John Ford film series begins tonight

“King of directors,” Frank Capra said. “Best director in the world,” Ingmar Bergman said. When asked to name the great masters of film, Orson Welles replied, “John Ford, John Ford and John Ford.” The IU Cinema enters its second week of screenings with a series celebrating the life and work of the man who gave us on-location shooting and John Wayne.

“These are great stories,” Jon Vickers, director of IU Cinema, said.

More than 8,000 tickets have already been reserved for spring screenings since the box office opened Jan. 12.

“The director’s retrospective is a great way to be introduced to the masters — or masters to be.” Films such as “Stagecoach,” “The Grapes of Wrath,” “Rio Grande” and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” are all part of the IU Cinema series titled “John Ford Searches West.”

IU’s new movie theater is carved out of the old theater building adjacent to IU Auditorium and across from the Hoagy Carmichael statue. It’s one of only 10 THX-certified cinemas on college campuses in the nation. The theater has 260 seats, and Vickers wants to fill them all.

“For a film experience, you need the art and the atmosphere,” he said. “You need a place that eliminates distractions so you can’t pause and go get a soda. The architecture should support that, and the people should make the experience personal.”

Vickers has owned and operated two independent movie theaters before coming to IU, most recently at Notre Dame. Vickers draws from his experience as an art house theater director to provide events that transcend the films themselves.

Tonight, the documentary “Directed by John Ford” will be introduced, and Ford’s grandson Dan Ford will show 16mm home movies by the famous director followed by a Q&A.

On Sunday, organist Dennis James will provide a live score to Ford’s silent film “The Iron Horse.”

“The goal is a loyal audience that feels ownership of the cinema and the films,” Vickers said. “You need to be absorbed in it, the way the films were meant to be experienced.”