Film on film

A few years ago, before a screening of Apparition of the Eternal Church in New York, I had to monitor a transfer to tape of the movie in a film festival office. The festival directors were amazed, they told me later, to see me sitting there absorbed in the film, laughing at the jokes, forgetting to breathe. "Most filmmakers," they said, "can't stand to watch their own films." 

A few dozen screenings later I haven't exactly joined the ranks of most filmmakers--I still enjoy Apparition. But what I really enjoy is taking pictures of it, which is how I spent much of Thursday's organ rehearsal in Santa Cruz before the screening there. I came home with an iPhone full of these images and was inspired to dig through the photo archive for similar images from prior screenings, mostly from the 2008 Messiaen centenary tour. Here are some highlights:

Eisa Davis onscreen in Mobile, 2008
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Eisa Davis onscreen in Frank Lloyd Wright's Grady Gammage Auditorium at Arizona State University, Tempe, 2008
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Daniel Handler onscreen at the Santa Cruz organ rehearsal.
He took pleasure in sending this image to his Jewish mother.
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Eisa Davis, Mobile screening
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Elizabeth Povinelli, Mobile
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Elizabeth Povinelli, Santa Cruz organ rehearsal
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Harold Bloom, author of Jesus & Yahweh, onscreen in St. James Cathedral, Chicago, 2008
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Ilan Greenberg onscreen in Mobile
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Messiaen skeptic John Cameron Mitchell contemplates a fourth use of the knife
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

John Cameron Mitchell, Mobile
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

John Cameron Mitchell, Santa Cruz
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Mx. Justin Vivian Bond, as Kiki DuRane, Mobile
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church 

Mx. Justin Vivian Bond as Kiki DuRane, St. James Cathedral
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Karen Hartman, Santa Cruz
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Michael Warner - Christianity skeptic, Messiaen believer - Santa Cruz
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Ned Stresen-Reuter, Mobile
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Ned Stresen-Reuter, Santa Cruz
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, Santa Cruz
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Sandi DuBowski, Santa Cruz
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Sandi DuBowski, Mobile. "It's so emotional, it's like somebody…whipping their head back, you know? 
In anticipation, their hair, like flying off their skull!"
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Squeaky Blonde smokes in church (Santa Cruz)
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Squeaky Blonde smokes in cathedral (St. James)
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Texxxas Sage, Santa Cruz
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Texxxas Sage, Mobile
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Texxxas Sage, Mobile
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Wayne Koestenbaum, Mobile
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Albert Fuller onscreen at the Santa Cruz organ rehearsal.
The church's crucifix rises up from the stone visible behind the screen.
Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Albert Fuller, Mobile
in Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church

Albert Fuller onscreen at St. Bartholomew's Church, New York, in 2008. Bill Trafka is at the organ.
Albert lived to see the New York premiere two years earlier at St. Bart's - photos here.
Paul Festa's Apparition of the Eternal Church