Cinema Lounge, a film discussion group, takes place at 7:00 PM at Barnes and Noble, 555 12th St., NW in Washington, DC (near the Metro Center Metro stop). The group meets informally on the second floor in the open dining area, seated at round dining tables. You do not need to be a member of the Washington DC Film Society to attend.

Cinema Lounge is moderated by Daniel R. Vovak.

First Films of Popular Directors

On February 9, 2009, we discussed the first films of popular directors. Our first discovery was that tomorrow's great directors will have different qualifiers for what is considered their "first" films. For instance, shorts and YouTube will be considered, versus a clear-cut description of past qualifiers, like first commercial release or a feature-length film. Regardless, a problem with studying a director's first film is that it cannot easily be viewed objectively, due to the reputation gained through (usually) later works.

Roger Corman, known as "King of the Bs," has directed hundreds of independent movies, in addition to giving several notable directors or actors their break, including Francis Ford Coppola, Jack Nicholson, James Cameron, Jonathan Demme, Ron Howard, and Martin Scorsese.

There was a feeling within the group that the luster of Sundance is fading. It no longer seems like its goal is promoting Indie films, but films from Los Angeles pretending to be Indie films.

Someone attributed to Gregg Araki the following statement, "There's just as many bad studio films as bad Indie films. There's just an explosion every now and then in the studio films to keep you awake." Our discussion group concluded that "anyone can make a movie, but not everyone should."

First Films of Notable Directors:
Orson Welles: Citizen Kane (1941)
Mike Nichols: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Stephen Spielberg: Duel (1971)
Alfred Hitchcock: The Pleasure Garden (1925)
Martin Scorsese: Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967)
John Cassavetes: Shadows (1959)
Clint Eastwood: Play Misty for Me (1971)
Peter Jackson: Bad Taste (1987)
Sam Raimi: The Evil Dead (1981)
George A. Romero: Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Coen Brothers: Blood Simple (1984)
Kevin Smith: Clerks (1994)
John Frankenheimer: The Young Stranger (1957)
Norman Jewison: 40 Pounds of Trouble (1962).
Mike Leigh: Bleak Moments (1971)
Barry Levinson: Diner (1982)
Oliver Stone: Seizure (1974) or The Hand (1981)
Neil Jordan: Angel (1982)
Anthony Minghella: A Little Like Drowning (1977) or Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990)
Mira Nair: Salaam Bombay! (1988)
Sydney Pollock: The Slender Thread (1965)
Baz Luhrmann: Strictly Ballroom (1992)
Terrence Malick: Badlands (1973)
Werner Herzog: Lebenszeichen (1968) or Fata Morgana (1971)
Woody Allen: What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966)
Robert Altman: The Delinquents (1957)
Ang Lee: Pushing Hands (1992)
Spike Lee: Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983)
David Lynch: Eraserhead (1977).