Cauleen Smith

“Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing. This is so hard because, like, you know, everybody wants like the whole closet to come home, but one must choose.”

“This is an Ozu film I haven't seen but I saw the title and it just washed over me, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice. I'll let you know, I'll let you know what I think about that one.”

“I am really happy to have this: Stalker, Tarkovsky. It's like, you know, but Stalker is my jam, my jam.”

“Blow-Up. It has like a crazy energy and the mystery is like just hovering and there's just so much like tension and misunderstanding and it's like a film I watch, it's like a train wreck. I don't even know like what I'm waiting for sometimes. So I'm gonna take it home and watch it again and try and figure it out.”

“This is a visual poem, this film. I randomly found it in a library, took it home, watched it, didn't know what I was watching. Definitely changed my understanding of how to make an image for a film frame. A few years ago I was in Rotterdam and they had his outtakes of stuff that's not in the film. It just took my breath away all over again. I'm really excited to revisit Parajanov, The Color of Pomegranates, because man, this film is like nothing I've ever seen.”

“Whenever someone asks me like which Sembène film to watch, there are many, but this one I think is just so close to my heart. I just thought maybe like the first film I ever saw that really focused on a Black Girl, period. And so I just absolutely love this film and its biting commentary.”

“In that vein, I remember like the title sequence of To Sleep with Anger is ridiculously cool. It is just enthralling, exciting, and sets you up for this really intense, thoughtful family drama. The acting, the Performance, it was so exciting when it came out to see this, such a breath of fresh air. But for some reason, it's the title sequence that is just seared into my mind.”

“This film Symbiopsychotaxiplasm. Is that, I'm a teacher and it is always my great pleasure to introduce my students to this film, to talk to them about 1968 and like a different time. And, their responses every year as I grow older and they grow younger change, the language gets like uncomfortable, people have to do trigger alerts and stuff. And I love this movie. I love the way people talk to each other. I love the mutiny. I love the crew struggling. I love Bill Greaves doing this thing.”

“Where's Princess Bride? So you know, like whenever someone starts quoting from this film, it's like you know you've met family, right? This is the bonding comedy. I've seen this film 25 times and I'm always sent into like total fits of giggles. I wish someone could explain it to me, like why it never stops being funny. But it just looks like it was fun to make, fun to be in. Look at this beautiful storybook cover.”

“I'm gonna go back to my school days and get a Chris Marker, La Jetée. This is important.”

“I'm taking home Jean-Pierre Gorin because I worked with the guy at UC San Diego for several years and I'm quite fond of him and I think his films are like nothing else I've ever seen so I'm really happy to have them in my collection.”