The theater at the other university in town bravely shows international films and resolutely programs live artists yet it, too, financially survives by screening Raiders of the Lost Ark on the weekends. My own campus is not immune. Our student film society operates as a third run revival house, screening Hollywood mass market films like Robocop . Consequently, the Black Maria remains one of the few places in my academic and artistic life where I can reconnect with the real independent media world and reclaim something public. At Black Maria, films and videos transport me somewhere else.
Genres are mixed and identities disturbed.
Surprises still happen. Emerging artists are discovered. When the Black Maria arrives on campus, I change all my plans. I hire a baby-sitter. I finish grading papers.