From his first film depicting his boyhood life in the Canary Islands, Ricky Leacock has been obsessed with capturing on film the feeling of “being there.” This curiosity led him to technological innovations and breakthrough films that fueled the emerging “direct cinema” movement. In 1948, he shot
Louisiana Story with Robert and Frances Flaherty and he has worked with other cinéma vérité pioneers like Robert Drew and D. A. Pennebaker on films like
Primary,
Happy Mother's Day, and
Monterey Pop.
In the late 1960s, Leacock headed the film department at MIT, and with Ed Pincus, trained many talented direct cinema filmmakers. He later moved to France, where he continued to teach and make films such as Les Oeufs a La Coque de Richard Leacock.
Ricky Leacock visited Screening Room on June 15, 1973, with Al Mecklenburg and Jon Rosenfeld. He demonstrates super-8 sync technology and screens excerpts from his films Republicans: The New Breed and Queen of Apollo, as well as rare footage of Indira Ghandi.
Screening Room was a Boston television series that ran for almost ten years from 1972-1981. It offered independent filmmakers a chance to show and discuss their work on a commercial (ABC-TV) affiliate station. The series was developed and hosted by filmmaker Robert Gardner (Dead Birds, Forest of Bliss).
Many of the filmmakers presented on the show - Jan Lenica, John and Faith Hubley, Emile DeAntonio, Jean Rouch, Ricky Leacock, Jonas Mekas, Bruce Baillie, Yvonne Rainer and Michael Snow - are now considered some of the most influential contributors to their respective fields of modern experimental film, documentary, and animation.
Nearly 100 programs were produced during the years Screening Room was broadcast. Twenty seven episodes have been edited for release in 3 categories:
Animation,
Documentary, and
Experimental Film.