A Steady Diet of Film

"Imagine never seeing an Antonioni movie on the big screen"

This Sunday the New York Times asks "Is Foreign Film the New Endangered Species?" examining the impact the explosion of "mini-major" productions, the boom in popularity for documentaries and the shorter theater to dvd window has on foreign films.

Increased selectivity has left dozens of smaller movies in the dust. For this year's Academy Awards, for example, a record 91 countries submitted entries to the foreign-language category; only seven have American distribution, the lowest number in years. By comparison, more than 20 entries for the 2003 awards were distributed here. ...
Foreign movies are generally regarded as more dependent on reviews and publicity than domestic ones, and Mark Urman, head of theatrical releasing for the art-house distributor ThinkFilm, blames the lack of media attention on dwindling audience interest. "Nobody's writing about them, because nobody cares, and nobody cares because they don't penetrate the culture," he said. "It's a vicious cycle."

Since Film Light is apparently part of the problem and not the solution, this week I saw the incredibly moving documentary (leaning more towards the 'advocacy film' genre) After Innocence. Directed by Jessica Sanders (and rumored to be on the short list for a Best Documentary Oscar nomination) the film follows a handful of men who have been exonerated with DNA evidence by the Innocence Project. In one of the most compelling moments we meet a woman who has befriended the man she identified as her rapist who was exonerated (her real rapist who bore a striking resemblance to the exoneree was caught and convicted).

After Innocence (winner of the Sundance 2005 Special Jury Prize) examines how fragile our justice system is and poses real challeges to the way Americans think of crime, convicts, and rehabilitation. I don't mean to be glib, but it's truly a changing-film.



This week I also attended the Media that Matters film festival which is a traveling (and online) collection of short films chosen by their jury from a submission pool of thousands. The films range in form, stock and content, but each piece has an incredibly incisive eye and distinct voice. We were on the tail-end of the tour but you can still watch all the films on their website. We recommend: Battleground Minnesota and the Luckiest Nut in the World.

posted by Erin @ Sunday, January 22, 2006