Sheldon showcase to feature
Lincolnite 's 'unscripted' films
Bv Gf eg Li;
Gary Hill is a film maker who doesn't like
word tags. After seeing Stone Bust, an angry film
showing student unrest in the late '60s, I asked
Hill if he considered himself a political film
maker. No, was the answer. Experimental?
Underground? Independent? No again, as he
skirted my efforts to get him to pin himself
down.
"Those are just words," he said. "What do
they mean? In my, films I try to get at a more
relative, sensory experience."
Three of Hill's films, Stone Bust, Crime and
the recently completed Cure, will be shown
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in the
Sheldon Film Theater's Film Maker's Showcase.
Showings will be at 3 and 7:30 p.m. and Hill will
be on hand after each of the evening
presentations.
Hill is a native lincolnite who attended NU
for several years before taking a year of film
study at San Francisco State. He made movies
and quit school when "it didn't make sense to go
there anymore." He shot Cure in New York
while he was going to another school in Toronto.
"Now I'm back in Lincoln. I live behind
Whittier Junior High."
Hill made Stone Bust and Crime as unscripted
films that he shot as he goes along. He reacts to
what he's already shot and adds whatever he feels
should come next.
Stone Bust was started after Hill and a friend,
were busted at a student demonstration at San
Francisco State. Hill is less than kind when
talking about the police who arrested him for
shooting film where they thought he wasn't,
supposed to be, and . even though he wasn't
prosecuted for the incident, the film grew out of
the event.
, "I went out there during the Summer of Love
in '67, only at the time I didn't know it was
going to be the Summer of Love. I made Stone
Bust because I was really pissed."
Crime is a film comparing the fury of the
murderer with the fury of the artist. Hill admits
influences of R.D. Laing and Antonin Artaud
and the film's running motif is Charles
Starkweather. The sense of imprisonment, the
haunting newspaper clippings from the
Starkweather case and the wailing '50s rock
songs create a paranoid feeling where the roles of
the persecuted and the persecutor become
unclear.
"This film shows the way I've failed," says the
voice at the beginning of the film. "It is evidence
against me."
The third film, Cure, is the only one of the
three that Hill fully scripted before shooting
began. It uses an amateur film maker to point
out the difficulties of the artist and the human
being in escaping his own shallowness and in
pleasing himself and others.
"You can go see a Godfather or a Chinatown,
categorize them and file them away. I don't want
to do that in my films. You can't pick them
apart, yet I think they're entertaining in their
own way." "
One of Hill's next projects is a fully scripted
feature film. But he doesn't say how or when
he'll make it.
"Sure, I want people to see my films but I
don't make them for money." Hill gives no goals
or strong desires to work his way into a more
mainstream vein of commercial film making. One
gets the idea that he considers himself to be what
might be called a "floating artist." When pressed
for a reason why he makes his films, he is ready
with a quick, enthusiastic reply.
"Because I love making movies." It is easy to
believe him.
'High percentage' join plan
Continued from p. 1
The BBB gives persons inquiring about MGBI
a suggestion list on group buying plans which
includes: consideration of the membership fee as
part of the cost of purchasing products;
consideration of delays in ordering through a
club as corripared to buying items through retail
outlets; consideration of warrantees on products;
consideration of the stability and longevity of
the organization; and consideration of the club's
refund and exchange policies.
Telephone recruiting
MGBI division manager Jim Beasley said
Wednesday that his operation was signing up
about ten students a week. Four young women
use telephone recruiting each weeknight and
contact 100 to 150 prospects each night, he
reported.
"A high percentage will call back or come in,"
Beasley said, "and of those who finally hear the
presentation, 25 to 33 per cent will sign."
Beasley would not supply a total number of
local members or provide the names of satisfied
customers.
Beasley said he stopped offering the vacation
gift as an incentive for listening to the sales
presentation after Jerry Fennel, of the Nebraska
attorney general's office, suggested that it
violated the Jaw. Beasley said he was sorry about
the adverse official and BBB reaction to the
"Vacation America" certificates, because he said
he thinks the vacation plan is a worthwhile gift,
offering about $200 in travel savings.
Beasley said he keeps a close check 'on sales
presentations to insure accuracy and honesty,
"One little lie to get an enrollment and that's
it. . ." he said, "that salesman's gone!"
MGBI has offices on the third floor of the
Walton Bldg. and maintains sales presentation
room? on the second floor. But, Walton Ferris,
owner of the building, said Friday that the
buying service is going to vacate his building by
May 10.
"They never had a lease agreement with us,"
Ferris said. "It was always just a short-rent
St'eve Meyers, a former UNL student who was
contacted and signed an agreement with MGBI,
said Friday that a young woman telephoned him
and told him of "a chance to get things at
reduced prices.
$24 down-payment
Meyers said he signed the contract to see what
it was all about, making a $24 down-payment.
Meyers said he discovered that "in order to
get a specific catalogue, I was required to pay
additional fees."
Deciding he wanted to cancel within the
three-day limit required by law, Meyers said, he
went to the MGBI offices.
"I wanted the local officers of the company
to sign the cancellation form with me," he said,
"but the manager, Beasley, told his assistant 'We
don't have to sign that."'
Meyers said he was able to cancel his contract
without help from the local office, but said he
was shocked at the coldness he experienced.
"They're nice to you when they're signing
you up," he said, "but not so friendly if you
want out."
VENEZUELAN
FESTIVAL
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
April 20-May 2 m ,
Venezuelan Art Exhibit. Sheldon Gallery
Recital by Sonia Sanoja, modern and folk dance 8
p.m., Women's Physical Education Building
APpro2gam of folk dances by international touring
company, 0 p.m., Kimball Hall
Lecture by Jose A. Abreu, Venezuelan economic
development 3:30 p.m., Nebraska Union
NO ADMISSION CHARGE
Sponsored by
Republic of Venezuela as a contribution
to the Bicentennial oMhe United States.
1 - B
r " - lis
m
HOLLYWOOD
and UIN
12th ft out PHONt tn-mat
2 NOMINEE
Best Foreign Film
LUC! EN
ffi'liBOfl.S ' ' Sheldon Art GaEery,
1 Sin liii ' 12th & B Streets
V I "
r "I lV ".'-v :
Fib-makers' Showcase
featuring the fibs of Gary EI
STOKBOST CUE GUI
Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday
April 22, 23 & 24 Screenings at 3 & 7:30 p.m.
Admission Free! Fib-maker Gary il m3 he
present at each of the evening screenings to
discuss his f&ns with the audience.
V If I w c ,i
1 -' 1 I ' V, j 'r..c f
V
Frilif &pril 11, 1975
mm at TM mi Ml
CiTlt liiitcriis llnie Ssll
$5.00 IN ADVANCE $6.00 DAY OF SHOW
TICKETS AVAILABLE AT CIVIC AUD. BOX OFFICE, BOTH
HOMERS, AND THE DAISY. AVAILABLE IN LINCOLN AT
U.N.L. UNION AND DIRT CHEAP.
i - -
, - . ,
1 I
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I'rtf c f.'.fYhtrf' 'ttyWYt'SiBft
pa go 13
monday, april 21, 1975
daily nebraskan