Reg Hartt
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Reg Hartt (born on June 12, 1946 in Rothwell, New Brunswick) is a Toronto film archivist well known in the city for his unique staging of old, important movies. Since 1992 he has shown the movies in his house on Bathurst Street. The screening room is his front parlour featuring a mismatched assortment of junk-shop seats. A neon sign reading "Cineforum" placed in the front window indicates his presence. An inscription in ancient Greek over the front door reads "abandon all hope, ye who enter here."
Hartt has been screening movies in Toronto since the early 1970s. His characteristic black and white typewriter-text-with-film-stills advertising posters are ubiquitous around downtown Toronto, and he can occasionally be seen riding his bicycle with a big stack of them in the front basket.
The films he screens are generally old and tend to the bizzarre; typical programs include "the anarchist surrealist hallucinatory film festival" featuring works of Man Ray, Dalí, and Buñuel, or "the sex and violence cartoon festival" featuring racy Bugs Bunny cartoons. Other offerings include Murnau's Nosferatu set to a Radiohead score and a clean print of Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will. His collection includes several rare items, including the only complete print of the 1933 Paramount version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Hartt is known for delivering long addresses on the subject of Christ, cartoons, or anecdotes concerning his varied life experiences during the breaks in his longer programs.
