Photo credit: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
Stranger Than Fiction, the weekly documentary film series hosted by Thom Powers and Raphaela Neihausen and presented by IFC Center, takes a new approach to its programming this winter season with a thematic focus on music documentaries. The season opens on Tuesday, January 28 with a sneak preview of FINDING THE FUNK, directed by Nelson George, tracing the past, present and future of funk, featuring interviews with Sly Stone, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins and more. The season combines classic docs such as Timothy Greenberg-Sanders’ LOU REED: ROCK AND ROLL HEART (Feb 4) and D.A. Pennebaker’s MONTEREY POP (Feb 18 including a historic reunion of the crew) with previews of forthcoming releases such as BROTHERS HYPNOTIC (Feb 11) about a family of street musicians turning professional and THE ROAD TO FAME (Mar 4) about Chinese students putting on a production of the Broadway musical “Fame.” The 1994 Oscar-nominated film A GREAT DAY IN HARLEM, about a famous group portrait of jazz musicians, will screen on Feb 25 and include a tribute to its producer Jean Bach who died last year at age 94. The STF winter season takes place at the IFC Center every Tuesday night at 8:00 pm for eight weeks, plus a special Thursday screening on Jan 30. Each event includes a discussion with the filmmakers, followed by a gathering at a nearby bar. Tickets are available for individual shows or season passes can be bought for $99 for 9 films.
“Music is a great way to beat the winter doldrums,” said Artistic Director Thom Powers, who also programs for the Toronto International Film Festival, DOC NYC and SundanceNOW.com. “This eclectic group of films gives insights to favorite performers and showcases emerging talent.” One exception to the music-themed Tuesdays is a special Thursday night screening on Jan 30 of THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE, directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns & David McMahon, featuring a Q&A with two of the film subjects Yusef Salaam and Korey Wise who were wrongfully convicted in the case of the Central Park jogger. Mayor DeBlasio has vowed to settle their case seeking restitution for the years they spent in jail.
The two final STF winter screenings on March 11 and 18 will be announced later in January.
Sarah Polley won the outstanding director award for her film STORIES WE TELL at this year's Cinema Eye Honors.
This week saw the 7th annual Cinema Eye Honors, with the award for outstanding feature going to Joshua Oppenheimer’s THE ACT OF KILLING. Sarah Polley took home the award for outstanding director for STORIES WE TELL. Adam Benzine had coverage for Realscreen, while Christopher Campbell did the same at Nonfics.com. Tom Roston reported on the awards for the POV blog, as did Nick Dawson at Filmmaker Magazine. And Adam Schartoff spoke with Esther Robinson about the awards in an episode of his Filmwax podcast.
In distro news, Paula Bernstein of Indiewire reported that Cinedigm picked up North American rights to REMOTE AREA MEDICAL, while Dave McNary of Variety also had the news. Also, Paula Bernstein reported that CITIZEN KOCH had been nabbed by Variance Films for theatrical release in the U.S. and Canada.
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) this week announced its doc nominees, with Alexandra Zeevalkink of the DocGeeks blog on the news and Adam Benzine covering the event for Realscreen.
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Give Manohla Dargis credit for surveying 70 film professionals about the state of independent cinema. She draws upon that research for an article published in the New York Times titled As Indies Explode, An Appeal for Sanity. She published further excerpts in an online piece So Many Indies, So Many Reasons. I take issue with her plea for the film industry to “stop buying so many movies,” but I appreciate her starting the conversation. Her observations have already elicited reflections and dissents from Indiewire’s Anne Thompson, Filmmaker’s Sarah Salovaara and Criticwire’s Sam Adams. Below are my full responses to her original questionnaire:
1. How would you characterize the current state of American independent cinema from your specific industry point of view? Is it strong, average, poor – or somewhere in between?
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THE DOG, a documentary telling the true story behind DOG DAY AFTERNOON, was acquired by Cinedigm and Drafthouse Films for theatrical release in 2014.
INTRODUCTION
by Thom Powers
Over the years, I’ve seen too many filmmakers become embittered by their distribution deals. Sometimes they had unrealistic expectations, sometimes they got caught in bad deals. The filmmakers who feel disgruntled range from those with niche titles all the way to the most successful directors. I remember seeing an esteemed director at the Toronto International Film Festival being greeted warmly by the head of a distribution company. “That’s funny,” the director later told me, “I’m currently suing his company for unpaid royalties.” Behind the diplomatic smiles lie many untold stories.
As we start off 2014 and head into Sundance, I want to explore how filmmakers can make better deals for themselves in all distribution channels: theatrical, television, digital and international. Most filmmakers go into distribution negotiations for the first time, or with a gap of several years since their previous film–which might as well be their first time in this changing landscape. That puts them at a disadvantage negotiating with distributors who are regularly making deals and confident about stipulating what’s “normal.”
What filmmakers frequently lack are points of comparison. To change that I reached out to several filmmakers and other industry insiders for feedback. I’m grateful to everyone who shared their experiences. I’ve edited and condensed contributions to reduce repetition (though some points are worth repeating).
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THE ACT OF KILLING distributor Drafthouse Films released a promotional bundle for the film via BitTorrent this week.
The New Year holiday has left us with another light news week. Perhaps the most interesting news was that distributor Drafthouse Films released a “bundle” of content related to THE ACT OF KILLING via BitTorrent, a medium most closely associated with pirating. The bundle dropped at the same time the film was being released on iTunes. Realscreen’s Adam Benzine covered the development, as did Paula Bernstein of Indiewire. And Anthony Ha of TechCrunch also had the news.
Indiewire rounded up all of their doc advice from last year in one incredibly helpful post that you can check out here.
Melena Ryzik of the New York Times took note of the fact that both PUSSY RIOT: A PUNK PRAYER and THE SQUARE had been banned in the respective countries in which they had been shot, while also landing on the Oscar shortlist for docs. Vanessa Thorpe of The Guardian mentioned PUSSY RIOT in a piece noting the political nature of those getting on the shortlist. Jezebel’s Rebecca Rose had details on a screening of PUSSY RIOT intended to take place in Russia that was scuttled by the government there.
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