still from Swoon

1992 / 93 min
Director: Tom Kalin / Screenwriters: Tom Kalin & Hilton Als
Cast: Daniel Schlachet, Craig Chester, Ron Vawter
Digital | Courtesy of Tom Kalin

Film introduced by the director, Tom Kalin.

Several earlier movies had told the story of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, two well-bred young men from Chicago who killed a boy for thrills in 1924. But until Tom Kalin’s revelatory first feature, Swoon, no movie had ever placed the killers’ sexual relationship front and center. Swoon did just that, bringing the viewer deep inside the complex power dynamics that led Leopold and Loeb to commit murder. At a time when debate was already raging about positive representation of the gay community, Swoon became the subject of countless arguments and a key film in what became known as the New Queer Cinema. Kalin has taught at Columbia since 1997. (Ira Deutchman distributed the movie while at Fine Line Features.)

 This screening is part of NY Indie Guy: Ira Deutchman and the Rise of Independent Film

On September 14-16 and September 20-23, 2018, Columbia University’s Lenfest Center for the Arts will host a retrospective exhibit honoring the career of Film Professor and Producing Concentration Supervisor Ira Deutchman. Since 1975, Deutchman has been a leader in distributing, marketing, and producing American independent films, international films, and arthouse films. He is perhaps best known for founding and running the distribution companies Cinecom, Fine Line Features, and Emerging Pictures. Deutchman has taught at Columbia since 1987.  

This retrospective will screen essential motion pictures from various points in Deutchman’s career, such as The Brother From Another Planet; Diva; Harlan County USA; sex, lies, & videotape; Swoon; and A Woman Under the Influence. Many showings will feature Q&A talkbacks with filmmakers or performers. The celebration will also include panel discussions and an extensive exhibit covering Deutchman’s impact on cinema.  

Sponsors

The Art House Convergence
Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard
Film and Media Studies, Columbia University School of the Arts
The Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University
The Institute for Research on Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Columbia University
The University of Michigan Library