Movie is no longer publicly advertised due to MPAA licensing rules regarding private showings of copyrighted films, although it may still be obtained by SWIL non-members by contacting the Presidents.

Present

SWIL Movie is shown every Monday night of the academic year at 10:00 in the SCCS Video Pit

2006-2007: For the fall semester and for the first half of spring semester, SWILmovie was hosted in the SCCS Video Pit. A leak in the Paces drainage pipe caused the video pit to become even more pitlike. SWILmovie is now hosted in ML Lounge, and will be for the rest of the semester. Next semester SWILMovie plans to return to the SCCS video pit, which promises to be clean with intact ceilings, have a shiny new high-definition projecter, and fill the bottom of the pit with playpen balls.

On the second-to-last Monday night of the spring semester, SWILmovie is replaced by the three-day Schlock Film Festival.

Fall 2007: SWIL/Psi Phi Movie is back in the video pit. The new projector is shiny, but the budget for playpen balls was not approved. The presidents have retaken control over the movie showings.

Past

SWIL Movies used to be nominated at SWILmeeting at the end of each semester, and voted on either at one long meeting or over email. Voting on SWILmovies was limited by "mandate" -- all movies shown must at least vaguely fit into a science-fiction/fantasy genre setting -- and by the rule that a movie must not have been shown for at least three years. SWIL tried to show an even mix of science fiction and fantasy movies, and, when the anime club wasn't functioning, a few anime flicks as well. One SWILmovie was shown every monday night classes were in session, at 10 pm in Science Center 101. Due to low attendance, in early 2007 full control of SWIL Movie was given over to Herbert to revive and nurture, and she may completely ignore these historical restrictions.

Before the infamous e-mail from Swank, SWILmovie was considered one of SWIL's primary "outreach" events and was often attended by a large number -- sometimes a majority -- of SWIL members. However, SWIL Movie's current incarnation is as a private event for a circle of SWIL non-members who know each other to gather in dorm lounges and watch movies together; although SWIL Movie was once SWIL's highest profile outreach event to Campus, clarification of the legal problems with an advertised, unlicensed public showing led the SWIL Presidents to substantially change the nature of the event in 2006. Thus, as a private showing, SWIL members are currently neither invited nor openly encouraged to attend SWIL Movie (though their attendance is not prohibited), and no advertising (Prop) is officially distributed.

A famous exception to the three-year rule for movies was traditionally made for SWIL favorite Wizard Of Speed And Time, allowing it to be shown every two years, but this was revoked in 2004 by a bunch of unfortunates who'd never seen the movie. Another famous exception was made for the Princess Bride, which SWIL officially wasn't supposed to show at SWILmovie -- this was also revoked in 2004, because we thought it was unfair to single out the Princess Bride, when a lot of other movies were also shown constantly by everyone (Monty Python and the Holy Grail, f'rinstance).

SWILmovies used to be shown every Monday night in Kirby, which was a largeish-but-smaller-than-NuPont-101 auditorium in Martin, used primarily for intro Bio lectures. It was demolished when they built the Science Center on top of DuPont, Martin, and Cornell.

Before weekly movies were instated (in 1995), movies used to exist on huge rolls of film which were purchased or rented at colossal expense from someplace. So SWIL would generally show one or two a semester, occasionally co-sponsoring really popular, mainstream things with Movie Committee.

Before end-of-semester movie voting was instated, we showed weekly movies, but each week would vote on what movie to show next week. Doublestar still does this.

Here's a list of SWILmovies that were shown really long ago, gleaned from the 20th Reunion Timeline:

• 1983
  • 3/20 - Silent Running
  • 9/25 - Dark Star
• 1984
  • February - Dracula (in Clothier, on a dark, foggy night)
  • 9/20 - Blade Runner
  • 11/11 - Fahrenheit 451
• 1985
  • 3/31 - Metropolis
  • first Schlock Film Festival

• 1991
  • Co-sponsor Star Wars with Movie Committee?