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"That’s good news to the Nebraska Independent Film Project which has had an on-going and profitable association with the Ross, said its current president Rhett McClure. “NIFP was founded on the principle that local, indie film is under-promoted and under-utilized in Nebraska,” McClure added. “Any time we can promote an individual putting their art and voice on the screen, NIFP is doing its job as a nonprofit. Ladely has generously allowed us to use their second theater for bigger film events, including our ‘Mad Movie Night.’”
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Play It Again, Ross!
Nebraska’s longest running indie/alt film program continues at MRRMAC in Lincoln
By Michael Joe Krainak
“Film and video are the defining art forms of the 20th century.” An assertion, no doubt, that most film and art critics and historians would call pretty safe in 2006, especially with the benefit of hindsight. Yet, when Norman Geske came to that conclusion “many times” in the early ’60s, he was “often met with skepticism.”

Nevertheless, Geske, generally recognized as the father of Nebraska art and culture, put his vision into focus and practice when he helped design and direct the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, beginning in 1964 in Lincoln. With the help of architect Philip Johnson, Geske, the gallery’s Director (and now its Director Emeritus), made sure the Sheldon included an auditorium with a fully equipped projection booth. By 1973, this godfather of Nebraska film and video art had established the Sheldon Film Theater, currently the longest-running program of independent and foreign film in the state.

“His aim was to show film as art in the same manner or spirit as other art media, such as painting and sculpture,” said Danny Ladely, who inherited the mantle in 1973 as the program’s director and continues Geske’s mandate to treat and exhibit film as an art form in the 21st century. “I think he was influenced by the precedent of the Museum of Modern Art, which began collecting and exhibiting films in the ‘30s.”

Ladely now runs the program in its new film site, the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center, just one block east of the Sheldon, downtown at 313 N. 13th Street. “The Ross,” which is an affiliate of the Hixson Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts at UNL, is a state-of-the-art, two-screen theater, the first university cinema in the United States to utilize digital projection. It also includes a research library, a film and video archive and is open to the public seven days a week. The MRRMAC’s cinema series is Nebraska’s only steady diet of alternative film and video art made possible by the trio of Geske, Ladely and its chief benefactor.

Ladely said that when Geske wanted the Sheldon film program to go full time, “Norman was introduced to Mary Riepma Ross, an alumna and at that time a trustee of the University Foundation. Mrs. Ross is an avid art collector who loves film…she promised to support the program financially, which she has done right up until the present, including donating the money to the foundation to build the building we are in today.”

In 1990 Ross, a New York resident, established a $3.5 million irrevocable trust at the University Foundation to jumpstart the endowment for MRRMAC’s construction and the building was completed in 2003. With the aid of NEA grants and other donations, along with the Friends of the MRRMAC, Ladely has modeled the Ross’ film program on similar series including those at the University of California at Berkeley and the Northwest Film Studies Center.

“In the beginning, we didn’t have much of an idea just how to run such a program, so I kind of made it up as I went along,” Ladely admits. “One thing I did from the beginning, something that sets MRRMAC aside from other arts organizations, I believe, is to run it like a regular movie theater, one that for the most part shows art films rather than Hollywood films. That has proved to be something of an advantage, especially these days when competition for booking films is tougher than ever.”

Distributors have begun to book even crossover indie hits like Jim Jarmusch’s “Broken Flowers” with commercial theaters rather than “risk” a small indie house like the Ross. Ladely says the worst-case scenario occurred when Sony Classics cancelled a Ross showing of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” a huge potential moneymaker, and booked it in a downtown Lincoln theater. Occasionally, Ladely will “share” an alternative film with a Lincoln or Omaha theater like the Dundee, which also featured “Half-Nelson” and “Fast Food Nation,” along with the Ross.

Though Omaha has steadily increased the number of independent and foreign films at several venues, the Ross still enjoys a loyal following from the Big O who don’t mind the 100-mile round trip because they know they can count on the Ross’ diversity and quality programming. Larry Williams, the director of the Hot Shops Film Festival, makes frequent, monthly treks to the Capital City to take advantage of its program.

“There are times when you need to see a movie in the mall,” Williams said, “a big popcorn movie. Then there are those that seem to have been made for the Ross. Those films with an independent feel. A film that asks for more quiet consideration than being part of a rolling laugh or a collective gasp.

“Not that I haven’t heard audiences laugh and gasp at the Ross, but I have never heard a cell phone ring, much less be answered. It is still a true theater, not an extension of a shopping experience. When you see a movie there it is almost a throwback to the ‘50s and ‘60s when you got dressed up to see a movie at night. A favorite of mine seen at the Ross this year was ‘Water,’ directed by Deepha Meta and set in India in the ‘30s.”

Omaha will soon have a “Ross” of its own, a unique variation on a theme of independent and alternative film exhibition when Film Streams opens its own theater in early summer of 2007 in NoDo at 14th and Webster. Rachel Jacobson, its founder and director and an Omaha native, brings a lot to the table with her own East Coast booking connections and with extensive film and marketing experience and education. Yet, Jacobson is shrewd enough to take advantage of Ladely’s 30-plus-year career and tell-it-like-it-is advice by adding him to her advisory board.

“I went to Lincoln to meet with Danny a couple of months before I moved home to Omaha,” Jacobson said, “and he gave me great leads and insight that has really helped to the process of designing and building the theater….We’re now using him on our build-out and having him on the project early on has been a great advantage with theater design. As the director of a non-profit movie theater in the region, Danny understands better than anyone the challenges that Film Streams will face building an audience, dealing with distributors and just generally furthering our mission to bring good film to Nebraska.”

As the director of a 501(c)3 organization, Ladely is acutely aware of what it takes to finance just such a mission especially with a non-profit status. The Ross’ annual operating budget ranges from $400-500,000. Over half of its expenses are covered by ticket sales and concessions. Other sources of support come from Friends of the MRRMAC, the Lincoln and Nebraska Arts Councils and many local foundations, corporations and individuals.

“Of course, the University is a significant contributor to the program,” Ladely said, “because it maintains the facility and provides its utilities. Without that support, and in particular the support of the Hixson Lied College and its Dean, the program could not survive.” Though the Ross is currently meeting its budget, there is one thing missing in the overall picture.

“We need an endowment,” he said. “A stable, reliable income that would help meet rising operating expenses. Plus, our state-of-the-art projections systems are already four years old…we need to keep up with improved technology as well as an expanding programming.” To that end, Ladely is working with Lucy Conine, director of development in the University Foundation for the Fine and Performing Arts. “We don’t have a timetable in place yet, but plans for the endowment are in the making.”

Keeping the Ross current both in technology and programming is key to maintaining its popularity as well. Making the move from the Sheldon to its more modern venue not only held on to its core audience but had a significant effect on attendance. “We’ve doubled the size of our audience in the Ross,” Ladely said. “There are a lot of students, including high school, attending since we moved to the new facility, lots of university staff and faculty, but mainly our audience is comprised of a wide range of people from the whole community and beyond.”

An increase in student attendance is no surprise considering Ross’ close proximity to UNL. “Because MRRMAC is part of the University, I consider its mission to be educational,” Ladely said, “especially as we strive to educate our public about film as art as well as entertain them. One of the things I’m most proud of is our Film/Video Showcase that brings film and video artists to our theaters to show their work and interact with the audiences. It is one of the most important and integral aspects of our programming.”

A fine example of this occurred last summer when filmmaker Kevin Willmott came to the Ross to show and discuss his film, “CSA: The Confederate States of America,” which posits: “What would have happened if the South had won the Civil War?” Willmott is an assistant professor in film studies at Kansas University and he brought a lot of experience to the discussion table including television screenwriting and screenplays for film director Oliver Stone. The Ross also features many yearly special events including this year’s performance by the Alloy Orchestra, which accompanied a screening of the silent classic horror film, “Phantom of the Opera.”

Ladely also founded the Great Plains Film Festival, the largest event of its kind in this region and the Ross continues to sponsor ethnic, regional and national fests such as the Flatwater Native Film Festival conducted by Native American Public Telecommunications and the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival produced by Emerging Pictures. Yet, Ladely is equally proud of MRRMAC’s growing commitment to area filmmakers, both amateur and professional. “More and more, I’m dedicated to showing films and videos by local media artists,” he said, “and there are more and more of them working here as time has gone by so that has become and will continue to be a strong component of our programming.”

That’s good news to the Nebraska Independent Film Project which has had an on-going and profitable association with the Ross, said its current president Rhett McClure. “NIFP was founded on the principle that local, indie film is under-promoted and under-utilized in Nebraska,” McClure added. “Any time we can promote an individual putting their art and voice on the screen, NIFP is doing its job as a nonprofit. Ladely has generously allowed us to use their second theater for bigger film events, including our ‘Mad Movie Night.’”

The Ross also hosts NIFP’s monthly meetings in its reference library every second Wednesday. This Dec. 13, it will welcome Nebraska’s renowned feature screenwriter and instructor Lew Hunter and a film crew producing a documentary on him called “Once in a Lew Moon,” which McClure is editing.

Another individual with considerable experience in state filmmaking and viewing and appreciates the Ross’ similar role is Laurie Richards, Nebraska’s Film Officer. Richards and her office were past co-sponsors of the Great Plains Film Festival and her own doc on Geske, “My Friend, Norman,” recently premiered at the Ross.

“If you are a student of film or a film buff, you are surely aware of the Ross film theater” Richard said. “The unique programs include not only this wide variety of moving imagery, but you also have the opportunity to meet the filmmakers and discuss their ideas and work.”

Bridging the gap between Nebraska viewers and the film community has always been a Ladely priority, but support is a two-way street. “The biggest challenge always has been and continues to be money, finding the necessary financial support to keep the program going and vibrant.” So vibrant that he would like to take his show on the road throughout Nebraska. “We used to go on tour back in the ‘70s,” Ladely said. “I’d like to do it again in the near future, pack up all the hardware in trucks and let small towns and communities see what they may be missing.”

Current supporters and its core audience know what they would be missing without the Ross and its variety of film and video programs. “Film culture would take a big hit,” McClure said. “I would love to see the Ross become the place for local filmmakers to hold their premiere events. It was a major kick to see my short film projected there during ‘Mad Movie Night.’”

Richards agrees. “Hands-on filmmaking is happening there, and this is good. It needs to be supported by the local community. It’s a real treasure.” A Nebraska treasure, that is, of fine art and film programming, first discovered by Norman Geske, financed largely by its benefactor Mary Riepma Ross and nurtured by its director Danny Ladely and his staff and the Friends of MRRMAC.