Pictured: Ira Deutchman and Martin Scorsese

1978 / 117 min
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast:  Robbie Robertson, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, Garth Hudson, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, The Staples Singers, Ronnie Hawkins, Emmylou Harris, Ringo Starr, Paul Butterfield, Dr. John, Ronnie Wood, Michael McClure, Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Digital

On Thanksgiving 1976, the seminal American rock group The Band played its farewell concert in San Francisco, joined by a host of guest artists including Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, and Eric Clapton. Director Martin Scorsese captured the event with a similarly starry posse of cinematographers, including Michael Chapman, Laszlo Kovacs, and Vilmos Zsigmond. The Last Waltz is not only one of the finest rock films, but also an elegy for an era of music and culture that was coming to an end. (Ira Deutchman worked on the release of the film while at United Artists Classics.)

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