JASON TAKES THE TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL!

This past April, TCM Classic Film Tour Guide Jason went to the 2018 TCM Classic Film Festival, the ultimate festival for any classic film lover. Join him as he shows us a few highlights from his trip to the festival!

Here I am with TCM co-host Ben Mankiewicz. It was wonderful chatting with him again after our co-hosting segment in January on TCM.

Here I am with new TCM and FilmStruck co-host Alicia Malone. Alicia is also the author of Backwards and In Heels: The Past, Present, and Future of Women Working in Film and host of the FilmStruck podcast. Check them both out if you haven't!

Every year, Club TCM at the Hollywood Roosevelt displays classic movie memorabilia. This is the Sarah Siddons award seen at the beginning of All About Eve.

I also took the brand-new Classics Made Here at the Warner Brothers Studio Tour. Here is the iconic WB water tower.

This is the last remaining exterior set from Casablanca. It was in front of this building that Rick (Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) learned the German were approaching Paris.

No trip to the WB Studio Tour is complete without entering the set for Central Perk from Friends. Here I am sitting on that iconic couch laughing at all of my imaginary friends. We feature the exterior for the Friends building on our NY TV and Movie Tour!

Here's a quick glimpse of legend Cicely Tyson about to walk on the red carpet for the opening night showing of The Producers. The next morning, she had her hand and footprint ceremony outside of the TCL Chinese Theatre!

This is the massive camera used to film Grand Prix, starring James Garner and Eva Marie Saint, in Cinerama. I was lucky enough to see this Cinerama film in its original format at the Cinerama dome.

After the screening of 1966's Grand Prix, film expert Leonard Maltin led an engaging conversation with actress Eva Marie Saint.

The Czar of Noir, Eddie Muller, introduces actress Marsha Hunt, before a screening of None Shall Escape. This 1944 drama about the Holocaust was made and released before World War II ended. It predicted the Nuremberg trials of Nazi soldiers by a few years.

Academy Award winning director William Friedkin led an hour-long Q&A session with Ben Mankiewicz before a screening of The Exorcist at the Chinese. He personally supervised the formatting of the projection and sound beforehand; it looked and sounded fantastic!

A quick glimpse inside the Chinese theatre before an early morning screening of 1968's Bullitt starring Steve McQueen.

James Ivory, Academy Award winning screenwriter for Call Me By Your Name, introduces a screening of 1987's Maurice. He calls the two movies spiritual twins.

Through TCM Backlot, my friend and I were invited to a private wine tasting of new wines from the TCM Wine Club. Here's a backwards glimpse of the iconic sign at the Hollywood Roosevelt hotel. Did you know that the first Academy Awards was held in the same room that Club TCM is set up in?

Here's my friend and I enjoying some wine from the TCM Wine Club on the rooftop of the Roosevelt. Can you spot the Chinese behind us?

Horror legend John Carpenter introduces a screening of 1932's Scarface.

Shaun of the Dead writer and star Simon Pegg introduces a midnight screening of 1968's Night of the Living Dead.

The final day of the festival began with a private TCM Backlot tour of the American Society of Cinematographers Clubhouse.

Here is Richard Edlund (VFX supervisor for Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Ghostbusters) discussing the Technicolor 3 strip camera.

Here is an original Lumiere cinematographe camera from the early 1890's. This is loaned to the ASC Clubhouse from the La Cinematheque Francaise in Paris.

Here is Richard Edlund now showcasing the Mitchell BNC 2, the same camera used to film Citizen Kane.

We also got a glimpse of film stills from classic movies shot on some of the cameras in the ASC Clubhouse. Here's a shot from Mr. Smith Goes To Washington.

A final glimpse of the TCM banners after leaving a nitrate screening of 1937's A Star is Born, one of my favorite films I saw during the festival!

If you're not able to make it out to the TCMFF in LA, you should absolutely join us on the TCM Classic Film Tour every Thursday and Saturday.