A small remembrance of an amazing musician...

One of the most important records in my collection is Mstislav Rostropovich's performance of Benjamin Britten's Cello Suites, as beautiful a collection of music as I have ever heard. Rostropovich's playing made me fall in love with the cello, and to this day I consider his work as a cellist and conductor to be one of the slender threads that has kept me connected to the world of classical music. He is also my bridge between modern classical (which I am learning to enjoy more and more) and mid-20th century orchestral and chamber music (which I love). But it is his political will (the Soviet Union revoked his citizenship in the 1970's because of his support for artistic freedom, particularly that of his friend, the novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn) that has always made him something of a private icon for me; Another modernist who understood that only freedom of expression can lead humanity to great achievement.

I saw a wonderful documentary a few years back about his return to Russia after years of exile, and his playing was so powerful, an audience member stood up during one if his performances and shouted "Slava is Zeus!" His impact on Russian and American music is unquestionable. I am terribly sad to hear of his passing. Though I have lost touch with his recent work, his commitment to his art and the exquisitely beautiful music he made will be with me forever. Rest In Peace, Slava.

Arrive in Brooklyn very early on May 4.

May 5th? Giving myself a treat and taking in The Marathon.

May 10? I'm all over the The Garrel Retrospective.

Can't wait to be back!

The old adage is true; There is truly no rest for the wicked. After the curtain came down on this year's Sarasota Film Festival, I immediately began the process of wrapping things up here in Sarasota before I head back home to Brooklyn. The little details all pile up, and after a few days of exhausted e-mailing and plowing through the remaining work, I finally feel a sense of closure. It was truly a great year, and I am really proud of the festival. I think a little summary of my experiences is in order.

Impressions

Programming is an interesting process; You literally spend months buried in piles of films, e-mails and negotiation trying as hard as you can to bring in as many movies as you can that represent the best of what you have seen. But you do so in a sort of vacuum; While Holly and I have developed what I consider to be one of the most positive and fruitful collaborative environments of my professional life, we both tend to respond to similar films. As we agree and sometimes disagree, a program is slowly assembled. But as for the physical reality of showing films to audiences and inviting artists to present their work? During the process of programming, it seems like a mirage; Always in the distance, hovering, but never attained.

But then, holy shit, the festival dates actually arrive and what seemed almost theoretical becomes a physical reality; Prints arrive, projectors and decks start being installed, the staff swells to four times its original size, the office begins to pulsate with energy and suddenly, it’s Opening Night and all systems are GO! This year, we installed a Hi-Def system into our 1700 seat theater and showed David Sington’s In The Shadow Of The Moon to two (yes, two) rapturous standing ovations. David and Apollo astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell (the 6th man to walk on the moon) awed the crowd with their Q&A (which I had the honor of moderating) and the screening and 2000 guest after-party were a huge success.

But going in, I had a sales job on my hands; Sarasota had never opened with a documentary before and I think there were some concerns that the community might not be ready for the experience. All doubts were cast aside as person after person came up to Holly and me and expressed their love of the film. Mark Urman from THINKFilm was here (it’s their film) and I think the evening reinforced what he already knew; If THINK handles this movie properly, we could be talking big numbers and Oscar contention. I wasn’t prepared for the rapture the movie inspired, but Sarasota flipped for In The Shadow Of The Moon and the screening was the start of an amazing ten days.

Despite claims to the contrary, Sarasota is by no means an overwhelmingly conservative community; The reality is that the political and economic diversity of the area provides the main thrust for the program. If you look at electoral politics, the malfunction of electronic voting machines threw an already hotly contested congressional race into question; Political diversity is in sharp focus here, and we work hard to bring films to the festival that challenge preconceptions of all stripes. Which is why it is such a treat to see people of all persuasions heading out to the festival in order to see films they would otherwise never have a chance to see. I often talk to other programmers and film types who don’t get it; Why bother programming a festival in Florida? My answer is always the same; The rewards of exposing this audience to great films that showcase ideas and opinions that would never otherwise be received, and to have them enjoy the experience and celebrate the artists themselves? That is the type of work I can get behind. Programming in other, less diverse locales seems a much easier task.

3:00 in the mornin'
you call me up without warnin'
tellin' me
all of my dreams of love and affection
are OVER

AMAZING FESTIVAL...I'll blog Sarasota FF 2007 asap
Until then, much love to Ry, Mike, Sophie Fiennes, Chad Lowe (the coolest), Joe, Greta, Craig, Aaron, Pablo, Nate, Chris and Hubbell, Ingrid (xoxo), Rabbi, James and Jeff, Matt, Kris, Jessica W (congrats!), Joe and Greta, AJ and Jared, Josh, Ben (congrats!), Jeremy and Randy, Reg, Sean, Zoe, Alex, Mike, Katie, Terry, Juha, Michael, Barlow, Tati, Norman Jewison, Building A Broken Mousetrap, etc etc. What a year... Bed now. xoxox

When I started this post, I looked at the clock and we're less than 24 hours from the start of the Sarasota Film Festival. So much has been accomplished in the run-up to 7:00pm tomorrow when we take our seats at the Van Wezel and In The Shadow Of The Moon knocks everyone's socks off. It's going to be a great and exhausting ten days. There is so much I haven't been able to write about in the build-up, from Michelle Trachtenberg and Steve Buscemi to our the films themselves, which are a pretty great group of movies. I'm not even going to stick my baby toe in this whole attempt to name and define a generation of independent filmmakers, but suffice it to say that we have an amazing group of artists attending the festival and it is my goal to show them a great time and help spread the word about their wonderful films.

I am going to bed early, resting up for the marathon that lies ahead, and I probably won't be able to do much blogging this year (but hey, ya never know). So, until next time (at which point I begin shameless and effusive gushing over the festival if all goes according to plan), keep the festival in your thoughts and I hope to see you here, your butt in a theater seat, some popcorn in hand, enjoying one of the 210 films unspooling in the next ten days. It's going to be great. Fingers and toes crossed...

Busy week ahead, but I wanted to drop a note to preview our 2007 Producer's Award Tributee Jonathan Sehring. In the interest of full disclosure, I started my career at IFC/Bravo back in 1997, and I very much enjoyed working with Jonathan; We were even on the Corporate League basketball team together (just ask him about my jump shot! I think I made one basket in 5 games... no confidence in my teammates...*cough*). These were the very early days of IFC Films, and the first projects on which I can remember the company working were Steven Soderbergh's Gray's Anatomy which Jonathan Executive Produced in 1996 (with then partner-in-crime, the lovely Caroline Kaplan) and then John Sayles' terrific Men With Guns, which was picked up by IFC. An auspicious start, but I can't believe how far the company has come. Jonathan was the leader of the pack on the film side of the house; In two short years, IFC was working on Kimberly Pierce's Academy Award winning Boys Don't Cry and Errol Morris' Mr. Death: The Rise And Fall Of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr., and it was a watershed year for the company. They haven't looked back.

IFC Films President and 2007 Sarasota Film Festival Producer's Award Honoree Jonathan Sehring

After inaugurating the Producer's Award last year by honoring Paula Wagner, I invited Jonathan to receive this award last summer and he graciously accepted. His work as both a producer and a distributor rival Norman Jewison's for both innovation (with InDigEnt and First Take both on the cutting edge of production and distribution strategies in their day) and diversity (anyone seen all 49 films and television shows he's produced?) We're honored that Jonathan is coming and it should be a great night. Now, if I can just convince him to put more of those great foreign titles into wider theatrical release... Let's see what he says with a little champagne in him...

Uh-oh. I love stepping into the middle of a good clean debate (*batting eyelashes*), so when Anthony Kaufman's typically excellent indieWIRE article examining the creation of Dreamachine (the brand new foreign equivalent of a mini-major which has the potential to bring major changes to the overall availability of foreign films for American screens) started making waves, I had to jump in. After all of the back and forth among my fellow bloggers about what this move may mean for everyone, there is a lot to talk about. Let's get to the quotes.

"The only other option for the bulk of these smaller films, Panahi told me (which doesn't appear in the article) is film festivals. If Matt Dentler wants to program some foreign art films at SXSW, he may be asked to pay up more dough, because it could be the only way these movies recoup until digital distribution takes off."--Anthony Kaufman

"Isn't it is just one more flare on the difficult road that both foreign cinema and American art films have been on for the past couple of years? A small, vocal audience certainly exists but the crossover that would otherwise make the economics work for a distributor doesn't seem to turn out all that much anymore."--Jared Moshe

"This seems to me to be making a distinction not of quality but of cost; In a xenophobic, anti-intellectual, isolationist time like this, the best way to get a return on a "difficult" film (that is, almost anything subtitled or 'downbeat') is to spend next to nothing on them. Ad buys and marketing? Why bother? Print making? Minimal. Festivals? If you play them, charge them money to screen and market your film for you in communities where the films won't otherwise be seen. It'll only help your DVD and cable sales down the road and you can turn a nice profit on the backs of small, non-profit arts groups. The most difficult part to swallow regarding this strategy is that the model is a used as a pretext for "art" and is seen as somehow less commercial and more independent. Hrm. I guess if, when you say 'less commercial' you mean lowering expenditures in order to maximize returns, then yes. But that smells like commericalism to me. Let's just call it what it is; Low-revenue profit making. That's the system."--Me, back on February 22, 2007.

"What does this mean for the American film festivals? Quite frankly, it's no secret that many of us rely on U.S. distributors to help supply foreign films for our programming. Some North American festivals (Sundance, Toronto, Seattle, San Francisco, SXSW, etc.) are able to maintain relationships with foreign sales agencies, commissions, and councils (big up to KOFIC for helping us with the new Chan-wook Park!). But for the smaller regional fests, the distributors are the ones often supplying these titles (with subtitles). If there will be fewer small, foreign films shopped to North American distributors, it will inevitably trickle down to various outlets that typically showcase them. And the small regional fests are certainly part of this equation. Not to mention, the regional arts organizations (Austin Film Society, IMAGE, Northwest Film Forum, etc.) who regularly schedule calendar screenings of arthouse fare. It doesn't mean these films will become impossible to find in 35mm, they just will be much much harder to book. I'd be curious to see how many film festivals out there are unable to book the foreign films they want, because of the economics involved. In many cases, film organizations and film festivals are the only manner in which cinephiles can see foreign films outside of New York and L.A."-- Matt Dentler

Where to begin? First of all, there are ALREADY a ton of foreign films, many of which are represented by a diverse array of production and distrubution companies, that never get to see the light of day outside of festivals and DVD. Here in Sarasota, Holly and I work with smaller foreign companies to assemble many of our foreign titles and we negotiate many different kinds of deals with them as, over time, we continue to build a relationship. The issue, of course, is not so much with foreign distributors, artists and production companies but instead, and let's be honest here, with the sales agents both here and abroad who level specious arguments against festival participation and who treat their films like rarified objects that shouldn't be sullied by American audiences. That is, unless you have €2000 for two screenings.

First and foremost, a refrain we hear over and over and over again, is the utterly ridiculous decision to "not play any more festivals untl we have secured distribution"; The film will play a major festival market (Toronto, AFM, etc.) and then disappear from the festival circuit, never generating any real word of mouth and, of course, never receiving a domestic distribution deal. It simply disappears, maybe showing up as a Region 2 DVD on a shelf in a collector's home. I could be wrong (and if so, please, someone correct me), but which distributor has ever walked away from a deal because a film has built sturdy word of mouth playing the film festival circuit? Interestingly, I've never heard the story of the low-budget or foreign film that lost distribution because of its popularity. These films have it hard enough as it is; I'm happy for Matt that SXSW carried the U.S. premiere of I'm A Cyborg But That's O.K., but I am interested to watch what happens to the film here in the US. I don't see anyone rushing to grab the rights for domestic distribution. Which is, of course, the other half of the problem. As I said above, the game is one of small expenditures and small returns and most companies don't make enough money on these movies to justify spending anything at all.

So, who pays? What is going on overseas to revolutionize distribution and grass roots development in America for these films? You have a giant support system of film festivals, art houses and museums more than willing to help these movies grow, and yet the films are continually withheld from American audiences. Again, and I must have said this a million times, this ridiculous idea that a network of small, non-profits arts organizations should carry the load for the U.S. marketplace by paying exorbitant screening fees (without a drop of federal or state subsidy in most cases) is bullshit. Let me give you an example.

This year, the Sarasota Film Festival will spend in excess of $100,000 to outfit our theaters with video and HD projection, hire and train a technical staff, and pay for theater space. A foreign film without domestic distribution will generally play twice at the festival, in a theater that holds 120 people. If I sell the film out twice at $8 a ticket, the festival earns $1920. That is a huge assumption, since most foreign films are a much tougher sell for even a festival. Oh, and don't forget complimentary tickets for artists (we're courteous down here, what can I say?). Add to that the fact that there is no domestic marketing campaign for the movie and that most people won't have heard of the film, and it becomes MY JOB to sell the film to my audiences. Still, in the best of all possible worlds, if you deduct projection costs, two-way print shipping (on most foreign titles), theater rental and staffing costs, then I have already lost money. The usual fee requested for the film itself? €1000. For whom does THAT economic model work?

I really don't understand what all the hand-wringing is about; The business just doesn't get it. The industry has a huge sales job on its hands with the American public, and instead of alienating the institutional network that is passionate about helping revitalize the marketplace for foreign film, you should be taking full advantage of the grass roots to re-establish a large, passionate audience for these movies. Instead, festivals and non-profits are being saddled with the responsibility of carrying the whole enterprise until the accountants can figure out what to do next; We're paying you to do your job for you. This won't last.

It was interesting reading all the complaints about TriBeCa's decision to raise ticket prices to $18. I assume they aren't paying a bunch of money for prints and are instead using their brand's muscle to get what they want, but still; If you find that ticket price worrying, I encourage you fasten your seat belts, because if the cost of showing and marketing films at festivals continues to rise, the price at all festivals will continue to go up as well and all that will do is further alienate the very people to whom we should be marketing these films. In the meantime, we will continue to keep hustling and working on our relationships with people who want their films seen and who understand the relative value of the grass roots. What else can we do?

Full disclosure: A complete list of foreign features at this year's Sarasota Film Festival can be found here.

EDIT: I should also mention that we will be hosting a panel discussion about this very topic at this year's festival. Foreign Film: Challenges In The American Marketplace takes places Friday, April 20th at 11:30 am at METRO Coffee and Wine here in Sarasota. Confirmed panelists include Josh Braun (Submarine), Tom Bernard (Sony Pictures Classics), Jon Gerrans (Strand Releasing), Paul Hudson (Outsider Pictures) and Jonathan Sehring (IFC Films and 2007 Sarasota Film Festival Producer's Award Honoree). More reason to join us!

As I mentioned in my previous post, The Sarasota Film Festival has a tradition of honoring different artists for different reasons. This year, we're working with Edward Norton and Brian Koppelman to not only celebrate their careers with a salute on April 14th and a public In Conversation With... event on April 15th, but to honor their efforts on behalf of Enterprise Community Partners, a non-profit organization that is working with families here on the Gulf of Mexico to rebuild homes and lives after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Edward Norton: Recipient of the Sarasota Film Festival's 2007 Humanitarian Award

This area is no stranger to the destructive power of hurricanes; Hurricane Charley ravaged the area in 2004, and the aftermath of that storm is the subject of one of our festival's World Premieres, Jamin H Griffiths' FEMA City. The film looks at the temporary housing community that still houses many of the victims of Hurricane Charley some two and-a-half years after the storm wiped out wide swaths of the already limited affordable housing in the Gulf Coast of Florida. It's a powerful story that rebukes any notion of "disaster fatigue" by humanizing the plight of the people who are still without homes.

It is a real honor to have Edward Norton and Brian Koppleman join us and to celebrate their careers; I think these events will be a lot of fun. But it's also nice to know the community here is working with the artists to help out such a worthy cause. If you're interested in making a donation to Enterprise Community Partners, click here and tell them The Sarasota Film Festival sent you!

One of the most exciting aspects of our festival each and every year is our community's interest in paying tribute to filmmakers, actors and producers; The creative people who have made a siginifcant contribution to the art of film. We honor artists in several different ways and for several different reasons, and this year is no exception. I want to talk about them all, but I wanted to start with Norman Jewison, the legendary Director and one of the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet.

When Mr. Jewison agreed to accept the festival's 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Filmmaking (whew, that's a mouthful!), our festival's highest honor, I was thrilled; I don't think there is another Director working today who has a more diverse or powerful body of work. Just look at that corpus! Don't feel like clicking? How about two Doris Day romantic comedies (Send Me No Flowers and The Thrill Of It All), two Steve McQueen thrillers (The Cincinnati Kid and the über-hip The Thomas Crown Affair), two definitive musicals (Jesus Christ Superstar and Fiddler On The Roof), three powerful films about the issues surrounding racial justice in the USA (In The Heat Of The Night, A Soldier's Story and The Hurricane), a definitive romantic comedy in Moonstruck, the still-hilarious The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (which launched Alan Arkin's career), F.I.S.T., Rollerball, ...And Justice For All; It's dizzying to think that a single artist is responsible for this vast array of work. When you think about Mr. Jewison's ability to move between genres, tones, styles, well, it's hard not to be a feel a little but of awe. I've put together a small retrospective of Mr. Jewison's work for this year's festival, and we're showing 35mm prints of many of his best films.

The Sarasota Film Festival's 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner: Norman jewison

To frost the cake, Robert Osbourne and the good folks at Turner Classic Movies are bringing their cameras to the Festival, and we will be hosting TCM's taping of their Private Screenings series at the Historic Asolo Theater with Mr. Jewison. Then, it's on to the Tribute Dinner, where Mr. Jewison is one of our guests of honor. Looking back over the past two years, I've been able to host Robert Towne, Robert Altman, Werner Herzog and now Norman Jewison as honorees at the festival; I'm not sure it gets any better than that. I am very much looking forward to having Mr. Jewison here and talking with him about his storied career.