Teacher’s Pet

On Tuesday night, the Cinema Society and Montblanc hosted a screening of actor-turned-artist-turned-producer James Franco’s new film for Starz, The Color of Time at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema on New York’s Lower East Side. Franco, who teaches a class on directing at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, produced and starred in the film, which was directed by twelve of his students as part of a class project in Detroit. A cinematic interpretation of poet C.K. Williams’ life, the film takes the form of a lyrical biopic that attempts to bring Williams’ lush imagery and rhythmic verses to life. While the A-list cast—Mila Kunis, Jessica Chastain, and Zach Braff—were not in attendance, Franco was joined by friends like Klaus Biesenbach and Marina Abramović. The film’s dreamy sequences were a feast for the eyes, and guests found another kind of nourishment at the intimate after-party held at Omar’s. “I liked that, in his poems, imagery, rhythm and tone were more primary than the narrative,” said Franco of Williams, “and I thought that if we could adapt those elements it would hopefully change our normal ways of film-making and gets us to maybe make something a little more unconventional.” Mission accomplished.