Week 3

• The Charles Theater was important for the development of "underground film" in New York City mainly because it opened an even larger window of opportunity for "off-beat" small-scale films to meet the world.  Not only did this theater offer these "eclectic" films, but it also offered a place for other art forms and music to be presented to the public.  Jonas Mekas began planning the midnight screenings at the Charles and soon "he scheduled one-person shows for avant-garde filmmakers."  These films were amazing and shocking to the audiences, which began to draw in an even wider variety of people and crowds out to see these screenings.  The Charles helped widen the spectrum in film making and viewing, by opening a door into the world of "The Underground" films.  This gave many filmmakers the opportunity to get their work out into the film world for a larger crowd to see their work.