Reginald Hartt (born June 12, 1946) is a film archivist in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. He is known for his stagings of historical and contemporary films at his 40-seat theatre, The Cineforum.

Career

Beginning in 1965, Hartt originally screened his films in rented locations. These included the Bathurst Street Church and the

Spadina Hotel The Spadina Hotel was one of the names of the hotels operated at 460 King Street West, in Toronto, at the corner of Spadina Avenue and King Street. The hotel was built in late 1873, the three storey Victorian building featuring a smal ...

, as well as Sneaky Dee's, Rochdale College, and locations on Queen Street West and

Mirvish Village Palmerston-Little Italy is a neighbourhood in central Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its boundaries, according to the City of Toronto, are by Bathurst Street to the east, Bloor Street to the north, Dovercourt Road to the west and College Street to th ...

. From 1970 to 1975, he served as Director of Cinema Studies at Toronto's Rochdale College. He has lectured at art galleries, colleges, museums, schools, theatres, and universities across Canada and in the United States. Since 1992, he has shown the movies in the front parlor of his Bathurst Street home. An inscription in ancient Greek over the front door reads, "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here." Hartt's black and white typewriter-text-with-film-stills advertising posters are ubiquitous around downtown Toronto to the point where they were used as part of the background of a comic book cover.

Film presentations

The films he nominally screens include "the anarchist surrealist hallucinatory film festival" featuring works of Man Ray,

Salvador Dalí Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí of Púbol (; ; ; 11 May 190423 January 1989) was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in ...

, and Luis Buñuel, and "the sex and violence cartoon festival" featuring racy Bugs Bunny cartoons, including some of the infamous

Censored Eleven The Censored Eleven is a group of ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' cartoons originally produced and released by Warner Bros. that were withheld from syndication in the United States by United Artists (UA) since 1968. UA owned the di ...

. Other offerings include "Kid Dracula" (Murnau's '' Nosferatu'' set to Radiohead's '' Kid A'') and a clean print of Leni Riefenstahl's '' Triumph of the Will''. Although met with controversy, his screening of ''Triumph of the Will'' is understood to be educational and has been described as such by Bernie Farber (former executive director of the Canadian Jewish Congress) and author Jane Jacobs, among others. Hartt's collection includes films by Winsor McCay and Mike Jittlov. Past presentations have included guest programmers. The complete Zatoichi film franchise series was hosted by Grey Coyote of Paradise Bound Music. Charlie Huisken of This Ain't the Rosedale Library is a frequent guest programmer, as were Jamie Ross and also Andre Skinner of Canteen Knockout. Nima Hoda did an in-depth look at the music of Bernard Herrmann for '' Jason and the Argonauts''. Hartt is known for delivering inspired addresses on the subject of Jesus Christ, cartoons, or anecdotes concerning his varied life experiences as a prologue to, or during, the breaks in his longer programs. His residency at Rochdale College, where he was director of cinema studies, is the topic of a spoken word performance, and he has hosted poetry readings.''Eye Magazine''. May 13, 1993. Hartt has been host to many famous artists and writers, including writer

John Robert Colombo John Robert Colombo, CM (born March 24, 1936) is a Canadian author, editor, and poet. He has published over 200 titles, including major anthologies and reference works. Early life Colombo was born in Kitchener, Ontario, in 1936. He attended t ...

, film historian Elwy Yost, rock journalist Al Aronowitz, Jane Jacobs, science-fiction writer Judith Merril, British artist

Peter Moore Peter or Pete Moore may refer to: Politicians *Peter Moore (British politician) (1753–1828), English civil servant of the East India Company and politician *Peter Moore (Queensland politician) (born 1938), member of the Queensland Legislative As ...

, Canadian animator John Kricfalusi, Bob Clampett, Friz Freleng, Grim Natwick, Shamus Culhane,

Bernard B. Brown Bernard B. Brown (July 24, 1898 – February 20, 1981) was an American sound engineer and composer, who wrote the scores for many early animated cartoons produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions for distribution by Warner Bros. Pictures. H ...

, and Pierre Berton, who gave his last public reading at the Cineforum.

References

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Footnotes

External links

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Reg Hartt Collection
at the Film Reference Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Hartt, Reg 1946 births Living people People from Queens County, New Brunswick People from Toronto Canadian film critics Canadian archivists Canadian film historians