Notes
What a repertory programme is for
The difference between a good repertory season and a list of good films is that the season makes a claim.
A claim can be small. Four films by different directors that all take place over a single night; a run of debuts by cinematographers who later became directors; three adaptations of the same novel shown in the wrong order. The programme note does not need to explain it — the audience assembles the argument from the sequence.
What kills a season is completeness. A full retrospective of a major director is a service rather than a programme: everybody who wanted to see the films could already see them, and the weaker entries dilute the run. A selection of six, chosen to make a point, is remembered for years.
The economics push the other way, which is why complete retrospectives keep happening. A name sells tickets; an argument has to be trusted. Venues that have built that trust can programme almost anything, and the ones that have not are stuck showing the same twelve titles.