On November 2nd, the Cognitive Film Society returns to the Hewlett-Woodmere Library's Gold Theater for our most ambitious programming yet: Edgar G. Ulmer's Detour (1945) with live musical accompaniment.
Before the film begins, the talented jazz duo Aleksy + Victoria will perform music rooted in the smoky 1940s clubs where Detour's protagonist Al Roberts once played piano for tips and dreams.
These seniors at Hewlett High School are old souls, who bring a maturity to era standards. They’ll transports us directly into Roberts' world of dive bars, late nights, and desperate hope that fuel both great jazz and great noir.
Jazz and Detour capture the improvisation and beautiful accidents of American art-making: musicians finding melody in chaos, Ulmer finding cinema in constraint. When Roberts hitchhikes west toward what he hopes will be a better life, he's jazz-walking into a nightmare of mistaken identity, bad decisions, and the kind of existential dread that only 68 minutes of perfect filmmaking can contain.
Noir-Vember Begins
This screening launches Noir-Vember - our month-long dive into cinema's darkest and most beautiful corner. Beyond this kickoff event, expect Cognitive Frames deep-dive essays exploring noir's philosophical depths, curated Letterboxd lists of essential and overlooked titles, potential partnership screenings (we're in active talks with Regal Theaters), pop-up discussions, and online programming that examines why noir remains cinema's most essential genre for understanding American dreams and nightmares
Special Guest: Alex Rollins Berg
Joining us for our post-screening discussion is filmmaker and NYU professor
, whose newsletter Underexposed has become essential reading for anyone serious about cinema. As a leading voice in the "Filmstack" movement, he champions overlooked films with the same passion that drives our community's growing enthusiasm for cinema that challenges and rewards.
Alex's recent analysis of Detour captures exactly why this film endures: "In the annals of noir, Detour is a scrappy outlier - a 68-minute shadow play shot on a shoestring in a matter of days." He understands what makes Ulmer's masterpiece so haunting—how its "shaggy edges and stark fatalism still cast a potent spell, even all these years later."
As Alex notes, this is cinema that impressed masters like Wim Wenders, who called Ann Savage's performance "30 years ahead of its time," and Errol Morris, who declared Detour his favorite film for its "unparalleled quality of despair, totally unrelieved by hope." Alex's insights will help us understand why this scrappy B-movie became the only film of its kind selected for the National Film Registry.
Building Our Cinema Community
With highly-engaged, well-attended screenings of Rear Window and Ghost in the Shell, we're proving something important: neighbors want more than algorithm-approved content. They want films that challenge, conversations that matter, and the irreplaceable experience of watching cinema together.
What's most exciting? Watching young people discover these masterpieces for the first time. Seeing teenagers and octogenarians alike gasp at Hitchcock's suspense techniques. Hearing students debate anime philosophy in the library lobby. Witnessing neighbors who've never met bond over a shared love of great storytelling.
Detour represents everything we celebrate—a masterpiece made with minimal resources but maximum vision. This is cinema that rewards attention, that sparks conversations, that proves great art transcends generations.
Essential Details:
When: Sunday, November 2, 2:00 PM
Where: Gold Theater, Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library
Cost: Free admission
Music: Live jazz opening by talented Hewlett High School students
Discussion: Alex Rollins Berg of Underexposed
Runtime: 68 minutes + discussion
What to Expect: Live music, film screening, expert discussion, and the growing community that makes each Cognitive Film Society event special.
The Cognitive Film Society: Building critical infrastructure for cinema that matters, one screening at a time.
