In this brief clip from my long-form interview The Projectionist, film historian and projectionist Frank Uhle reflects on the evolution of early movie exhibition—from cramped nickelodeons to the grand movie palaces that shaped America’s cinematic imagination.

This is one of several upcoming short excerpts exploring campus film societies, the hidden world of projection booths, and the people who kept film culture alive long before streaming.

🎥 Watch the full interview:

Pico sits down with Frank Uhle, film historian, projectionist, and author of Cinema Ann Arbor: How Campus Rebels Forged a Singular Film Culture. Together they explore the secret history of the projection booth — from the roaring carbon-arc lamps of the 1940s to today’s automated digital cinema. Frank walks us through the forgotten world of campus film societies, the Ann Arbor Film Festival, and the evolution of projection technology that shaped how generations experienced movies.As AI begins to redefine filmmaking, Pico and Frank look back at what made film magic — and what we stand to lose when the light of the projector finally goes out.

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📖 Frank Uhle’s book: Cinema Ann Arbor: How Campus Rebels Forged a Singular Film Culture (on Amazon)

💬 Reviews of Frank’s book: Google Search Results👉 More Pico interviews: Japan’s New Kimono Craze (Japan Vibes Series, Ep.1)

0:00 Intro with Frank Uhle 0:18 Welcome to Pico’s World – setting up “The Projectionist” 2:08 Frank’s early love of cinema – monster movies and midnight TV 4:48 Joining Ann Arbor’s student film societies 6:25 Discovering Cinema II and life in the 1970s film scene 8:09 Ann Arbor’s campus film culture and the Michigan Theater 10:00 The Ann Arbor Film Festival and underground cinema 12:27 Becoming a film archivist and historian 13:59 Digging through archives for *Cinema Ann Arbor* 16:23 How the book evolved beyond campus film clubs 18:20 The origins of projection – from Edison to the 1920s 21:07 What makes film flammable – nitrate stock and danger in the booth 23:16 How projectionists switch reels without anyone noticing 25:13 Big lights, big auditoriums – the power of Carbon Arc 26:17 Drive-in theaters and projecting through the rain 28:34 Film sizes – 8mm, 16mm, 35mm, and 70mm 30:58 Home theaters and rare collectors’ prints 33:38 Cooling systems and the heat of projection 34:57 From film to digital – how the shift began 36:00 The evolution of television and video technology 39:33 Digital cinema and the rise of DCPs 41:48 How modern projectors work – xenon, lasers, and automation 44:07 The vanishing projectionist and fully automated theaters 45:36 70mm returns – Oppenheimer and nostalgia for film 47:10 Can you tell the difference between film and digital? 49:25 Legendary brands of projectors – from Simplex to Christie 51:30 The uncertain future of movie theaters 53:55 The decline of campus and mall theaters 55:16 AI, film education, and creative disruption 58:31 Reflections on the analog era and the magic of the theater 1:01:27 Closing thoughts – why real movies still matter#AIPlanet #PicosWorld #TheProjectionist #FrankUhle #CinemaAnnArbor #FilmHistory #ProjectionBooth #AnalogFilm #DigitalCinema #AIandMedia #MovieTheater #CampusFilmSocieties #MichiganTheater #AnnArborFilmFestival #Filmmaking

In this episode, Pico challenges the dominant narrative of artificial intelligence, offering a fresh perspective that reframes AI musical performances as one-way machine-generated communication signals — rather than as a kind of intelligent interaction. What happens when we change how we define AI performance art? Can this shift empower us as creators and consumers of art?

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⏱️ **Chapters**

00:10 – Welcome to Real Music: AI Music Series Begins00:39 – Can We Use AI Without the Downsides?01:28 – The Problem With How We Define AI02:47 – Let’s Rethink the “I” in AI04:13 – Survival, Not Intelligence, Drives Evolution05:00 – A Better Definition: Machine-Generated Signals06:21 – How Humans Filter Non-Human Signals07:20 – Ranking Media Based on Authenticity09:30 – Why the Signal Itself Matters11:00 – Comparing Old and New AI Definitions13:43 – Who’s Really Behind AI Media?15:15 – The Power to Hold AI Broadcasters Accountable16:04 – Why AI Lacks Human Bonding17:14 – Wrapping Up: Can AI Music Be Real Art?17:50 – Teaser: “Musician Impostors” (Next Episode)#AIMusic #RealMusicPodcast #PicosWorld #ArtificialIntelligence #AuthenticityInArt #CreativeAI #HumanVsMachine