San Francisco Film Society Oral History Project Interview with ...

CLAUDE JARMAN: You know, it’s interesting because we go back to one of the reasons why we made
a big change in the Festival and that was the press, they were all over Bud Levin, because I guess there
was one film where they couldn’t find the first reel of the film, and they showed the second reel—No,
they had the director get up and say what happened in the first reel, and then they showed the second
reel. And then they found it at the end, and they put on the first reel. And the local press just said, “Oh,
this thing’s kind of mickey-mouse and needs help,” so I think that’s when Bud just said, “I don’t want to
do this anymore. I’ve been beaten up enough.” (LAUGHS)
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: A little later on, but at this time as well, a lot of the board members were
civic leaders without any particular expertise in film. What role did they play?
CLAUDE JARMAN: No major role other than just offering support, buying tickets. They were never
really involved in the events of the Festival, as far as the selection. That was pretty well controlled by
the selection committee and the people who were more involved in films.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: And they didn’t interfere or ask to—
CLAUDE JARMAN: No.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: You talked a little about the retrospectives, and it certainly got off with a
big bang in ’65, with all these fabulous directors. How did those develop? Was any other festival doing
them?
CLAUDE JARMAN: No, not that I know of. We totally relied on Albert Johnson. Albert and I were
always fighting, because he always made them so long. It started a war. I mean, at five hours, he
couldn’t cut the time down. He just was incapable of doing that. They would go on and on and on and
on. But people loved the films and just ate it up. It was, to me, the really unique part of the Festival.
MARGARITA LANDAZURI: I miss them.
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