Master Classes - David Cronenberg

MK Raghavendra and David Cronenberg
At the specific request of the communications departments of various city colleges, a special section devoted to the films of David Cronenberg has been organized by BIFFES. This is intended as part of the ongoing study of cinema in these educational institutions and entry is therefore for these students of cinema. The films will be introduced by MK Raghavendra, film scholar and critic, and screenings will be followed by discussions.

MK Raghavendra is a national award-winning critic. He is the author of ‘Seduced by the Familiar: Narration and Meaning in Indian Popular Cinema’ (Oxford, 2008), ‘50 Indian film Classics’ (HarperCollins, 2009) and ‘Bipolar Identity: Region, Nation and the Kannada Language Film’.

David Paul Cronenberg, OC, FRSC (born March 15, 1943) is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter and actor. He is one of the principal originators of what is commonly known as the body horror or venereal horror genre. This style of filmmaking explores people's fears of bodily transformation and infection. In his films, the psychological is typically intertwined with the physical. In the first half of his career, he explored these themes mostly through horror and science fiction, although his work has since expanded beyond these genres. He has been called "the most audacious and challenging narrative director in the English-speaking world."

After two short sketch films and two short art-house features (the black and white Stereo and the colour Crimes of the Future) Cronenberg went into partnership with Ivan Reitman. The Canadian government provided financing for his films through the 1970s. He alternated his signature "body horror" films such as SHIVERS with projects reflecting his interest in car racing and bike gangs. Rabid exploited the unexpected acting talents of pornographic actress Marilyn Chambers (Cronenberg's first choice was a young, then-unknown Sissy Spacek). Rabid was a breakthrough with international distributors and his next two horror features gained stronger support.

Over the arc of his career, Cronenberg's films follow a definite progression, a movement from the social world to the inner life. This trajectory culminates in DEAD RINGERS in which a twin pair of gynaecologists spiral into co-dependency and drug addiction. His later films tend more to the psychological, often contrasting subjective and objective realities (EXISTENZ, M. BUTTERFLY, SPIDER). Perhaps the best example of a film that straddles the line between his works of personal chaos and psychological confusion is Cronenberg's "adaptation" of his literary hero William S. Burroughs' most controversial book, Naked Lunch. The book was considered "unfilmable" and Cronenberg acknowledged that a straight translation into film would "cost 100 million dollars and be banned in every country in the world". Instead—much like in his earlier film, VIDEODROME—he consistently blurred the lines between what appeared to be reality and what appeared to be hallucinations brought on by the main character's drug addiction. Some of the book's "moments" (as well as incidents loosely based upon Burroughs' life) are presented in this manner within the film. Cronenberg stated that while writing the screenplay for Naked Lunch, he felt a moment of synergy with the writing style of Burroughs. He felt the connection between his screenwriting style and Burroughs' prose style was so strong, that he jokingly remarked that should Burroughs pass on, "I'll just write his next book."

Cronenberg has said that his films should be seen "from the point of view of the disease", and that, for example, he identifies with the characters in SHIVERS after they become infected with the anarchic parasites. Disease and disaster, in Cronenberg's work, are smaller problems to be overcome than agents of personal transformation. In 2008 Cronenberg realized two extra-cinematographic projects: the exhibition Chromosomes at the Rome Film Fest and the opera The Fly at the LaOpera in Los Angeles and Theatre Châtelet in Paris.

Filmography:
2012 Cosmopolis (post-production)
2011 A Dangerous Method
2007 Eastern Promises
2007 To Each His Own Cinema (segment "At the Suicide of the Last Jew in the World in the Last Cinema in the World")
2005 A History of Violence
2002 Spider
2001 Short6 (segment "Camera")
2000 Camera (short)
1999 eXistenZ
1996 Crash
1993 M. Butterfly
1991 Naked Lunch
1990 Scales of Justice (TV series)
1990 Regina vs Logan
1990 Regina vs Horvath
1988 Dead Ringers
1988 Friday the 13th (TV series)
1988 Faith Healer
1986 The Fly
1983 The Dead Zone
1983 Videodrome
1981 Scanners
1979 The Brood
1979 Fast Company
1977 Rabid
1976 Teleplay (TV series)
1976 The Italian Machine
1975 They Came from Within
1975 Peep Show (TV series)
1975 The Lie Chair
1975 The Victim
1972 Lakeshore (TV short)
1972 Fort York (TV short)
1972 In the Dirt (TV short)
1972 Scarborough Bluffs (TV short)
1972 Winter Garden (TV short)
1972 Programme X (TV series)
1972 Secret Weapons
1972 Don Valley (TV short)
1971 Jim Ritchie Sculptor (TV movie)
1971 Tourettes (TV movie)
1971 Letter from Michelangelo (TV movie)
1970 Crimes of the Future
1969 Stereo
1967 From the Drain (short)
1966 Transfer (short)