Montage VII Palacky

Palacky: Montage VII (1986/1998) A Film By Ben Urish Photography By Rob McHenry, Scott Phillips Music By Joel Sanderson Editing Assistant: Milton R. Machuka Inspired by and meant to honor the filmmakers and films of the original Montage series, this film examines a Bohemian cemetery in Western Kansas. Photographer Rob McHenry andthen-future scenarist and novelist Scott Phillips each did some of the cinematography. I suggested ideas for it, and the music score was composed and performed by mixed/multi-media artist JoelSanderson. The Montage Series By Ben Urish Beginning in 1951 Wichita, Kansas had a vibrant and adventurous film society. TheWichita Film Society (WFS) was a focal point for those interested in the cinema arts andwas both an institution of education, exhibition, and a hub for other aspects of the local artand theater scenes. By the late 1950s, the WFS had several members and frequent patrons who wanted tomake films of their own and in 1959, three of them formed Montage Productions, named aftertheir interest in the films (and film theories) of Sergei Eisenstein and V.I Pudovkin. The filmsin the series eventually were tied together by two broad and broadly defined attributes: 1) theywere about people or places (or both) in Kansas, and 2) the films were artistic representationsof other artistic representations, broadly defined. The series lasted until 1965 by which timethe members' careers took them away from Wichita and each other. Each film had its premiereat a WFS screening. Credits as they appear in the films and a brief synopsis of the films are printed below. In the early and mid-1980s, I researched the history of The Wichita Film Society and asa result, came across the information about the Montage films written here. Through other local filmmakers and former WFS members, I was able to get in touch withCorban LePell, Wayne Sourbeer, Richard Wright, and Bruce Conner. They shared theirmemories and insights and either loaned me copies of their films or told me where to findthem. Eventually, the WFS rescreened their films for the public along with more recent films bylocal filmmakers. I then got the idea to try and finish their unfinished works and began to read up onthe town of Nicodemus, the subject of one of their unfinished Montage Productions. Soon, however, I decided to make a film of my own, in more or less the same style that theyhad used. That film is listed here as well. Years later, former WFS chairperson Rob McHenryalso made a film inspired by the Montage series and that film is also listed here. The leader of Montage Productions was Wayne Sourbeer, who later went on to be anoted photographer and also to make several award-winning documentaries and other films, aswell as building a successful career at PBS. His awards included winning an Emmy. Whencontacted in the early 1980s he related that he had made the film Starry Night, about thenoted Van Gogh painting and he reported that he thought of it as being “Montage-like” in formand purpose. The other two members were Richard Meyer and Richard Grove. In addition to their workwith the WFS and Montage Productions, they began a film class, assisted other local filmmakers, and even started another alternative film series at a local Wichita theater withuniversity professor Walter Merrill who was a major supporter of both the Montage group andthe film and art scene in Wichita. Meyer went into television work eventually being a station director while Grove ran various art museums and became a museum Education Specialist forthe U.S. Office of Education. He often instituted film programs as part of his work.

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