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In the case of the rare Buñuel films Spectacle programmed, some of them turned up in Brooklyn Academy of Music's retrospective on the Spanish-Mexican director about a year and a half later.
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In another case, hunting down permissions led one of Spectacle's programmers to an Argentinian gentleman who owns the rights to four Luis Buñuel films, and who allowed the theater to screen the works free of charge. In some cases, Spectacle shares a portion of their revenue from five-dollar admissions with artists and distributors, but they can never offer very much. The volunteers explain that they operate at a very slim profit margin which goes right back into the theater.There's a core team of about eight volunteers who are on the theater's organizational board and then there's a wider volunteer base of 30 to 40 people, which includes several VICE employees. Together, these committed folks manage responsibilities like curating the films, manning the box office, cutting trailers, designing posters, and updating the web site. Spectacle's trailers are especially cool. For the Claire Denis's 2001 thriller Trouble Every Day, which they're showing this month, they've cut a rhythmic minute of the blood, brains, and furtive stares to Nelly Furtado's banger "Maneater."Even though Spectacle's a small operation, larger art house theaters seem to be paying attention to what they program. In the case of the rare Buñuel films Spectacle programmed, some of them turned up in Brooklyn Academy of Music's retrospective on the Spanish-Mexican director about a year and a half later. There's other examples, too, that Spectacle's volunteers suggest are perhaps not just a coincidence.
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