Our fourth annual Coolidge Award recipient, veteran film editor Thelma Schoonmaker, took Boston by storm. Everyone lucky enough to have tickets to the events that took place at the Coolidge on April 11th and 12th got a crash course in the collaboration process of a gifted editor with her director, screenwriter, composer, sound designer, and special effects department, that is necessary to shape a film. In Thelma's case, of course, we're not talking about any flash-in-the-panning-shot movies, but real treasures like Raging Bull, GoodFellas, The Aviator, and The Departed. She's worked closely with Martin Scorsese for 40 years and their creative partnership has given us some of the greatest movie moments in American cinema.
The Coolidge Award program kicked off again this year with a month-long retrospective screening series. Starting in March, we showed The Aviator, GoodFellas, The King of Comedy, and Raging Bull on the giant screen and a guest speaker introduced each film.
On Wednesday, April 11, Thelma Schoonmaker arrived in Boston after completing some last minute work in her editing suite in New York. As she arrived for her private tour of the theater, Grammy award-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin (www.sharonisbin.com) was on stage rehearsing the medley she would perform at the Award Ceremony later that evening. Sharon is featured on five songs on the soundtrack of The Departed. Composer of The Departed and Berklee alum, Howard Shore (The Aviator, Gangs of New York, Lord of the Rings, History of Violence) had specially written parts for two guitars, which Sharon and her accompanist would play for Thelma and our audience. Howard was also here to pay tribute to Thelma during the ceremony, and to take part in a panel discussion the following night, about the making of The Departed.
At 8:00 pm, after the traditional red carpet walk into the theater, Thelma took her place among the audience. Coolidge Executive Director Joe Zina and Board Chairwoman Malli Gero welcomed everyone and introduced the first selection of film clips from Thelma's outstanding body of work. Other testimonials were given by Howard Shore, Loren King, President of the Boston Society of Film Critics, and Coolidge Advisor, Dr. Thomas Gutheil, a forensic psychologist, who graciously stepped in at the last moment when Rolling Stone film critic Peter Travers had to cancel due to ill health. Appropriately, Dr. Gutheil introduced a selection of clips featuring Robert DeNiro in some of his most maniacal roles.
Letters were read from colleagues who were unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts. Those sending their good wishes were actors Daniel Day Lewis, Lorraine Bracco, and Leonardo DiCaprio, as well as screenwriters Nicholas Pileggi and Jay Cocks. Thelma was visibly moved to hear such heartfelt tributes.
Nick Paleologos, newly appointed Executive Director of the Massachusetts Film Office, and long-time fan of the Coolidge, bestowed the marquee-shaped Coolidge Award on Thelma at the event's finale. Her acceptance speech was gracious, warm, and eloquent. She made a point, as previous Coolidge Award recipients have done, of encouraging people to support independent theaters like the Coolidge and that we should count ourselves lucky to be able to see cinematic work of high quality from around the world in so beautiful a theater.
At 11:00 am on Thursday, April 12th, reporters and photographers were treated to a lively press conference. Bob Shuman and his great staff at Zaftig's provided delicious brunch goodies. Thelma modestly gave credit at every turn to director Martin Scorsese, and talked in depth about their working relationship, which has garnered her three Academy Awards.
The packed audience for the 2:00 pm Master Class was overjoyed to experience Thelma's tour-de-force, consisting of clips that she put together herself, commentary and a generous question-and-answer session.
The film clips were not only from her own work, but also from films by her late husband, the influential British director, Michael Powell (The Red Shoes, Peeping Tom) and even an excerpt from a rarely seen silent film. One of the high points of the seminar was a fascinating in-depth look at the elements that went into the extraordinary fight scenes in Raging Bull, with Thelma particularly pointing out the work of sound designer Frank Warner. Apparently, Warner used the sound of horses shuddering, elephants roaring, fruit exploding, and many other ingenious effects to create a brilliant and indelible aural palette.
The Coolidge Award events culminated with another SRO event, a panel discussion on the movie that took home the Academy Award for Best Picture this year, The Departed. Thelma and Howard Shore introduced the film at the screening that preceded the discussion and the audience went wild to find seated on the panel, not only Thelma Schoonmaker, Howard Shore, and screenwriter William Monahan, but iconic director Martin Scorsese, who had driven up from New York in the middle of production to honor his dear friend and editor. Boston Globe film critic Ty Burr did an excellent job moderating the discussion and taking questions from as many audience members as time would allow. It was really a night that the Coolidge will treasure for many years to come.
There's no question -- Thelma's visit to the Coolidge inspired us all with her abiding passion for cinema. Now we all know a little more about what it takes to create it. For those of us on the board and staff of the Coolidge, it was so gratifying to be able to provide this opportunity to entertain, educate and build community - around film. We're very thankful to all those who helped support the Coolidge Award program this year. We're looking forward to planning next year's program and in the meanwhile, rest assured we're looking after your cinematic well-being. See you at the movies!