EFFORT IS UNDER WAY TO FORM FILM SOCIETY

Foreign films. You won't find them in Cape Girardeau's movie theaters.

But to film enthusiasts like Southeast Missouri State University history professor Larry Easley, those subtitled foreign films are a treat a refreshing change from the standard fare of American movies.

Easley and others are hoping to form a non-profit film society to show foreign movies here. He said an organizational meeting will be held Aug. 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Cape Girardeau Public Library. Interested persons are invited to attend.

"We are a long way from renting the first film," he said. Easley said the first step is to determine if there is sufficient public interest in forming a film society.

He acknowledged that such artistic films won't attract huge audiences like commercial films. But, he said, "We don't need a massive audience to make it work.

"If we had 200 people in this town who were interested and who would come, I think we would have a wonderful success," said Easley.

He said it would probably be late fall before the society could be in a position to show foreign films.

"There is some overhead. You've got to rent a theater. You've got to pay a projectionist," said Easley. There's also the cost of renting the films.

He suggested the group might show 12 films a year, with the costs recovered through admission charges or season-ticket sales.

"What we want is to make this a citywide organization and not tie it to the university in any way at all," said Easley.

The society would be patterned after one in Paducah, Ky.

Started about a year ago, the Paducah Film Society has 175 season-ticket holders. Easley said the society's series of foreign films has attracted 50 to 60 people per showing on average. The films are shown at the Market House Theatre.

"The problem with commercial theaters is they are for-profit organizations," said Easley.

"A lot of foreign films and American-made films without a great deal of commercial appeal never get shown in places like Paducah or Cape Girardeau or Carbondale," he said.

"People complain about the quality and the themes of a lot of the commercial films, and I share those sentiments," said Easley.

The traditional movie fare, he said, features plots that aren't well drawn, or exploding cars, exploding heads and a lot of violence.

The popularity of such movies is "pretty disheartening," he said. "It says that people are attracted by this violence."

Easley, who helps teach a university course on "film as history and literature," said that with good foreign films, English subtitles don't hinder viewers.

"What happens is that very quickly if you get involved in the film itself, you don't notice that you are reading instead of hearing," he explained.

A number of nations produce high quality films, said Easley.

"Germany has a very, very well-organized film industry. They put out some very interesting films," he said. "The Japanese have some gorgeous, gorgeous films that they put out over the last 10 or 15 years."

Easley said, "Depending on the length of feature films, there are a lot of good short films that are possibilities too."

Based on Paducah's successful venture, Easley said he's hopeful that a film society would prosper in Cape Girardeau. "If they can make it work (in Paducah), we ought to be able to make something like that work in Cape Girardeau."