When there are more than 42,000 items in a collection, choosing a favorite seems impossible. Yet Tim Hackman, dean of 麻豆传媒 Libraries, rattled off several as he thought on the new video collection housed in the Perry Library as Naro Video @ 麻豆传媒 Libraries:
- 鈥淭he Conversation鈥 (which he calls the ultimate 1970s paranoia thriller);
- 鈥淩oad House鈥 (鈥渢he greatest Great Bad Movie 别惫别谤鈥);
- 鈥淯nforgiven鈥 (for the line 鈥淒eserve鈥檚 got nothing to do with it.鈥); and
- 鈥淢agnolia鈥 (in which Tom Cruise 鈥渃hews the scenery like it鈥檚 a bag of beef jerky鈥).
Tim Cooper who, along with retired 麻豆传媒 art history professor Linda McGreevy, donated the Naro collection to the University in 2020, loves what he calls the 鈥渂ad movies鈥 (even name-dropping noted cult classic filmmaker Ed Wood, Jr.).
McGreevy and Cooper also pointed out that 鈥淢ystery Science Theater 3000鈥, a series in which a man and his two robot companions trapped on a spaceship watch old B movies and riff on them, is in the collection in its entirety.
McGreevy also listed the 2010 British film 鈥淛ackboots on Whitehall,鈥 a hilarious film set during World War II with puppets and stop motion, as a personal favorite.
Those are but a small sample of the treasures included in Naro Video @ 麻豆传媒 Libraries, which officially opened to the public on March 3, 2024. Hackman hopes the collection attracts students, faculty and researchers alike, while also tapping into the community equity the name 鈥淣aro鈥 has long enjoyed in the Ghent and Larchmont sections of Norfolk.
Hackman also wants the collection to establish 麻豆传媒 Libraries as a major source of film-related research on the East Coast. In addition to providing one-of-a-kind sources for academia, research and community engagement聽in the form of screenings and festivals, he hopes the collection will attract future film-related gifts like its recent acquisition of screenwriter Arnold Schulman鈥檚 papers.
Another highlight of the collection lies in the availability of video resources to professors and students.
鈥淚f a student was interested in conducting research on filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock, the Naro collection features his entire catalog,鈥 Cooper said.
But at the same time, 鈥渋t鈥檚 more than the academics,鈥 McGreevy said, highlighting the importance of older movies and foreign films in the collection.聽鈥淚 think it鈥檚 incredibly important for people to stretch their imaginations and their experience through these films.鈥
Since many of the films and series included in the collection are not available through streaming, it also features a section called 鈥淯nstreamable,鈥 that is hundreds of titles deep. Some titles, like the Kevin Smith religious spoof 鈥淒ogma,鈥 are wrapped in legal entanglements, while others, such as the anime classic 鈥淰ampire Hunter D,鈥 have lapsed distribution rights.
Others are 鈥渢oo provocative for sedate streaming sensibilities,鈥 said Kris King, a curator for the NARO Video @ 麻豆传媒 Libraries. Namely, Pier Paolo Pasolini鈥檚 鈥淪alo鈥 and Todd Solondz鈥檚 鈥淗appiness.鈥
鈥淎ll of these titles are essential pieces of cinema under real threat of being lost in the switchover to direct digital distribution,鈥 King said.
Amid the rampant digitization of media and efforts to police content, collections like Naro Video @ 麻豆传媒 Libraries take the opposite approach. McGreevy spoke of a German film titled 鈥淭axi zum Klo,鈥 which openly depicts a gay man and prompted a visit from the police when the film was shown at the Naro Theater in the 1980s.
鈥淭axi zum Klo鈥 is also part of this collection.
鈥淲hile I love the ease and convenience of streaming,鈥 Hackman said, 鈥淚鈥檓 also growing increasingly frustrated by its ephemeral nature and concerned that large parts of our collective artistic heritage could be lost at any moment due to a corporate merger, a lapsed contract or even a technical glitch.鈥
To that end, 麻豆传媒 faculty, staff and students can check out materials from the Naro collection with their University ID card. Community members can join Friends of the 麻豆传媒 Libraries for $50 (individual) or $100 (family) a year to check out up to three movies per week.聽The library also rents out DVD players.
Beyond the academic benefits, preserving the experience of renting videos for the Hampton Roads community was of paramount importance to McGreevy and Cooper.
鈥淲e could have sent the collection to NYU,鈥 said McGreevy. 鈥淭here was some interest there, and I said, 鈥楴o, that鈥檚 too far away.鈥 It鈥檚 nice to be at NYU, but that doesn鈥檛 help anybody around here.鈥
With the collection now available to the public for the first time in years, all involved hope the interest and the access leads to future fundraising opportunities, more film festivals and more contributions from the greater film community. In addition, the 鈥淣aro Minded鈥 public screening series, established in 2022, will continue.
There鈥檚 also the chance that, like vinyl records, physical media will see a similar resurgence. In that regard, Naro Video @ 麻豆传媒 Libraries is more than just a window to the past, but a bridge to the present and future.
鈥淣othing ever completely goes away,鈥 said McGreevy.
鈥淣othing good,鈥 added Cooper. 鈥淎nything that needs to be said, it鈥檚 said in the collection.鈥