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...Rear Window is the brainchild of David Kleiler, who runs the organization out of his home in Brookline. Kleiler began the Rear Window a little over six years ago, after 12 years of teaching film at Babson College. Feeling disconnected from the world of cinema after quitting Babson, Kleiler began the organization as a showcase for locally produced films, particularly shorts, which were going unappreciated in the Boston community. Kleiler had previously shown films in his living room, and liked the casual environment and discussion such a format provided...
Today, the Rear Window continues to maintain this casual tradition. Kleiler shows his films in locations as diverse as Chet's Last Call, the Brookline Arts Center, and the Boston Food Coop. At a screening I attended last year, a series of Nick Zedd shorts were shown on a portable screen in the now defunct Studio 54 on Queensbury Street in the Fenway. The audience lounged on the floor, passing around beer from a Bud suitcase to friends and strangers alike, while Lydia Lunch spouted profanities overhead...
Kleiler still programs the Rear Window himself, maintaining his commitment to local film, but also branching out to include obscure and cult features ranging from Russ Meyer films to little seen works of major directors like Sam Peckinpah. To keep in touch with the demands of his audience, Kleiler uses suggestion boxes. Still, he consciously steers clear of the films offerred in ordinary repertory series. "I've tried to ensure that the Rear Window, as primitive as it is, have different conditions than the usual moviehouse. We try to maintain a certain funkiness...
...Rear Window's funkiness is clearly evident in its average weekly fare. Films as diverse as "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Girl Can't Help It," "Gervaise" and "Repulsion," alternate with live music and experimental performance. The Rear Window also runs several series in conjunction with other organizations. Besides Kleiler's own. trademark "Festival of the Bizarre and Insane," the Rear Window has recently programmed the "Images of Boston" series (in conjunction with the Boston Center for Adult Education) and "Sets in the Cinema: The Movies and Modern Architecture" (with the Boston Architectural Center). In his diverse approach...
DESPITE THE REAR WINDOW'S MANY projects, and its established reputation for programming, financial solvency is still difficult for Kleiler. "I hold down six part-time jobs, and try to stay ahead of the bills." Audiences for Rear Window features range from as little as six to as many as sixty people (at a recent showing of "Swing-time"). Collaborations with organizations such as the Boston Architectural Center (which rebuilt its top floor screening room for the Rear Window) and the Boston Food Co-op ease the financial burden; these organizations underwrite the series, giving Kleiler the freedom to program...