Table of Contents: Description, Corrections/Clarifications, Housekeeping, General, Main Slate, Ephemera, Recurring Directors, Recurring Countries, One-Time Directors, Debuts/Final Features, Festivals/Oscar Nominees, Events/Shorts/Panels, Discussions By Length, Specifications

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Description
The sixteenth episode of the Catalyst and Witness podcast, devoted to exploring the films and format of the New York Film Festival, hosted by Ryan Swen. This covers the sixteenth edition of the festival in 1978, and features special guest Evan Morgan, critic and co-host of the dormant Snakes & Funerals podcast.

0:00-18:45 – Opening
18:46-1:13:12 – Part One [A Wedding to The Green Room]
1:13:13-2:10:51 – Part Two [Camouflage to Get Out Your Handkerchiefs]
2:10:52-3:16:50 – Part Three [The Left-Handed Woman to Elective Affinities]
3:16:51-4:22:38 – Part Four [The Shout to Violette Nozière]
4:22:39-4:28:57 – Closing

Corrections/Clarifications

• Due to the lack of New York Times archives from this period, much of the information in these show notes is conjecture.
• The episode’s title comes from a quote in A Wedding, due to the absence of New York Times headlines.

Housekeeping

• Hosted by Ryan Swen
• Special Guest Evan Morgan
• Conceived and Edited by Ryan Swen
• Recorded in Los Angeles and Seattle on Zoom H4N and Behringer Microphone and MacBook GarageBand, Edited in Audacity
• Podcast photograph from Yi Yi, Logo designed by Dan Molloy
• Poster by Richard Avedon
• Recorded June 7, 2020
• Released July 26, 2020
• Music (in order of appearance):
  • A Wedding (opening night)
  • The Green Room (another favorite)
  • Spies (favorite of the first section)
  • Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (favorite of the second section)
  • Like a Turtle on Its Back (favorite of the third section)
  • Perceval le Gallois (favorite of the fourth section)
  • Violette Nozière (closing night)

General

• Selection Committee: Richard Roud (program director), Richard Corliss, Roger Greenspun, Molly Haskell, Charles Michener, Tom Luddy (West Coast consultant), Mary Meerson (retrospective consultant)
• Location: Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall
• Prices: 2.50, 3, 4, 5.50; for opening and closing night 5, 7, 10
• Films seen for the podcast:
  • Ryan
    • Seen before podcast watching period: Spies
    • Seen for the podcast: All available; Spies rewatched
    • Favorite films: Perceval le Gallois, Spies, Get Out Your Handkerchiefs, The Green Room, Dossier 51
    • Least favorite films: Bloodbrothers, The Apple Game
    • Catch-Up Corner: Langlois (8th), Yudie (12th), Fear of Fear (14th)
    • Rewatch Round-Up: Band of Outsiders (2nd), Two English Girls (10th)
  • Evan
    • Seen before podcast watching period: Spies, Dossier 51, Perceval le Gallois
    • Seen for the podcast: The Green Room, Camouflage, Get Out Your Handkerchiefs, The Left-Handed Woman, Despair, Like a Turtle on Its Back, The Shout, American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince, Violette Nozière
    • Favorite films: Spies, Perceval le Gallois, Despair
    • Least favorite films: The Left-Handed Woman, Get Out Your Handkerchiefs, The Shout
• Discoveries of the festival: Like a Turtle on Its Back, Despair, The Green Room, Get Out Your Handkerchiefs
• Unavailable films: CIA: Case Officer, Manimals, Elective Affinities, Movies Are My Life

Main Slate

Opening Night: A Wedding (1978, Robert Altman)
September 22, 9:00 {Avery Fisher Hall}
Released 1978
Retrospective: Spies [Spione] (1928, Fritz Lang)
September 23, 1:00
Released 1929
Skip Tracer (1977, Zale Dalen)
September 23, 3:00
Never released
The Green Room [La Chambre verte] (1978, François Truffaut)
September 23, 3:00
Released 1979
Camouflage [Barwy ochronne/Protective Colors] (1977, Krzysztof Zanussi)
September 23, 6:00
Never released
Bloodbrothers (1978, Robert Mulligan)
September 23, 9:00
Released 1978
“Styles of Radical Will”
They Are Their Own Gifts (1978, Lucille Rhodes & Margaret Murphy)
CIA: Case Officer (1978, Saul Landau)
With Babies and Banners: Story of the Women’s Emergency Brigade (1978, Lorraine Gray)
September 24, 1:00
Never released/Never released/Released 1979
Newsfront (1978, Phillip Noyce)
September 26, 6:15
Released 1979
The Apple Game [Hra o jablko] (1977, Věra Chytilová)
September 26, 9:30
Released 1980
Get Out Your Handkerchiefs [Préparez vos mouchoirs] (1978, Bertrand Blier)
September 27, 9:30
Released 1978
The Left-Handed Woman [Die linkshändige Frau] (1978, Peter Handke)
September 28, 9:30
Released 1980
Dossier 51 [Le Dossier 51] (1978, Michel Deville)
September 29, 9:30
Released 1978
Despair (1978, Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
September 30, 1:00
Released 1979
Like a Turtle on Its Back [La tortue sur le dos] (1978, Luc Béraud)
September 30, 6:00
Released 1981
Gates of Heaven (1978, Errol Morris)
Also: Manimals (1978, Robin Lehman)
September 30, 9:00
Released 1980/Never released
Elective Affinities [Le affinità elettive] (1978, Gianni Amico)
October 1, 2:00
Never released
The Shout (1978, Jerzy Skolimowski)
October 1, 9:00
Released 1979
Perceval le Gallois [Perceval the Welsh] (1978, Éric Rohmer)
October 3, 9:30
Released 1978
American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince (1978, Martin Scorsese)
Also: Movies Are My Life (1978, Peter Hayden)
October 5, 6:15
Released 1990/Never released
Retrospective: The Miracle of the Wolves [Le Miracle des loups] (1924, Raymond Bernard)
October 5, 9:30
Released 1925
Closing Night: Violette Nozière (1978, Claude Chabrol)
October 8, 8:30 {Avery Fisher Hall}
Released 1978

Ephemera

• New Currents in Japanese Cinema: a collaboration between the Film Society and the Japan Society showing five independent Japanese films in the afternoons at Alice Tully Hall, $2 for each film, $7.50 for full series

Recurring Directors
Key: films in this iteration excluding shorts/omnibus/retrospectives, films in this iteration including, films in the festival up to this point excluding, films up to this point including, number of gala spots (when applicable), number of festivals with more than one film shown (when applicable); † indicates their last appearance, fraction in parentheses indicates number of features shown from oeuvre, features released in the eligible timeframe, features in oeuvre

• François Truffaut: 1/1/7/7/4
• Rainer Werner Fassbinder: 1/1/7/7
• Claude Chabrol: 1/1/6/6/1/1
• Jerzy Skolimowski: 1/1/5/5/0/2
• Éric Rohmer: 1/1/4/5/2
• Martin Scorsese: 1/1/4/4
• Krzysztof Zanussi: 1/1/4/4
• Gianni Amico: 1/1/3/4†(3/15/15)
• Robert Altman: 1/1/2/2/1
• Věra Chytilová: 1/1/1/2†(1/21/21)
• Bertrand Blier: 1/1/1/1
• Errol Morris: 1/1/1/1
• Fritz Lang: 0/1/0/2†(2/0/41)

Recurring Countries
Key: films in this iteration excluding shorts/retrospectives, films in this iteration including, films in the festival up to this point excluding, films up to this point including, number of gala spots (when applicable)

• USA: 7/9/56/73/3
• France: 6/7/95/114/15
• West Germany: 2/2/26/28/1
• Italy: 1/1/35/40/3
• UK: 1/1/20/22/1
• Czechoslovakia: 1/1/12/14/3
• Poland: 1/1/11/11
• Canada: 1/1/5/6
• Australia: 1/1/1/1
• Germany: 0/1/0/3

One-Time Directors

• Raymond Bernard (retrospective)
• Luc Béraud
• Zale Dalen
• Michel Deville
• Lorraine Gray
• Peter Handke
• Peter Hayden
• Saul Landau (short)
• Robin Lehman (short)
• Robert Mulligan
• Phillip Noyce
• Lucille Rhodes & Margaret Murphy

Feature Debuts

• Luc Béraud
• Zale Dalen
• Peter Handke
• Peter Hayden
• Errol Morris

Final Features

• Peter Hayden

Festivals

• NYFF World Premiere
  • American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince
  • Gates of Heaven
  • Perceval le Gallois
• Cannes
  • The Shout (Grand Prix)
  • Despair
  • The Left-Handed Woman
  • Violette Nozière
  • Dossier 51 (Un Certain Regard)
• Other
  • The Apple Game (Paris)
  • Bloodbrothers (Toronto)
  • Elective Affinities (Montreal)
  • Manimals (Chicago)
  • Movies Are My Life (Chicago)
  • Skip Tracer (Toronto)
  • A Wedding (San Sebastian)
• N/A
  • Camouflage
  • CIA: Case Officer
  • Get Out Your Handkerchiefs
  • The Green Room
  • Like a Turtle on Its Back
  • The Miracle of the Wolves
  • Newsfront
  • Spies
  • They Are Their Own Gifts
  • With Babies and Banners: Story of the Women’s Emergency Brigade

Oscar Nominees

• Bloodbrothers: Best Adapted Screenplay
• Get Out Your Handkerchiefs: Best Foreign Film (won)
• With Babies and Banners: Story of the Women’s Emergency Brigade: Best Documentary Feature

Events/Shorts/Panels

Discussions By Length (Approximate)

• 23:07 Spies (29:32-52:39)
• 22:32 Perceval le Gallois (3:30:13-3:52:45)
• 18:11 Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (1:52:40-2:10:51)
• 16:41 Like a Turtle on Its Back (2:50:45-3:07:26)
• 16:19 The Green Room (56:53-1:13:12)
• 13:48 Despair (2:36:46-2:50:44)
• 13:46 Violette Nozière (4:08:52-4:22:38)
• 13:07 The Left-Handed Woman (2:11:56-2:25:03)
• 12:21 The Shout (3:17:51-3:30:12)
• 11:41 Dossier 51 (2:25:04-2:36:45)
• 10:33 Camouflage (1:14:13-1:24:46)
• 9:46 A Wedding [One Person] (19:45-29:31)
• 8:06 The Miracle of the Wolves [One Person] (4:00:45-4:08:51)
• 7:49 “Styles of Radical Will” [One Person] (1:31:35-1:39:24)
• 7:15 Newsfront [One Person] (1:39:25-1:46:40)
• 7:07 Gates of Heaven [One Person] (3:07:27-3:14:34)
• 6:47 Bloodbrothers [One Person] (1:24:47-1:31:34)
• 6:32 American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince (3:52:46-3:59:18)
• 5:58 The Apple Game [One Person] (1:46:41-1:52:39)
• 4:12 Skip Tracer [One Person] (52:40-56:52)
• 1:29 Elective Affinities [Unavailable] (3:15:22-3:16:51)
• 1:25 Movies Are My Life [Unavailable] (3:59:19-4:00:44)
• 0:46 Manimals [Unavailable] (3:14:35-3:15:21)

Specifications

• Robert Altman, A Wedding, 1978, 35 mm, color, stereo sound, 125 minutes, 2.39:1, English, USA.
• Fritz Lang, Spione, 1928, 35 mm, black-and-white, silent, 150 minutes, 1.33:1, German, Germany.
• Zale Dalen, Skip Tracer, 1977, 16 mm, color, mono sound, 95 minutes, 1.37:1, English, Canada.
• François Truffaut, La Chambre verte, 1978, 35 mm, color and black-and-white, mono sound, 94 minutes, 1.66:1, French, France.
• Krzysztof Zanussi, Barwy ochronne, 1977, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 106 minutes, 1.66:1, Polish and English, Poland.
• Robert Mulligan, Bloodbrothers, 1978, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 116 minutes, 1.85:1, English, USA.
• Lucille Rhodes & Margaret Murphy, They Are Their Own Gifts, 1978, 16 mm, color, mono sound, 52 minutes, 1.37:1, English, USA.
• Saul Landau, CIA: Case Officer, 1978, 16 mm, color, mono sound, 30 minutes, 1.37:1, English, USA.
• Lorraine Gray, With Babies and Banners: Story of the Women’s Emergency Brigade, 1978, 16 mm, color, mono sound, 45 minutes, 1.37:1, English, USA.
• Phillip Noyce, Newsfront, 1978, 35 mm and 16 mm, color and black-and-white, mono sound, 110 minutes, 1.66:1 and 1.37:1, English, Australia.
• Věra Chytilová, Hra o jablko, 1977, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 100 minutes, 1.37:1, Czech, Czechoslovakia.
• Bertrand Blier, Préparez vos mouchoirs, 1978, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 105 minutes, 1.66:1, French, France.
• Peter Handke, Die linkshändige Frau, 1978, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 119 minutes, 1.37:1, German and French, West Germany.
• Michel Deville, Le Dossier 51, 1978, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 108 minutes, 1.66:1, French, France.
• Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Despair, 1978, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 119 minutes, 1.66:1, English, West Germany.
• Luc Béraud, La tortue sur le dos, 1978, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 110 minutes, 1.66:1, French, France.
• Errol Morris, Gates of Heaven, 1978, 16 mm, color, mono sound, 83 minutes, 1.37:1, English, USA.
• Robin Lehman, Manimals, 1978, 16 mm, color, mono sound, 29 minutes, 1.37:1, English, USA.
• Gianni Amico, Le affinità elettive, 1978, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 180 minutes, 1.37:1, Italian, Italy.
• Jerzy Skolimowski, The Shout, 1978, 35 mm, color, stereo sound, 86 minutes, 1.85:1, English, UK.
• Éric Rohmer, Perceval le Gallois, 1978, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 140 minutes, 1.37:1, French, France.
• Martin Scorsese, American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince, 1978, 16 mm, color, mono sound, 55 minutes, 1.37:1, English, USA.
• Peter Hayden, Movies Are My Life, 1978, 16 mm, color, mono sound, 50 minutes, 1.37:1, English, USA.
• Raymond Bernard, Le Miracle des loups, 1924, 35 mm, black-and-white, silent, 132 minutes, 1.33:1, French, France.
• Claude Chabrol, Violette Nozière, 1978, 35 mm, color, mono sound, 124 minutes, 1.66:1, French, France.