By Tim Szykula

Ferris Reel Film Society is a Union of Student Organizations supported club activity. Considered a "major programmer" by the Office of Student Activities, this organization organizes a feature film screening every Thursday night in Altschul Auditorium on the 4th floor in the International Affairs Building. Shows start at 7:30pm and 10:30pm, and are usually mainstream type movies, ranging all genres, including action, suspense, drama, international, and comedy. Admission is $3 for non-members.

This year, Ferris Reel is under the guiding hands of an entirely new executive board. Timothy Szykula, SEAS `99, serves as the chairman. Joaquin Ezcurra CC `98 is the vice- chair, and Andy Park, CC `99 has the role of the treasurer. The club also receives administrative help from former chairman, Charles Speer, SEAS `96. The general membership includes nearly seventy undergraduates, and membership has been notably better this year than in previous years. Membership requires that the member post several flyers every week advertising the upcoming film, and share in duties such as ticket selling, theater clean-up, phone mail forwarding, and event planning.

The new executive board has introduced several new events into the Ferris Reel calendar for this year. The first new idea, called "city screenings," uses a portion of the club's budget to purchase movie tickets for its members to see a new movie at a theater in Manhattan. The focus of the city screenings is to get an early look at new movies by seeing them on their first day of release. Four city screenings are planned for this academic year. The next city screening has been tenatively set for November 8th, with the opening of Ransom, starring Mel Gibson.

The second new event idea, called "private showings," is when the society rents the projection facilities at Altschul Auditorium solely for the use of the members, so that they can watch a personally selected movie that one of the members has chosen. Four of these private showings are tentatively planned for this year, however none of the movie ideas have have been firmly set in stone as of this writing.

Other innovations for this year include showing movie trailers before the feature presentation, and a newly designed "introductory announcement," given by chairman Szykula before the start of each show.

Ferris Reel is expanding its connections with other U.S.O. organizations, also. The Filmmakers Club has offered to provide film shorts created by undergraduates to be shown before Ferris Reel's feature presentations. Moreover, SEAS Class of `99 worked with Ferris Reel to provide discount tickets at $1 apiece for SEAS `99 students on October 31, when Ferris Reel shows "The Hunt for Red October." Calendars of all planned upcoming movies are available in the Office of Student Activities, 2nd Floor, Lion's Court building.

Ferris Reel encourages all other clubs to consult them before undertaking a public performance of any motion picture, regardless of whether admission is charged or not. In accordance with federal copyright laws, movies can only be publically shown after a licensing fee has been paid to a distributor, who temporarily sells the rights to screen a film. For auditorium sized presentations, fees range from $250-$1200 for a single movie, for one night. However, licensing for VCR/TV public performances can cost as little as $100. While it is unusual for Ferris Reel to co-sponsor any other group showing a movie, the officers are happy to give advice on how to successfully organize a showing.

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