STF’s night of American radicals: THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND

• by Raphaela Neihausen, November 19, 2009

“This may sound odd, but before 2003 I could go for a year without talking about the Weather Underground,” said Mark Rudd, author of the recently published memoir UNDERGROUND, speaking at Monday night’s STF. What changed in 2003 was the release of Sam Green and Bill Siegel’s film THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND exploring the history of the 1970’s radical group whose tactics of violent confrontation left a controversial legacy. “When the film came out,” Rudd said, “I really started thinking about history. Would the Weather Underground exist in people’s memory, if this film hadn’t come out?”  Siegel joined Rudd for the Q&A. The night was co-presented by Docurama as part of its 10th anniversary celebration. (Photo of Oliver Stone, Johanna Lawrenson - the widow of Abbie Hoffman, and Mark Rudd - a fortuitous sidewalk post-screening meeting on the way to 99 Below, courtesy of EJ Kaniewski / Bear)

Q&A with Thom Powers and Weather Underground cofounder Mark Rudd.  Photo courtesy of EJ Kaniewski / Bear.

Oliver Stone with Johanna Lawrenson (widow of Abbie Hoffman) in front of Minetta Tavern.  Photo courtesy of Adrian Marin.

WEATHER UNDERGROUND codirector Bill Siegel with STF passholder (and his high school classmate from 25 years ago!) Jonathan Lieberman.

Paul Cronin, author of HERZOG ON HERZOG and director of A TIME TO STIR (another film featuring Mark Rudd) with the man himself - Mark Rudd.

The wonderful folks at Docurama who provide STF passholder DVDs and co-presented this screening of THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND in honor of their 10th anniversary: April Benavides and John Squires.

STF passholder Courtney Erwin attended this screening straight from the airport, after getting off a 30 hour flight from Australia.  Now that’s dedication!

Related Film/Screening:
THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND by Sam Green & Bill Siegel

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Festivals Exploring a New Future

• by Thom Powers, November 12, 2009

Here in Copenhagen at the CPH:Dox Forum, I’ve been reflecting on the multiplying new initiatives in film distribution. Amidst anxiety about broadcasters’ shrinking budgets, CPH is fostering ideas for filmmakers to gain greater distribution control. Tomorrow I will moderate a conversation with the filmmaker Jon Reiss who’s sharing advice from his experiences self-distributing the graffiti doc BOMB IT. He wrote two comprehensive articles for Filmmaker Magazine on My Adventure in Theatrical Distribution and My Adventure in Home Video that became the seeds for his new book Thinking Outside the Box Office.

I don’t mean to imply we’re looking at a future without distributors. But we can expect more creative partnerships in “hybrid distribution.” Last week, a proselytizer of this future, Brian Newman - the former director of the Tribeca Film Institute - spoke to my NYU class. He made a simple statement that snapped into focus a growing sense I’ve had since the Toronto International Film Festival two months ago. Newman said that going forward, filmmakers won’t go to festivals to find a distributor, but to find an audience.

Sure, we’ll continue to see a smattering of festival sales such as ART OF THE STEAL to IFC Films/Sundance Selects at TIFF. But other filmmakers will pursue a different plan by getting distribution in place before their fest debut. By this strategy, the fest premiere - and its unique ability to generate reviews, awards and attention - can promote subsequent bookings soon after, rather than wait several months (as happens with the acquisition model). Bigger distributors are accustomed to leveraging festival exposure for releases such as CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY and GOOD HAIR that appeared in theaters shortly after TIFF. Perhaps in the coming year, we’ll see hybrid efforts do the same with smaller companies such as Argot Pictures, International Film Circuit, and Abramorama Films.

Weather Underground & Iranian radicals @ STF

• by Thom Powers, November 11, 2009

Last night flying to Copenhagen (where I hope to blog a report from CPH:DOX), I took the time to read Mark Rudd’s excellent memoir in anticipation of him coming to STF on Monday, Nov 16 for a special screening of THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND where he’ll be joined by filmmaker Bill Siegel. Last year, I had the chance to interview Rudd at the Toronto International Film Festival in conjunction with the epic work-in-progress documentary about the 1968 Columbia University student strike A TIME TO STIR. So I knew him to be thoughtful and self-critical. His book is full of lacerating reflections such as this:

COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS at STF

• by Raphaela Neihausen, November 11, 2009

After catching COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS at the Toronto International Film Festival this past September, it was great to have a chance to see it again at STF last night. Yesterday’s screening was introduced by POV series producer Yance Ford.  She discussed the Community Cinema screening events that are taking place all across the country in support of COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS national broadcast on Independent Lens in January 2010.  To learn more about these nationwide screenings, click here.

The film was followed by a lively 30 minute Q&A that delved into many issues surrounding copyright, including the creative and commercial value of musical sampling. Yance was joined on stage by director Benjamin Franzen, executive producer Kembrew McLeod and DJ/musician/producer Mr. Len. Benjamin and Kembrew spoke about the complex legal process that has governed even their own filmmaking - working with a lawyer, they are in the midst of clearing all referenced clips - either by presenting a “fair use” argument or by licensing the material.  Unfortunately, the “fair use” clause that has recently emerged as a savior in documentary filmmaking has yet to be accepted in the music world.  When the panel was asked by an audience member whether they would mind their own film or music being sampled in the future - they said the details were still being worked out, but that was the spirit of the project. 

(Photo - L to R: Mr. Len, Benjamin Franzen, Kembrew McLeod and Yance Ford)

STF passholder Mar Cabra with friend (and first-time STF attendee!) Jonah Bossewitch.

Documentary students from Marymount Manhattan College attended the screening - Heather, Owen and Abbie.

COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS screening at TIFF’s free open air space last September was followed by a live performance featuring the original funky drummer Clyde Stubblefield (from James Brown’s band), the Eclectic Method video performance artists; and Chuck D of Public Enemy.  Some fun pics below:

The original funky drummer Clyde Stubblefield.

Chuck D with Clyde Stubblefield, while Eclectic Method took control of the screens.

Clyde Stubblefield and TIFF/STF programmer Thom Powers.

Chuck D with Clyde Stubblefield.

Raphaela Neihausen and Chuck D.

Related Film/Screening:
COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS by Benjamin Franzen

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15 years later: HOOP DREAMS visits STF

• by Raphaela Neihausen, November 10, 2009

“How many people here have never seen HOOP DREAMS?” asked STF host Thom Powers to the crowd gathered for the 15th anniversary screening at the IFC Center. About half the room raised their hands. Among the other half included several people with close connections to the film, starting with cinematographer Peter Gilbert who flew in from Chicago to present the film.  He paid tribute to three key figures in the audience:

1) Ira Deutchman, who was a key member of the team that released the film at Fine Line. Deutchman has written his own reminiscence on his blog at www.iradeutchman.com

2) Barbara Kopple, who had previously used Gilbert as a cameraman on her Academy Award winning film AMERICAN DREAM.  In the Q&A, Gilbert said it was partly the longitudinal experience of working on AMERICAN DREAM that inspired his team to consider following the characters in HOOP DREAMS for four years.

3) Gilbert’s son Leo, who was born during the production of HOOP DREAMS and is now in the midst of his freshman year at NYU studying - what else? - film.

For more on HOOP DREAMS, read the recent 15th anniversary reflections of Roger Ebert who calls it “the great American documentary.”

(photos courtesy of Joshua Z Weinstein, above L to R: Barbara Kopple, Peter Gilbert, Ira Deutchman and Thom Powers. )

Per the usual drill, after the film we headed over to 99 Below for drinks and more conversation.

Filmmakers David Redmon (Carnivalesque Films) and Adam Zucker (GREENSBORO: CLOSER TO THE TRUTH).

Filmmakers David Soll and Hannah Rosenzweig.

Filmmaker Shilpi Gupta (WHEN THE STORM CAME) with STF passholder DeWitt Davis (Kodak).

STF curator Thom Powers with STF passholder and filmmaker Marshall Leaman.

Lea Hjort, a New School student studying documentary.

Filmmaker and STF regular Hemal Trivedi who just returned from shooting in Islamabad, Pakistan for a month.  Welcome home, Hemal!

Related Film/Screening:
HOOP DREAMS by Steve James

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