The Hollywood Reporter thanks the following 322 members of the global film community — listed alphabetically — for taking the time to cast a ballot to help us determine the 100 greatest film books of all time.
Seth Abramovitch
The Hollywood Reporter journalist/It Happened in Hollywood podcast host
Jo Addy
Soho House group film and entertainment director
Casey Affleck
Oscar-winning actor
Rutanya Alda
Author/actress
Stephanie Allain
Filmmaker
Victoria Alonso
Filmmaker/executive
Tony Angellotti
Publicist
Bonnie Arnold
Filmmaker/executive
Miguel Arteta
Filmmaker
Chris Auer
Filmmaker/film professor
John Badham
Filmmaker/film professor
Amy Baer
Executive
Matt Baer
Filmmaker
Lindsey Bahr
Journalist
Ramin Bahrani
Oscar-nominated filmmaker
Cameron Bailey
Toronto International Film Festival CEO/former film critic
John Bailey
Cinematographer/former Academy president
Bela Bajaria
Executive
Sean Baker
Filmmaker
Alec Baldwin
Oscar-nominated actor/author
Tino Balio
Author/film professor
Jeffrey Barbakow
Executive
Michael Barker
Executive
Mike Barnes
The Hollywood Reporter journalist
Jeanine Basinger
Author/film...
Seth Abramovitch
The Hollywood Reporter journalist/It Happened in Hollywood podcast host
Jo Addy
Soho House group film and entertainment director
Casey Affleck
Oscar-winning actor
Rutanya Alda
Author/actress
Stephanie Allain
Filmmaker
Victoria Alonso
Filmmaker/executive
Tony Angellotti
Publicist
Bonnie Arnold
Filmmaker/executive
Miguel Arteta
Filmmaker
Chris Auer
Filmmaker/film professor
John Badham
Filmmaker/film professor
Amy Baer
Executive
Matt Baer
Filmmaker
Lindsey Bahr
Journalist
Ramin Bahrani
Oscar-nominated filmmaker
Cameron Bailey
Toronto International Film Festival CEO/former film critic
John Bailey
Cinematographer/former Academy president
Bela Bajaria
Executive
Sean Baker
Filmmaker
Alec Baldwin
Oscar-nominated actor/author
Tino Balio
Author/film professor
Jeffrey Barbakow
Executive
Michael Barker
Executive
Mike Barnes
The Hollywood Reporter journalist
Jeanine Basinger
Author/film...
- 10/12/2023
- by Scott Feinberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Sideshow/Janus Films is estimating a $36k gross or $18k per theater average for The Eight Mountains on two NYC screens, the strongest opening weekend to date for the team behind Drive My Car and Eo.
The Cannes co-Jury Prize-winning film by Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeesch follows the profound friendship over decades of Pietro (Luca Marinelli) from Turin, and Bruno (Alessandro Borghi), who grew up in an isolated village in the Alps. It was Film at Lincoln Center’s highest-grossing new release opening of 2023 and marks the biggest per screen average of any new European release so far this year.
It’s is also the best opening of an Italian move Stateside since The Great Beauty, said producer Ira Deutchman. The Fine Line Features founder and Columbia prof is the head of Cinema Made In Italy, a initiative sponsored by Cinecitta’ that contributes P&a funds to Italian films for U.
The Cannes co-Jury Prize-winning film by Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeesch follows the profound friendship over decades of Pietro (Luca Marinelli) from Turin, and Bruno (Alessandro Borghi), who grew up in an isolated village in the Alps. It was Film at Lincoln Center’s highest-grossing new release opening of 2023 and marks the biggest per screen average of any new European release so far this year.
It’s is also the best opening of an Italian move Stateside since The Great Beauty, said producer Ira Deutchman. The Fine Line Features founder and Columbia prof is the head of Cinema Made In Italy, a initiative sponsored by Cinecitta’ that contributes P&a funds to Italian films for U.
- 4/30/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Filmmakers and executives, creatives of music, theater and art remembered Tom Luddy as friend and mentor, tastemaker and cultural force who deployed an astonishingly vast network to nurture talent and bring people and projects together over decades.
The co-founder of the Telluride Film Festival passed away in February.
“I am thinking of getting a tattoo of you on my arm,” said Irish director Mark Cousins at tribute event at the Paris Theatre over the weekend. “Here is Hitchcock on my arm, and here is and Kira Muratova. Maybe you would fit between the two?” He added, “For the rest of my life, I will see partly through your eyes. I miss you and I love you.”
“Tom Luddy was a constant presence. The sun around which so many of us have revolved,” said Ken Burns. The two met when Burns screened Huey Long at Telluride in 1985. “For the next 35-plus years,...
The co-founder of the Telluride Film Festival passed away in February.
“I am thinking of getting a tattoo of you on my arm,” said Irish director Mark Cousins at tribute event at the Paris Theatre over the weekend. “Here is Hitchcock on my arm, and here is and Kira Muratova. Maybe you would fit between the two?” He added, “For the rest of my life, I will see partly through your eyes. I miss you and I love you.”
“Tom Luddy was a constant presence. The sun around which so many of us have revolved,” said Ken Burns. The two met when Burns screened Huey Long at Telluride in 1985. “For the next 35-plus years,...
- 4/17/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Telluride and Venice got the gears moving, but the Toronto International Film Festival brought it all home: We’ve got an old-school awards cycle. For all the disruption of the past decade, the biggest Best Picture prospects come from some of the oldest players. One year after Apple bought “Coda” at Sundance and won a streamer its first Best Picture, classic Hollywood is gunning for the prize.
Paramount was already marching into awards mode with “Top Gun: Maverick,” the box-office juggernaut that reminded everyone that big theatrical events movies aren’t dead (and neither are the theaters). With 10 Best Picture candidates, the movie stands a good shot at getting Tom Cruise his first nomination as a producer, but its distributor has an alternate plan on the horizon.
Paramount capitalized on TIFF’s quieter weekday buzz to unveil the bonkers trailer for Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon,” a sprawling (and long) epic...
Paramount was already marching into awards mode with “Top Gun: Maverick,” the box-office juggernaut that reminded everyone that big theatrical events movies aren’t dead (and neither are the theaters). With 10 Best Picture candidates, the movie stands a good shot at getting Tom Cruise his first nomination as a producer, but its distributor has an alternate plan on the horizon.
Paramount capitalized on TIFF’s quieter weekday buzz to unveil the bonkers trailer for Damien Chazelle’s “Babylon,” a sprawling (and long) epic...
- 9/14/2022
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Cinematography retrospectives are the way to go—more than a thorough display of talent, it exposes the vast expanse a Dp will travel, like an education in form and business all the same. Accordingly I’m happy to see the Criterion Channel give a 25-film tribute to James Wong Howe, whose career spanned silent cinema to the ’70s, populated with work by Howard Hawks, Michael Curtz, Samuel Fuller, Alexander Mackendrick, Sydney Pollack, John Frankenheimer, and Raoul Walsh.
Further retrospectives are granted to Romy Schneider (recent repertory sensation La piscine among them), Carlos Saura (finally a chance to see Peppermint frappe!), the British New Wave, and groundbreaking distributor Cinema 5, who brought to U.S. shores everything from The Man Who Fell to Earth and Putney Swope to Pumping Iron and Scenes from a Marriage.
September also yields streaming premieres for the recently restored Bronco Bullfrog, Ang Lee’s Pushing Hands,...
Further retrospectives are granted to Romy Schneider (recent repertory sensation La piscine among them), Carlos Saura (finally a chance to see Peppermint frappe!), the British New Wave, and groundbreaking distributor Cinema 5, who brought to U.S. shores everything from The Man Who Fell to Earth and Putney Swope to Pumping Iron and Scenes from a Marriage.
September also yields streaming premieres for the recently restored Bronco Bullfrog, Ang Lee’s Pushing Hands,...
- 8/22/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The Tale Of King Crab, a cinematically striking fable shot in rural Italy and Argentina, opened to a three-day gross of 5,120 at Film at Lincoln Center this weekend — the first in a string of Italian offerings set to arrive on the specialty scene through the summer.
“In today’s challenging arthouse market, we count this early result as a success and believe the film will continue to find a devoted audience as it rolls out nationally,” said Andrew Carlin, head of distribution for Oscilloscope Laboratories, which presents the film directed by Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis. Set in a remote 19th-century Italian village and the distant Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego, it expands to LA’s Landmark Nuart on April 29 and into top 50 markets throughout May.
“We saw this at Cannes last year on the biggest and best screen possible and found it equal parts beguiling and immersive.
“In today’s challenging arthouse market, we count this early result as a success and believe the film will continue to find a devoted audience as it rolls out nationally,” said Andrew Carlin, head of distribution for Oscilloscope Laboratories, which presents the film directed by Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis. Set in a remote 19th-century Italian village and the distant Argentine province of Tierra del Fuego, it expands to LA’s Landmark Nuart on April 29 and into top 50 markets throughout May.
“We saw this at Cannes last year on the biggest and best screen possible and found it equal parts beguiling and immersive.
- 4/17/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
After going virtual in 2021, the Rendez-Vous With French Cinema Festival is returning as an in-person event at the Lincoln Center in New York with a bevy of heavy hitters, including Claire Denis, Juliette Binoche, Jacques Audiard, Arnaud Desplechin and Mathieu Amalric.
Kicking off with the North American premiere of Denis’ Berlinale Silver Bear winning movie “Fire” (also called “Both Sides of the Blade”) on March 3, the festival’s roster is curated by Film at Lincoln Center, which is also co-organizing the event with Unifrance, the French film advocacy org.
Besides “Fire,” starring Binoche and Vincent Lindon as two lovers whose relationship falls apart, the main highlights of the 27th edition include Audiard’s sexy relationship drama “Paris, 13th District,” Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet’s debut “Anaïs in Love,” which premiered at Cannes’ Critics Week, and Desplechin’s “Deception” with Lea Seydoux.
“We feel lucky to have assembled such a prestigious roster of...
Kicking off with the North American premiere of Denis’ Berlinale Silver Bear winning movie “Fire” (also called “Both Sides of the Blade”) on March 3, the festival’s roster is curated by Film at Lincoln Center, which is also co-organizing the event with Unifrance, the French film advocacy org.
Besides “Fire,” starring Binoche and Vincent Lindon as two lovers whose relationship falls apart, the main highlights of the 27th edition include Audiard’s sexy relationship drama “Paris, 13th District,” Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet’s debut “Anaïs in Love,” which premiered at Cannes’ Critics Week, and Desplechin’s “Deception” with Lea Seydoux.
“We feel lucky to have assembled such a prestigious roster of...
- 3/4/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Irwin Young, a foundational figure in the New York independent film world, died January 20, in Manhattan, at the age of 94. Chairman of DuArt Film Laboratories, his contributions across the field, which range from technical and business innovations to philanthropy to, simply, extending support to new and emerging filmmakers, are embedded within so many films that now define the American independent film movement. As distributor and director Ira Deutchman wrote at Indiewire, “If there were a Guinness Book of World Records entry for most ‘thank you’ credits at the end of films, I can’t imagine that anyone else could […]
The post Remembering DuArt Film Laboratories Chairman Irwin Young first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Remembering DuArt Film Laboratories Chairman Irwin Young first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 2/4/2022
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Irwin Young, a foundational figure in the New York independent film world, died January 20, in Manhattan, at the age of 94. Chairman of DuArt Film Laboratories, his contributions across the field, which range from technical and business innovations to philanthropy to, simply, extending support to new and emerging filmmakers, are embedded within so many films that now define the American independent film movement. As distributor and director Ira Deutchman wrote at Indiewire, “If there were a Guinness Book of World Records entry for most ‘thank you’ credits at the end of films, I can’t imagine that anyone else could […]
The post Remembering DuArt Film Laboratories Chairman Irwin Young first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Remembering DuArt Film Laboratories Chairman Irwin Young first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 2/4/2022
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Although it may seem that films are now more accessible than ever, it’s simply not the case for independent film history.
“The truth is that movies are simply not as available today as they were during the heyday of VHS when some brick-and-mortar video stores carried tens of thousands of titles,” the manifesto for indie film preservation group Missing Movies states. “Now, with a few giant companies controlling the most popular streaming services and trying to outdo one another with original content, many older movies are being left behind.”
A collaborative effort between filmmakers and cinephiles, Missing Movies sets out to “empower filmmakers, distributors, archivists, and others to locate lost materials, clear rights, and advocate for policies and laws to make the full range of our cinema history available to all,” as IndieWire can exclusively share.
Founding Missing Movies filmmakers include Mary Harron, Shola Lynch, Nancy Savoca, Ira Deutchman,...
“The truth is that movies are simply not as available today as they were during the heyday of VHS when some brick-and-mortar video stores carried tens of thousands of titles,” the manifesto for indie film preservation group Missing Movies states. “Now, with a few giant companies controlling the most popular streaming services and trying to outdo one another with original content, many older movies are being left behind.”
A collaborative effort between filmmakers and cinephiles, Missing Movies sets out to “empower filmmakers, distributors, archivists, and others to locate lost materials, clear rights, and advocate for policies and laws to make the full range of our cinema history available to all,” as IndieWire can exclusively share.
Founding Missing Movies filmmakers include Mary Harron, Shola Lynch, Nancy Savoca, Ira Deutchman,...
- 2/4/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Irwin “Butch” Wallace Young, the chairman of DuArt Film Laboratories who supported New York filmmakers for decades, died Jan. 20 in Manhattan. He was 94.
An important part of New York City’s film scene, DuArt was founded by his father, Al Young, in 1922 and is the oldest continually operating film lab in the country.
Irwin Young worked with filmmakers including Spike Lee, Joel and Ethan Coen and Barbara Kopple. Much of the history of independent film “could not have happened without him,” Ira Deutchman wrote in an Indiewire remembrance.
“During the ‘80s and ‘90s, DuArt was doing so much of this work that an enormous percentage of films that premiered at Sundance were going through the lab at the same time with the same deadlines. It became part of the job to prioritize the films so that none of them missed their premiere dates,” Deutchman remembered.
“In the early years of Sundance,...
An important part of New York City’s film scene, DuArt was founded by his father, Al Young, in 1922 and is the oldest continually operating film lab in the country.
Irwin Young worked with filmmakers including Spike Lee, Joel and Ethan Coen and Barbara Kopple. Much of the history of independent film “could not have happened without him,” Ira Deutchman wrote in an Indiewire remembrance.
“During the ‘80s and ‘90s, DuArt was doing so much of this work that an enormous percentage of films that premiered at Sundance were going through the lab at the same time with the same deadlines. It became part of the job to prioritize the films so that none of them missed their premiere dates,” Deutchman remembered.
“In the early years of Sundance,...
- 1/24/2022
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
As the summer comes to a close, the future of moviegoing (and crowded gatherings in general) remains an open question. This week, with Screen Talk co-host Eric Kohn on vacation, I grilled IndieWire’s Box Office Editor Tom Brueggemann on the new metrics that determine success in a streaming universe. Tom and I dig into how to measure a film’s performance, as streamers routinely block grosses and hide their numbers.
And as the annual exhibitor convention CinemaCon convenes in Las Vegas next week, we debate the theatrical future. Theaters may be reducing costs via revised rents and fewer shows, but they are also looking to alternatives to movies.
More films are showing in theaters, including Sundance breakout and Oscar hopeful “Coda,” also streaming on AppleTV+ last weekend. But just how did the movie open? Not with as much buzz as Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” which built a lot...
And as the annual exhibitor convention CinemaCon convenes in Las Vegas next week, we debate the theatrical future. Theaters may be reducing costs via revised rents and fewer shows, but they are also looking to alternatives to movies.
More films are showing in theaters, including Sundance breakout and Oscar hopeful “Coda,” also streaming on AppleTV+ last weekend. But just how did the movie open? Not with as much buzz as Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” which built a lot...
- 8/20/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
As the summer comes to a close, the future of moviegoing (and crowded gatherings in general) remains an open question. This week, with Screen Talk co-host Eric Kohn on vacation, I grilled IndieWire’s Box Office Editor Tom Brueggemann on the new metrics that determine success in a streaming universe. Tom and I dig into how to measure a film’s performance, as streamers routinely block grosses and hide their numbers.
And as the annual exhibitor convention CinemaCon convenes in Las Vegas next week, we debate the theatrical future. Theaters may be reducing costs via revised rents and fewer shows, but they are also looking to alternatives to movies.
More films are showing in theaters, including Sundance breakout and Oscar hopeful “Coda,” also streaming on AppleTV+ last weekend. But just how did the movie open? Not with as much buzz as Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” which built a lot...
And as the annual exhibitor convention CinemaCon convenes in Las Vegas next week, we debate the theatrical future. Theaters may be reducing costs via revised rents and fewer shows, but they are also looking to alternatives to movies.
More films are showing in theaters, including Sundance breakout and Oscar hopeful “Coda,” also streaming on AppleTV+ last weekend. But just how did the movie open? Not with as much buzz as Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” which built a lot...
- 8/20/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
A film for cinephiles generally and New York theater dwellers in particular, Ira Deutchman’s documentary, Searching for Mr. Rugoff, brings attention to the late Donald R. Rugoff, head of influential East Coast theater chain and distribution company Cinema 5. An intimidating figure, Rugoff was responsible for bringing much of the best in international arthouse cinema to audiences on the Upper East Side via his moviehouses, including the the Gramercy, the Cinema I and Cinema II, the Paris and the Sutton. When he later opened the company’s distribution wing, their acquired films collected a combined 25 Academy Award nominations, lead by […]
The post “Theaters, Distribution and Craziness”: Ira Deutchman on Searching for Mr. Rugoff first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Theaters, Distribution and Craziness”: Ira Deutchman on Searching for Mr. Rugoff first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 8/17/2021
- by Erik Luers
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
A film for cinephiles generally and New York theater dwellers in particular, Ira Deutchman’s documentary, Searching for Mr. Rugoff, brings attention to the late Donald R. Rugoff, head of influential East Coast theater chain and distribution company Cinema 5. An intimidating figure, Rugoff was responsible for bringing much of the best in international arthouse cinema to audiences on the Upper East Side via his moviehouses, including the the Gramercy, the Cinema I and Cinema II, the Paris and the Sutton. When he later opened the company’s distribution wing, their acquired films collected a combined 25 Academy Award nominations, lead by […]
The post “Theaters, Distribution and Craziness”: Ira Deutchman on Searching for Mr. Rugoff first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “Theaters, Distribution and Craziness”: Ira Deutchman on Searching for Mr. Rugoff first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 8/17/2021
- by Erik Luers
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
There’s a moment in director Ira Deutchman’s documentary “Searching for Mr. Rugoff” in which the various talking heads mourn for the loss of Don Rugoff’s various New York theaters. All praise the power these locations had in their lives and how the loss of these institutions and spaces creates deep pain for them. Deutchman’s feature was made in 2019, but the impact hits even harder now, considering the state of our own movie theater industry post-pandemic.
Really, “Searching for Mr. Rugoff” isn’t just the story of a movie theater. It’s a tale about the foundation of the arthouse scene in America in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as the complicated impresario/raconteur, Don Rugoff, who made it all possible. Outside of showing who Rugoff was, Deutchman becomes a subject himself in the documentary.
As a former employee of Rugoff’s Cinema 5 production company,...
Really, “Searching for Mr. Rugoff” isn’t just the story of a movie theater. It’s a tale about the foundation of the arthouse scene in America in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as the complicated impresario/raconteur, Don Rugoff, who made it all possible. Outside of showing who Rugoff was, Deutchman becomes a subject himself in the documentary.
As a former employee of Rugoff’s Cinema 5 production company,...
- 8/13/2021
- by Kristen Lopez
- Indiewire
By Glenn Dunks
The nostalgia is strong in Searching for Mr. Rugoff, a delightfully cinephile-oriented documentary from director Ira Deutchman. It is an affectionate dive into a beloved segment of New York City’s film culture of the 1960s and ‘70s—one that no longer exists and is built around a figure who remains little known by those who didn’t work directly alongside him. His name is Donald S. Rugoff. A pioneer of the global exhibition and distribution market who bought international, experimental, and acclaimed cinema to a chain of upmarket boutique arthouses in New York from his office decked out in modern furniture and art, he steered successful Academy Award campaigns for the likes of Z and Seven Beauties, and was a gimmick superstar who would make William Castle kick himself that he didn’t get there first.
Does that make Searching for Mr. Rugoff a great movie,...
The nostalgia is strong in Searching for Mr. Rugoff, a delightfully cinephile-oriented documentary from director Ira Deutchman. It is an affectionate dive into a beloved segment of New York City’s film culture of the 1960s and ‘70s—one that no longer exists and is built around a figure who remains little known by those who didn’t work directly alongside him. His name is Donald S. Rugoff. A pioneer of the global exhibition and distribution market who bought international, experimental, and acclaimed cinema to a chain of upmarket boutique arthouses in New York from his office decked out in modern furniture and art, he steered successful Academy Award campaigns for the likes of Z and Seven Beauties, and was a gimmick superstar who would make William Castle kick himself that he didn’t get there first.
Does that make Searching for Mr. Rugoff a great movie,...
- 8/12/2021
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
Marcia Nasatir was never someone to be ignored, from her days as a young woman in New York publishing in the ’60s through her run as a top Hollywood production executive and her independent producing years. She set a path for many women to follow, and they did. She knew her worth and demanded equal treatment. She died Tuesday at age 95, after moving into the Motion Picture Home.
Even as a young woman, Nasatir was a forceful personality. Critic Joe Morgenstern first met her through their mutual friend Pauline Kael in the mid-1960s, he wrote in an email, “when Marcia was still a literary agent and before she became a studio executive at United Artists and rose to fill the position, with passion and distinction, that prompted her to use ‘firstmogulette’ as her email address. She knew books and loved them, but movies were her greater love, and as...
Even as a young woman, Nasatir was a forceful personality. Critic Joe Morgenstern first met her through their mutual friend Pauline Kael in the mid-1960s, he wrote in an email, “when Marcia was still a literary agent and before she became a studio executive at United Artists and rose to fill the position, with passion and distinction, that prompted her to use ‘firstmogulette’ as her email address. She knew books and loved them, but movies were her greater love, and as...
- 8/4/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Marcia Nasatir was never someone to be ignored, from her days as a young woman in New York publishing in the ’60s through her run as a top Hollywood production executive and her independent producing years. She set a path for many women to follow, and they did. She knew her worth and demanded equal treatment. She died Tuesday at age 95, after moving into the Motion Picture Home.
Even as a young woman, Nasatir was a forceful personality. Critic Joe Morgenstern first met her through their mutual friend Pauline Kael in the mid-1960s, he wrote in an email, “when Marcia was still a literary agent and before she became a studio executive at United Artists and rose to fill the position, with passion and distinction, that prompted her to use ‘firstmogulette’ as her email address. She knew books and loved them, but movies were her greater love, and as...
Even as a young woman, Nasatir was a forceful personality. Critic Joe Morgenstern first met her through their mutual friend Pauline Kael in the mid-1960s, he wrote in an email, “when Marcia was still a literary agent and before she became a studio executive at United Artists and rose to fill the position, with passion and distinction, that prompted her to use ‘firstmogulette’ as her email address. She knew books and loved them, but movies were her greater love, and as...
- 8/4/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Marcia Nasatir, a trailblazing female executive and producer who elbowed her way into a male-dominated Hollywood, shattering conventions and an important glass ceiling in the process, died on Tuesday morning. She was 95.
In a career of firsts, Nasatir worked for United Artists, Orion Pictures and Carson Productions, while producing the likes of “The Big Chill” and “Vertical Limit.” In 1974, she became the first female vice president of production at a major Hollywood studio when she was tapped for the job at U.A. It was a heady time to be at the studio, which had developed a reputation for backing edgy, filmmaker-friendly fare. In her post, Nasatir helped develop such movie classics as “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Carrie,” “Apocalypse Now” and “Rocky.”
“It was called ‘having a career’ back then, not ‘going to work,'” Nasatir said in a 2018 interview with the San Antonio Current. “I was fortunate.
In a career of firsts, Nasatir worked for United Artists, Orion Pictures and Carson Productions, while producing the likes of “The Big Chill” and “Vertical Limit.” In 1974, she became the first female vice president of production at a major Hollywood studio when she was tapped for the job at U.A. It was a heady time to be at the studio, which had developed a reputation for backing edgy, filmmaker-friendly fare. In her post, Nasatir helped develop such movie classics as “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” “Carrie,” “Apocalypse Now” and “Rocky.”
“It was called ‘having a career’ back then, not ‘going to work,'” Nasatir said in a 2018 interview with the San Antonio Current. “I was fortunate.
- 8/3/2021
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
The summer is coming to an end and with it comes a number of films to have on your to-watch list. From some highly-anticipated auteur-driven films to dazzling animations to riveting documentaries to horror stand-outs, there’s a wide-ranging array of selections. Check out our picks to see below.
12. Ma Belle, My Beauty (Marion Hill)
A premiere at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, Marion Hill’s acclaimed drama Ma Belle, My Beauty explores the nuances of a polyamorous relationship. John Fink said in his review, “In some relationships it’s easier to pick up where you left off, even after years of being apart. Others, such as those at the core of Marion Hill’s impressive, nuanced feature film debut Ma Belle, My Beauty—contain more heartbreak and baggage. Screening in Sundance’s Next category, Hill’s picture navigates uncomfortable truths with perspective and lyrical emotional honestly as Lane...
12. Ma Belle, My Beauty (Marion Hill)
A premiere at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, Marion Hill’s acclaimed drama Ma Belle, My Beauty explores the nuances of a polyamorous relationship. John Fink said in his review, “In some relationships it’s easier to pick up where you left off, even after years of being apart. Others, such as those at the core of Marion Hill’s impressive, nuanced feature film debut Ma Belle, My Beauty—contain more heartbreak and baggage. Screening in Sundance’s Next category, Hill’s picture navigates uncomfortable truths with perspective and lyrical emotional honestly as Lane...
- 8/3/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
While Netflix is far from being a haven for admirers of classic cinema, they thankfully are backing strong repertory programming in New York City. After acquiring The Paris Theater, located on 58th Street in Manhattan, and briefly reopening with some runs of Netflix features and other specialty programming, they are now officially opening their doors again on August 6 with a more substantial slate of classic cinema.
Featuring two programs, one curated by Radha Blank and another by the theater’s programmer David Schwartz, the reopening lineup features work by John Cassavetes, Kathleen Collins, Luis Buñuel, Mira Nair, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Ingmar Bergman, Terence Davies, and much more––with many on film prints.
One can also enter to win a pass for Schwartz’s series “The Paris is For Lovers,” with a newly-unveiled scavenger hunt tied to Ira Deutchman’s new documentary Searching for Mr. Rugoff, which opens on August 13 and is part of the lineup.
Featuring two programs, one curated by Radha Blank and another by the theater’s programmer David Schwartz, the reopening lineup features work by John Cassavetes, Kathleen Collins, Luis Buñuel, Mira Nair, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Ingmar Bergman, Terence Davies, and much more––with many on film prints.
One can also enter to win a pass for Schwartz’s series “The Paris is For Lovers,” with a newly-unveiled scavenger hunt tied to Ira Deutchman’s new documentary Searching for Mr. Rugoff, which opens on August 13 and is part of the lineup.
- 7/28/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
The Paris Theater, a beloved arthouse cinema in New York City, is reopening its doors next month.
To celebrate its return on Aug. 6, filmmaker Radha Blank is curating a slate of repertory titles to screen alongside her directorial debut “The Forty-Year-Old Version.” Her movie, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival, is playing through Aug. 12.
The Paris opened in 1948 and is the only single-screen movie theater in Manhattan. Netflix acquired the 545-seat venue in 2019 and, prior to Covid-19, held premieres, special events and screenings of its films in the storied institution, which is just south of Central Park.
“I made ‘Forty-Year-Old Version’ in 35mm Black & White in the spirit of the many great films that informed my love of cinema,” says Blank. “I’m excited to show the film in 35mm as intended and alongside potent films by fearless filmmakers who inspired my development as a storyteller and expanded my vision...
To celebrate its return on Aug. 6, filmmaker Radha Blank is curating a slate of repertory titles to screen alongside her directorial debut “The Forty-Year-Old Version.” Her movie, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival, is playing through Aug. 12.
The Paris opened in 1948 and is the only single-screen movie theater in Manhattan. Netflix acquired the 545-seat venue in 2019 and, prior to Covid-19, held premieres, special events and screenings of its films in the storied institution, which is just south of Central Park.
“I made ‘Forty-Year-Old Version’ in 35mm Black & White in the spirit of the many great films that informed my love of cinema,” says Blank. “I’m excited to show the film in 35mm as intended and alongside potent films by fearless filmmakers who inspired my development as a storyteller and expanded my vision...
- 7/28/2021
- by Rebecca Rubin
- Variety Film + TV
The Paris Theater, an NYC cinematic landmark rescued by Netflix in 2019, will officially reopen August 6 with the streamer’s The Forty-Year-Old Version by Radha Blank and a week of repertory films programmed by the director.
The only single-screen movie theater in Manhattan and the borough’s largest, with 545 seats, has hosted limited theatrical engagements since March that included Netflix’ 17 Oscar-nominated films, retrospectives of Charlie Kaufman and Orson Wells, zombie movie classics and a Bob Dylan film series.
The Paris closed in August of 2019 after its lease with City Cinemas expired. That November, Netflix entered an extended lease agreement, said to be for ten years with owner the Solow Family, to keep the theater open and use it for events, screenings and theatrical releases of its films. The first was Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story. The theater was shuttered by Covid-19 last spring.
(In May of 2020, Netflix acquired another storied theaters,...
The only single-screen movie theater in Manhattan and the borough’s largest, with 545 seats, has hosted limited theatrical engagements since March that included Netflix’ 17 Oscar-nominated films, retrospectives of Charlie Kaufman and Orson Wells, zombie movie classics and a Bob Dylan film series.
The Paris closed in August of 2019 after its lease with City Cinemas expired. That November, Netflix entered an extended lease agreement, said to be for ten years with owner the Solow Family, to keep the theater open and use it for events, screenings and theatrical releases of its films. The first was Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story. The theater was shuttered by Covid-19 last spring.
(In May of 2020, Netflix acquired another storied theaters,...
- 7/28/2021
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
IndieWire turns 25 this year. To mark the occasion, we’re running a series of essays about the future of everything we cover.
Halfway through the Cannes Film Festival, the streets erupted with activity. Drunken revelers crammed the streets just outside the Palais des Festival. Some took to mopeds, honking in unison and waving three-color flags as they belted out a triumphant cry: “Italia!”
That wasn’t a movie, of course. The European soccer championship provided yet another reminder of how little space the movies occupy in the broader cultural conversation, even at the world’s most prominent film festival.
And that was in France, where the government subsidizes the art form and cinema is celebrated as a key aspect of the nation’s history. Across the Atlantic, the situation is much more dire.
American film festivals faced an identity crisis even before the pandemic. An impenetrably dense media landscape, the proliferation of on-demand content,...
Halfway through the Cannes Film Festival, the streets erupted with activity. Drunken revelers crammed the streets just outside the Palais des Festival. Some took to mopeds, honking in unison and waving three-color flags as they belted out a triumphant cry: “Italia!”
That wasn’t a movie, of course. The European soccer championship provided yet another reminder of how little space the movies occupy in the broader cultural conversation, even at the world’s most prominent film festival.
And that was in France, where the government subsidizes the art form and cinema is celebrated as a key aspect of the nation’s history. Across the Atlantic, the situation is much more dire.
American film festivals faced an identity crisis even before the pandemic. An impenetrably dense media landscape, the proliferation of on-demand content,...
- 7/23/2021
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
The late Robert Downey spoke with veteran distributor-turned-director Ira Deutchman for his upcoming documentary “Searching for Mr. Rugoff.” The film is the story of Don Rugoff, owner of theater chain and distributor Cinema 5. Rugoff was key to the careers of many filmmakers, including Costa-Gavras, Lina Wertmuller, and Downey, who speaks here about how Rugoff swooped in to buy “Putney Swope” when no one else would touch the low-budget satire of Madison Avenue advertising agencies.
“I don’t understand it, but I like it,” Rugoff told Downey. Aided by an extraordinary marketing and ad campaign still remembered today, “Putney Swope” became the rare American independent film to be treated like a top foreign-language art film.
Among Downey Sr.’s early micro-budget directorial efforts were “Balls Bluff” (1961), “Babo 73” (1964), “Chafed Elbows” (1966), and “No More Excuses” (1968). The director was also an actor, with performing credits in films such as “Boogie Nights” (1997), “Magnolia” (1999), and...
“I don’t understand it, but I like it,” Rugoff told Downey. Aided by an extraordinary marketing and ad campaign still remembered today, “Putney Swope” became the rare American independent film to be treated like a top foreign-language art film.
Among Downey Sr.’s early micro-budget directorial efforts were “Balls Bluff” (1961), “Babo 73” (1964), “Chafed Elbows” (1966), and “No More Excuses” (1968). The director was also an actor, with performing credits in films such as “Boogie Nights” (1997), “Magnolia” (1999), and...
- 7/7/2021
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
"There was an element of madness in him." The official trailer has debuted for an indie documentary film titled Searching for Mr. Rugoff, which may not seem that interesting from the title alone - but this is for anyone who loves cinema and cinemas. The film is about a cinema owner in NYC named Donald Rugoff. He was the "crazy genius" behind Cinema 5, the mid-century theater chain and film distribution company. But not that likeable. The story is told through the eyes of former employee Ira Deutchman, who sets out to find the truth about the man who had such a major impact on his life, and to also understand how such an important figure could have disappeared so completely. Deutchman on this finally releasing: "My original intention was to highlight the majesty of the theatrical experience in an entertaining way, but given where we are right now, the...
- 6/24/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
An icon of cinema culture in the 1960s and 1970s, the energetic, imaginative Donald S. Rugoff ran the theater chain and film distribution company Cinema 5, which backed landmark arthouse movies like Putney Swope, The Sorrow and the Pity, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Harlan County U.S.A. His story is now being captured in a new documentary from indie film producer and distributor Ira Deutchman, who worked under Rugoff. Searching for Mr. Rugoff, which had its world premiere at Doc NYC, will be released in theaters on August 13 and all proceeds from the release will be donated to the not-for-profit art house theaters presenting the film across the country. Ahead of the release, the first trailer has landed.
“When I made the film, there was a perception that movie theaters were in trouble due to the rise of streaming. Now, the pandemic has magnified things, literally creating an existential crisis,...
“When I made the film, there was a perception that movie theaters were in trouble due to the rise of streaming. Now, the pandemic has magnified things, literally creating an existential crisis,...
- 6/21/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Former Fine Line Chief Ira Deutchman Options Sarah-Jane Stratford Novel ‘Radio Girls’ For Miniseries
Exclusive: The Sarah-Jane Stratford novel Radio Girls has been optioned by @nyindieguy productions’ Ira Deutchman. The book is a historical novel set in 1920’s London which combines actual events and characters with a fictional mystery at its center. It is based on the real-life character of Hilda Matheson, an MI5 agent during WWI who became an influential producer in the early days of BBC Radio. The story is told through the eyes of a young Canadian woman, who falls into a job at the BBC where she gets caught up in the conflict between Matheson and her more conservative male superior. Along the way she unearths a conspiratorial plot with enormous consequences and potential danger to herself, the institution she works for and the whole of the European continent. The book was published in the UK, North America and Germany in 2016.
Deutchman, the former Fine Line Features chief who produces and teaches at Columbia U,...
Deutchman, the former Fine Line Features chief who produces and teaches at Columbia U,...
- 12/10/2020
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
With the pandemic certain to last well into next year, it’s a rock-bottom moment for movie theaters and exhibitors right now as venues continue to shutter and studios yank their content off the calendar and into 2021, or beyond. IndieWire’s box office analyst Tom Brueggemann on Sunday reported bad-to-worse news for theaters as 600 more closed, and the dearth of new product persists. This past weekend alone, grosses won’t exceed a staggering $7 million.
But not all insiders are cynical about the situation, and that includes independent film producer, marketer, and distributor Ira Deutchman. The Columbia film professor recently joined MSNBC to share his views on how theaters can evolve once a looming Covid-19 vaccine becomes available. Watch below.
“At some point, [the pandemic] is going to end and people are going to be craving communal experiences, craving getting out of the house,” said Deutchman, who is also a member of the...
But not all insiders are cynical about the situation, and that includes independent film producer, marketer, and distributor Ira Deutchman. The Columbia film professor recently joined MSNBC to share his views on how theaters can evolve once a looming Covid-19 vaccine becomes available. Watch below.
“At some point, [the pandemic] is going to end and people are going to be craving communal experiences, craving getting out of the house,” said Deutchman, who is also a member of the...
- 11/22/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
I read Ira Deutchman’s recent article about virtual cinema with great interest. As the first to market with a virtual cinema title – Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles’s “Bacurau” on Thursday, March 19 – we at Kino Marquee have thought a great deal about this phenomenon.
I am gratified that Ira is prophesying what we at Kino Lorber also believe to be the case — that virtual cinema is here to stay for the foreseeable future. As someone in the business almost as long as Ira, I share his commitment to the theatrical experience. I had a hard enough time accepting DCPs into my 35mm world, let alone digital delivery to the home. But when theaters shut down in mid-March as a result of the pandemic, it took me about two beats to realize we had to find a work around, and that work around was digital delivery to audiences in partnership with movie theaters.
I am gratified that Ira is prophesying what we at Kino Lorber also believe to be the case — that virtual cinema is here to stay for the foreseeable future. As someone in the business almost as long as Ira, I share his commitment to the theatrical experience. I had a hard enough time accepting DCPs into my 35mm world, let alone digital delivery to the home. But when theaters shut down in mid-March as a result of the pandemic, it took me about two beats to realize we had to find a work around, and that work around was digital delivery to audiences in partnership with movie theaters.
- 7/7/2020
- by Wendy Lidell
- Indiewire
Year-end conversations about the movies are often dominated by top 10 lists from critics who spend the year watching movies. But they aren’t the only ones. Many of the most influential people responsible for getting movies out into the world are toiling away behind the scenes, whether they’re assembling venerated film festival lineups or acquiring and distributing some of the most revered films of the year.
Each year, IndieWire reaches out to a range of figures from the independent film community to give them the opportunity to single out some of their favorite movies from the past 12 months. This year’s respondents include programmers, publicists, and distribution executives. Provided with a flexible criteria for their lists, participants singled out a range of media — from television to theater and beyond — providing a unique window into the way many of the movers and shakers in film culture experienced the year as a whole.
Each year, IndieWire reaches out to a range of figures from the independent film community to give them the opportunity to single out some of their favorite movies from the past 12 months. This year’s respondents include programmers, publicists, and distribution executives. Provided with a flexible criteria for their lists, participants singled out a range of media — from television to theater and beyond — providing a unique window into the way many of the movers and shakers in film culture experienced the year as a whole.
- 12/24/2019
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Even given all the things we now know about Harvey Weinstein, few would dispute his place in movie history as the figure who put the American independent film movement on the mainstream map and kept it there. He remains a force of legend (even if he’s now an infamous accused criminal). And that’s why it’s extraordinary to consider that Weinstein’s career as a game-changing, big-tent ringmaster of cinema was, in more ways than not, a direct sequel to the career of Donald Rugoff — the irascible New York film exhibitor and distributor of the ’60s and ’70s who made smart movies into sexy addictive events the same way Weinstein did. The difference is that almost no one today has heard of Donald Rugoff.
“Searching for Mr. Rugoff,” , was produced and directed by Ira Deutchman, the veteran film distribution and marketing executive who got his start in the mid-’70s working for Rugoff.
“Searching for Mr. Rugoff,” , was produced and directed by Ira Deutchman, the veteran film distribution and marketing executive who got his start in the mid-’70s working for Rugoff.
- 11/23/2019
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
The history of movie culture is full of colorful characters committed to elevating the experience. Donald Rugoff’s exhibition and distribution company Cinema 5 paved the way for a second generation of companies enhancing cinematic culture like the studio (sm)art-house divisions and Landmark Theaters, and then a third wave of companies like the Alamo Drafthouse and A24, turning movie-going into an event. In Searching for Mr. Rugoff, film distribution veteran and producer Ira Deutchman goes back to an early mentor, inspired by a speech given by the great exhibitor Dan Talbot (proprietor of Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and New Yorker Films) at the Ifp Gotham Awards several years ago. In the speech as told by Talbot, Rugoff moved to Marthas Vineyard after having lost his company and started showing films in an old church.
Searching for Mr. Rugoff paints a vibrant picture of a specific era of moviegoing in New York City,...
Searching for Mr. Rugoff paints a vibrant picture of a specific era of moviegoing in New York City,...
- 11/20/2019
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
Doc NYC will open its 10th edition next month with Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band, the feature from Daniel Roher that served as the opening-night film of this year’s Toronto Film Festival. It kicks off a lineup that includes 136 feature-length documentaries and 28 world premieres among more than 300 films and events overall, repping the biggest slate yet for the event already considered the nation’s largest documentary festival.
The New York-set fest also said Thursday that it will close with Ebs Burnough’s The Capote Tapes, a fresh portrait of Truman Capote, with André Leon Talley part of a post-screening Q&a with the director. Doc NYC’s centerpiece presentation is another Tiff pic, Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator, from director Eva Orner.
The slate includes world bows for pics including Joe Berliner’s The Longest Wave, Keith Fulton and Lou Pepe’s He Dreams of Giants about...
The New York-set fest also said Thursday that it will close with Ebs Burnough’s The Capote Tapes, a fresh portrait of Truman Capote, with André Leon Talley part of a post-screening Q&a with the director. Doc NYC’s centerpiece presentation is another Tiff pic, Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator, from director Eva Orner.
The slate includes world bows for pics including Joe Berliner’s The Longest Wave, Keith Fulton and Lou Pepe’s He Dreams of Giants about...
- 10/10/2019
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
In the century since its founding in 1919, United Artists has made and distributed hundreds of films and pioneered business models — such as UA Classics — that continue to resonate in the entertainment industry.
From the founders to the period between the early ’50s through the late ’60s when Arthur Krim and Bob Benjamin ran the company, to the ’70s when David Picker called the shots, there was a simple focus and philosophy.
“Movies that were successful were guided by very successful producers that worked with the top directors,” says Michael Barker, co-president and co-founder of Sony Pictures Classics and
a former executive at UA Classics and Orion Classics. “It’s really the philosophy and mission
of United Artists.”
That philosophy led to films such as “High Noon,” “West Side Story,” “Some Like It Hot,”
“Carrie,” “Midnight Cowboy,” “Rocky,” “Raging Bull” and “The Birdcage,” and the indie film biz
of today can...
From the founders to the period between the early ’50s through the late ’60s when Arthur Krim and Bob Benjamin ran the company, to the ’70s when David Picker called the shots, there was a simple focus and philosophy.
“Movies that were successful were guided by very successful producers that worked with the top directors,” says Michael Barker, co-president and co-founder of Sony Pictures Classics and
a former executive at UA Classics and Orion Classics. “It’s really the philosophy and mission
of United Artists.”
That philosophy led to films such as “High Noon,” “West Side Story,” “Some Like It Hot,”
“Carrie,” “Midnight Cowboy,” “Rocky,” “Raging Bull” and “The Birdcage,” and the indie film biz
of today can...
- 10/4/2019
- by Paul Plunkett
- Variety Film + TV
When Ben Barenholtz, 83, died Wednesday at his new home in Prague, we lost one of the giants of American independent cinema. This vital and genial man has left a legacy behind few can equal. Many in the film community remember him as an entrepreneur, champion of new talent, mentor, cinephile and filmmaker. (Check out his many Facebook tributes here.) Others shared their thoughts in emails to IndieWire throughout the day.
“Ben’s passing is the end of an era,” said John Turturro. “I knew Ben first as a theater owner of the Elgin, which I used to frequent as a young man. Then I worked with him as a producer of ‘Miller’s Crossing’ and ‘Barton Fink.’ He introduced me to so many talented people. His great eye, his sense of humor and mischievous rebellious outlook masked a complicated and difficult early life. He was one of a kind and...
“Ben’s passing is the end of an era,” said John Turturro. “I knew Ben first as a theater owner of the Elgin, which I used to frequent as a young man. Then I worked with him as a producer of ‘Miller’s Crossing’ and ‘Barton Fink.’ He introduced me to so many talented people. His great eye, his sense of humor and mischievous rebellious outlook masked a complicated and difficult early life. He was one of a kind and...
- 6/28/2019
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
Updated with reaction. Mark Urman, a prominent figure in the independent film business who headed Paladin Film for the past decade, has died at age 66 after battling cancer.
Word of his passing circulated over the weekend, especially among the many film and media professionals who live (as did Urman) in Montclair, N.J. Urman’s family has so far declined to make a statement. We will update all this as more information comes in.
Early on, Urman worked in publicity for Columbia Pictures and United Artists before joining PR firm Dennis Davidson Associates in the 1980s, where he got some of his first tastes of championing specialty film titles. He spearheaded several publicity campaigns for Miramax and other indie outfits, and later told a few memorable tales about Bob and Harvey Weinstein in Peter Biskind’s 2004 book Down and Dirty Pictures.
Urman would go on to become a noted tastemaker in the sector,...
Word of his passing circulated over the weekend, especially among the many film and media professionals who live (as did Urman) in Montclair, N.J. Urman’s family has so far declined to make a statement. We will update all this as more information comes in.
Early on, Urman worked in publicity for Columbia Pictures and United Artists before joining PR firm Dennis Davidson Associates in the 1980s, where he got some of his first tastes of championing specialty film titles. He spearheaded several publicity campaigns for Miramax and other indie outfits, and later told a few memorable tales about Bob and Harvey Weinstein in Peter Biskind’s 2004 book Down and Dirty Pictures.
Urman would go on to become a noted tastemaker in the sector,...
- 1/14/2019
- by Dade Hayes
- Deadline Film + TV
After winning plaudits for Winter’s Bone and now Leave No Trace, Debra Granik tells Screen why ultra-low budgets are no barrier to effective filmmaking.
What Debra Granik describes as her “social-realist mentality” was first discovered by indie film aficionados with the release of the writer/director’s debut feature Down To The Bone in 2004. It was, however, 2010 follow-up Winter’s Bone — featuring Jennifer Lawrence in a breakthrough performance as a resolute teen trying to keep her troubled Ozark Mountains family together — that confirmed how skilfully Granik could use that mentality to infuse an intimate drama with veracity and emotional force.
What Debra Granik describes as her “social-realist mentality” was first discovered by indie film aficionados with the release of the writer/director’s debut feature Down To The Bone in 2004. It was, however, 2010 follow-up Winter’s Bone — featuring Jennifer Lawrence in a breakthrough performance as a resolute teen trying to keep her troubled Ozark Mountains family together — that confirmed how skilfully Granik could use that mentality to infuse an intimate drama with veracity and emotional force.
- 11/30/2018
- by John Hazelton
- ScreenDaily
When curating the recent retrospective “NY Indie Guy: Ira Deutchman and the Rise of Independent Film” – a Columbia University exhibit honoring the 40-year career of a leading American independent film producer, marketer, and distributor – programmers Rob King and Jack Lechner made an upsetting discovery: Many of the films they picked to screen were unavailable in any form.
This sent Deutchman into detective mode, to discover what happened to many of the films he helped introduce to the world. He walked away from his initial examination shocked by the situation and with a grim assessment: We are in danger of losing many of the films that defined recent movements in American independent film.
“During the height of in the independent boom back in the ’80s and into the 90s, it was always considered the holy grail for independent filmmakers that to be truly independent they would eventually get back the rights or control the rights,...
This sent Deutchman into detective mode, to discover what happened to many of the films he helped introduce to the world. He walked away from his initial examination shocked by the situation and with a grim assessment: We are in danger of losing many of the films that defined recent movements in American independent film.
“During the height of in the independent boom back in the ’80s and into the 90s, it was always considered the holy grail for independent filmmakers that to be truly independent they would eventually get back the rights or control the rights,...
- 9/25/2018
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
A number of speculative deals are floating in the Hollywood ether, as the industry moves away from studio dominance and toward Silicon Valley. Caught in that maw is Twentieth Century Fox’s sale to Disney and At&T’s merger with Warner Bros. But eyes are also on the fate of the indie Landmark Theatres chain, which owner Mark Cuban has been eager to sell since April. Netflix has denied interest in buying the rock-and-mortar exhibitor, which makes sense, as theater distribution is not the streamer’s business model.
On the other hand, now Amazon has been named as a potential buyer. The online retail giant has among its assets Amazon Studios, which (unlike Netflix) brands its productions with robust theatrical releases before streaming them via Amazon Prime. Among the successful Amazon releases that played well at Landmark locations are Oscar players “Manchester By the Sea” and “The Big Sick.” And...
On the other hand, now Amazon has been named as a potential buyer. The online retail giant has among its assets Amazon Studios, which (unlike Netflix) brands its productions with robust theatrical releases before streaming them via Amazon Prime. Among the successful Amazon releases that played well at Landmark locations are Oscar players “Manchester By the Sea” and “The Big Sick.” And...
- 8/17/2018
- by Tom Brueggemann and Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
A number of speculative deals are floating in the Hollywood ether, as the industry moves away from studio dominance and toward Silicon Valley. Caught in that maw is Twentieth Century Fox’s sale to Disney and At&T’s merger with Warner Bros. But eyes are also on the fate of the indie Landmark Theatres chain, which owner Mark Cuban has been eager to sell since April. Netflix has denied interest in buying the rock-and-mortar exhibitor, which makes sense, as theater distribution is not the streamer’s business model.
On the other hand, now Amazon has been named as a potential buyer. The online retail giant has among its assets Amazon Studios, which (unlike Netflix) brands its productions with robust theatrical releases before streaming them via Amazon Prime. Among the successful Amazon releases that played well at Landmark locations are Oscar players “Manchester By the Sea” and “The Big Sick.” And...
On the other hand, now Amazon has been named as a potential buyer. The online retail giant has among its assets Amazon Studios, which (unlike Netflix) brands its productions with robust theatrical releases before streaming them via Amazon Prime. Among the successful Amazon releases that played well at Landmark locations are Oscar players “Manchester By the Sea” and “The Big Sick.” And...
- 8/17/2018
- by Tom Brueggemann and Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
In today’s film news roundup, up-and-comer Anna Pniowsky books another role, Jonathan Demme’s archive is donated and “Rachel Hollis Presents: Made For More” generates strong grosses.
Casting
Anna Pniowsky has been cast in a lead role in the independent comedy “Judy Small” opposite Rob Corddry, Alicia Silverstone, Haley Joel Osment, and Michaela Watkins.
She will play the daughter of Silverstone’s character, who persuades her husband to see a marriage counselor, the titular Judy Small, played by Watkins. The daughter is the first to distrust the manipulative Small.
William Teitler is producing and directing from a script based on the novel by Nancy Doyle. Gina Resnick is also producing.
Pniowsky will be seen next as the lead opposite Casey Affleck in “Light of My Life,” in which their characters are trapped in the woods after a deadly pandemic. Teddy Schwarzman is producing and financing through his Black Bear Pictures banner.
Casting
Anna Pniowsky has been cast in a lead role in the independent comedy “Judy Small” opposite Rob Corddry, Alicia Silverstone, Haley Joel Osment, and Michaela Watkins.
She will play the daughter of Silverstone’s character, who persuades her husband to see a marriage counselor, the titular Judy Small, played by Watkins. The daughter is the first to distrust the manipulative Small.
William Teitler is producing and directing from a script based on the novel by Nancy Doyle. Gina Resnick is also producing.
Pniowsky will be seen next as the lead opposite Casey Affleck in “Light of My Life,” in which their characters are trapped in the woods after a deadly pandemic. Teddy Schwarzman is producing and financing through his Black Bear Pictures banner.
- 8/4/2018
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Hollywood Condemns Fox News, Trump’s Zero-Tolerance Policy: Adam Scott, James Gunn, Others Speak Out
Refresh for updates Adam Scott, co-star of the Fox sitcom Ghosted, has added his voice to the growing opposition – both inside and outside the Fox entertainment family – against Fox News and what the actor calls the network’s “support for & blatant lying about state-sponsored child abuse.”
The chorus of critics has been expanding steadily today since director Paul Feig, Family Guy‘s Seth MacFarlane, director Judd Apatow and Modern Family co-creator Steve Levitan spoke out against the cable news network’s coverage of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, specifically the separation of migrant families at the border.
Last night, Fnc host Laura Ingraham called child detention centers at the U.S.-Mexico border “summer camps.”
As a Fox employee I’m disgusted by @FoxNews and their support for & blatant lying about state-sponsored child abuse. https://t.co/r6gkqHQDzq
— Adam Scott (@mradamscott...
The chorus of critics has been expanding steadily today since director Paul Feig, Family Guy‘s Seth MacFarlane, director Judd Apatow and Modern Family co-creator Steve Levitan spoke out against the cable news network’s coverage of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, specifically the separation of migrant families at the border.
Last night, Fnc host Laura Ingraham called child detention centers at the U.S.-Mexico border “summer camps.”
As a Fox employee I’m disgusted by @FoxNews and their support for & blatant lying about state-sponsored child abuse. https://t.co/r6gkqHQDzq
— Adam Scott (@mradamscott...
- 6/19/2018
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Michael Moore, the firebrand filmmaker whose “Fahrenheit 911” opened at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema in 2003, blamed greedy real estate companies and a rapidly changing New York City for the closing of the iconic independent movie theater.
“Capitalism killed this cinema — this evil, greedy, 20th century form of capitalism,” Moore said at a memorial for the theater’s late founder, Dan Talbot, on Sunday morning. “The multi-billionaires known as [landlord Milstein Properties] have done this.”
Read More:Michael Moore Battling Harvey and Bob Weinstein Over ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ Sequel
Milstein properties, run by Howard Milstein, owns the Upper West Side building that houses the six-screen underground theater. In late December, it was announced that Talbot and wife and business partner Toby, who have run the arthouse theater since its opening in 1981, were not able to reach an agreement with Milstein to renew the lease. Two weeks later, Talbot — also the co-founder of the legendary New Yorker Films — died...
“Capitalism killed this cinema — this evil, greedy, 20th century form of capitalism,” Moore said at a memorial for the theater’s late founder, Dan Talbot, on Sunday morning. “The multi-billionaires known as [landlord Milstein Properties] have done this.”
Read More:Michael Moore Battling Harvey and Bob Weinstein Over ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’ Sequel
Milstein properties, run by Howard Milstein, owns the Upper West Side building that houses the six-screen underground theater. In late December, it was announced that Talbot and wife and business partner Toby, who have run the arthouse theater since its opening in 1981, were not able to reach an agreement with Milstein to renew the lease. Two weeks later, Talbot — also the co-founder of the legendary New Yorker Films — died...
- 1/29/2018
- by Jude Dry and Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
The day The New York Times broke the Harvey Weinstein story, I found myself choking back bile all day.
In the weeks since, it has become resoundingly clear that Weinstein is a virulent serial predator, and has earned whatever hell rains down on him. But Harvey Weinstein isn’t the problem, and bringing him down — while satisfying, necessary, and just — will be far from sufficient if we don’t simultaneously tear down our rotten corporate culture and reckon with our own complicity in propping it up.
As democracy derives its consent from the governed, tyranny derives its consent from the tyrannized. And while it’s long overdue, I no longer consent to being tyrannized.
I wasn’t sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein. I worked with him briefly, consulting on “sex, lies, and videotape,” the film that changed the independent film business, Sundance, and Harvey forever; the film whose prescient title...
In the weeks since, it has become resoundingly clear that Weinstein is a virulent serial predator, and has earned whatever hell rains down on him. But Harvey Weinstein isn’t the problem, and bringing him down — while satisfying, necessary, and just — will be far from sufficient if we don’t simultaneously tear down our rotten corporate culture and reckon with our own complicity in propping it up.
As democracy derives its consent from the governed, tyranny derives its consent from the tyrannized. And while it’s long overdue, I no longer consent to being tyrannized.
I wasn’t sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein. I worked with him briefly, consulting on “sex, lies, and videotape,” the film that changed the independent film business, Sundance, and Harvey forever; the film whose prescient title...
- 10/27/2017
- by Liz Manne
- Indiewire
When “Indivisible” screened for a crowd at Lincoln Center as the opening night selection of its annual “Open Roads: New Italian Cinema” series, it had no U.S. distribution plan. In late 2016, it had screened in higher-profile slots in Venice and Toronto, where buyers paid no heed. But at Lincoln Center, the movie — a seriocomic story about 18-year-old conjoined twins pursuing a music career (real-life twins Angela and Marianna Fontana) — played through the roof.
That was when Ira Deutchman saw its potential.
“I just fell in love with it,” the veteran distribution executive said. “It’s got everything in it. The movie is not a depressing, severe art film that requires people to look at it like work. Maybe distributors didn’t see the commerciality in a story about conjoined twins, but the women are beautiful and the movie is surprisingly entertaining.”
Read More:Ira Deutchman Receives First Annual Spotlight Lifetime Achievement Award
Now,...
That was when Ira Deutchman saw its potential.
“I just fell in love with it,” the veteran distribution executive said. “It’s got everything in it. The movie is not a depressing, severe art film that requires people to look at it like work. Maybe distributors didn’t see the commerciality in a story about conjoined twins, but the women are beautiful and the movie is surprisingly entertaining.”
Read More:Ira Deutchman Receives First Annual Spotlight Lifetime Achievement Award
Now,...
- 8/17/2017
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Just five months before his death last week, Jonathan Demme was onstage at the Doc NYC annual Visionaries Tribute lunch in New York, where he delivered a gracious speech after receiving a lifetime achievement award for documentary filmmaking. In his speech, Demme mostly talked about other filmmakers and champions of documentary film that were also in the room.
Read More: Jonathan Demme and Performance: 10 Videos That Capture His Musical Genius
“There’s a lot of heroes here,” Demme said. “Stanley Nelson, Alex Gibney, Michael Moore. This is just like a deluge of great documentary filmmakers.” Nelson also received a lifetime achievement award at the ceremony.
Demme also made a point to thank the executives, producers and distributors he’s known and worked with over the years, including Molly Thompson, the founder and head of A&E IndieFilms, longtime producer and distributor Ira Deutchman, and Doc NYC’s executive director Rapheala...
Read More: Jonathan Demme and Performance: 10 Videos That Capture His Musical Genius
“There’s a lot of heroes here,” Demme said. “Stanley Nelson, Alex Gibney, Michael Moore. This is just like a deluge of great documentary filmmakers.” Nelson also received a lifetime achievement award at the ceremony.
Demme also made a point to thank the executives, producers and distributors he’s known and worked with over the years, including Molly Thompson, the founder and head of A&E IndieFilms, longtime producer and distributor Ira Deutchman, and Doc NYC’s executive director Rapheala...
- 5/2/2017
- by Graham Winfrey
- Indiewire
The film world was deeply saddened when news broke today that Oscar-winning “The Silence of the Lambs” director Jonathan Demme had died in New York at the age of 73. Demme was a brilliant and versatile auteur, traversing genres with rarely a misfire. He is remembered by those who worked with him, and those whom his work inspired.
Tom Hanks, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of a lawyer dying of AIDS in Demme’s “Philadelphia,” wrote: “Jonathan taught us how big a heart a person can have, and how it will guide how we live and what we do for a living. He was the grandest of men.” Meryl Streep, who worked with Demme on 2015’s “Ricki and the Flash,” said: “A big hearted, big tent, compassionate man- in full embrace in his life of people in need- and of the potential of art, music, poetry and film to...
Tom Hanks, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of a lawyer dying of AIDS in Demme’s “Philadelphia,” wrote: “Jonathan taught us how big a heart a person can have, and how it will guide how we live and what we do for a living. He was the grandest of men.” Meryl Streep, who worked with Demme on 2015’s “Ricki and the Flash,” said: “A big hearted, big tent, compassionate man- in full embrace in his life of people in need- and of the potential of art, music, poetry and film to...
- 4/26/2017
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
In 2007, the Art House Convergence began as a place for specialty film exhibitors, distributors, and film festival directors to strategize against the issues of the moment. Back then, it was the looming specter of digital conversion, which questioned the viability of many participating organizations. Not only did the vast majority of theaters survive, but also 35mm projection and repertory programming also proved sustainable.
Ten years later, the 2017 Art House Convergence was bigger than ever. Held in Midway, Utah, over the three days before the Sundance Film Festival, the Convergence remains a place where the love of cinema is physically tangible, where the oft-spoken phrase “film community” is meant without cynicism. It’s also a deeply practical opportunity for more than 600 film exhibitors, distributors, and film festival directors to spend four days assessing the challenges of American independent film exhibition and what they can do to make it work. Thankfully, the...
Ten years later, the 2017 Art House Convergence was bigger than ever. Held in Midway, Utah, over the three days before the Sundance Film Festival, the Convergence remains a place where the love of cinema is physically tangible, where the oft-spoken phrase “film community” is meant without cynicism. It’s also a deeply practical opportunity for more than 600 film exhibitors, distributors, and film festival directors to spend four days assessing the challenges of American independent film exhibition and what they can do to make it work. Thankfully, the...
- 1/20/2017
- by Tom Hall
- Indiewire
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