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Enjoy free popcorn with an acclaimed filmmaker
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Experimental nonfiction filmmaker Greta Snider is being honored with a retrospective at No Name Cinema in Santa Fe on Friday, Sept. 26.
The nonprofit microcinema, which operates out of an intimate, 50-seat warehouse space similar to a blackbox theater, has been hosting avant-garde film screenings since 2021. All events are donation-based, and free popcorn is provided.
The retrospective will consist of nine short films Snider made over the past 36 years. The San Francisco-based filmmaker will be in attendance for a live post-screening Q&A.
鈥淚鈥檓 super excited,鈥� Snider said. 鈥淣o Name Cinema is a fantastic microcinema. It鈥檚 a wonderful venue and an important community resource.鈥�
Snider said she especially appreciates how open and accessible No Name is, which helps new audiences discover films they might not otherwise be exposed to.
鈥淧eople know they can go there and see something interesting at least once a week, whether it鈥檚 something they鈥檙e familiar with or not. And that鈥檚 amazing,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 something that鈥檚 always there that you can check out, so people are more likely to learn something they would not have known that they were interested in or intrigued by.鈥�
No Name will be screening the first film Snider made, 鈥淗ard Core Home Movie鈥� from 1989. This short film documents a hardcore punk concert where Bad Brains and other bands are playing. But rather than focusing on the musicians, Snider turns her attention to the audience.
鈥淚 had no idea what I was doing whatsoever,鈥� Snider said. 鈥淎nd the interviews were just people on the street. Me and a couple friends stood outside, in front of a club, and asked people, 鈥榃hat do you like about punk rock?鈥� 鈥� including asking people who were just walking by, who were completely unrelated (to the scene). So, you get a couple of other views in there, too, which are pretty funny.鈥�
鈥淗ard Core Home Movie鈥� is one of Snider鈥檚 more traditional films. For others, she uses unconventional processes, such as chopping up found footage or painting directly on film negatives.
鈥淎 lot of my films are made out of old films. So, in that case, I鈥檓 handling the celluloid material and cutting it with a kind of modified scissors and taping it together. It is all very physical,鈥� Snider said. 鈥淭he physicality of filmmaking is something that is really important to me. It鈥檚 something I really like.鈥�
Storytelling is important to Snider, too, although her films rarely follow conventional storylines.
鈥淥ne of the things I鈥檓 not interested in doing is setting out a scenario, introducing a conflict, and then resolving that conflict at the end of the movie, and then everybody goes home,鈥� she said. 鈥淲ith artwork that I enjoy and that I think about later and that I remember, it鈥檚 usually where I feel like I鈥檓 invited into a space or an idea, and I can hear or see what the filmmaker or the artist has put together, but I鈥檓 also free to bring my own experience to it, as well. So, I try to do that in my work, too.鈥�
Snider wants her audiences to feel free to drift among their own thoughts and feelings, rather than focusing solely on what she鈥檚 trying to say.
鈥淟ike, you can chill, and you鈥檒l hear an entertaining story or see something that鈥檚 visually interesting, for sure,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut there鈥檚 also, I hope, space for you to think about (things like), 鈥極h, do I know a person like this?鈥� Or, 鈥榃hat do I think about this idea? What landscape do I remember that remind me of this?鈥� So, there鈥檚 a space for people to also enjoy their own thoughts and interests while watching the movies.鈥�
There鈥檚 no right or wrong way to watch the films, according to Snider. And some people, especially fellow filmmakers, enjoy watching her films to try to figure out how she made them.
鈥淪ome parts of my audience are interested in the process. People will want to know, 鈥極h, how鈥檇 you do that? Could I do that?鈥� That鈥檚 interesting, that sort of thing,鈥� Snider said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the same way that cooks and chefs, when they go to a restaurant, they are eating the food, but also thinking, 鈥極h, would I do that?鈥� So, for people who also like to make things or see how things are made, I think my films might possibly make space for that kind of engagement, as well.鈥�
Snider鈥檚 鈥淎 Small Place鈥� (2019) explores the experience of solitary confinement. She said it was based, in part, on the book 鈥淗ell Is a Very Small Place: Voices from Solitary Confinement鈥� (2017), which is an anthology of first-person accounts by currently or formerly incarcerated individuals.
Visually, 鈥淎 Small Place,鈥� begins very abstractly. As it goes on, though, scraps of text and found-footage images emerge, and the subject becomes clear.
鈥淭hat movie was very emotional, sort of cathartic to put together for me,鈥� Snider said.
The experiences of solitary confinement were 鈥渟o gutting,鈥� she said, that it was hard for her to even discuss the film when she was first screening it at festivals.
鈥淎t the end of the screening, when you go up to the front and people ask you questions, I would burst into tears. It was so uncool,鈥� Snider said. 鈥淏ut it was so emotional and really hard to talk about. But I think that鈥檚 why I made the film.鈥�
Audiences at the No Name retrospective will have the chance to watch these and seven other rarely-screened short films from the award-winning filmmaker鈥檚 wide-ranging career.
Free popcorn with an acclaimed filmmaker
