As we have been saying over the past few weeks, 2006 has been a pretty good year for indie film. Not only for filmmakers but for audiences as well. You. Now how great is that. You, the indie audience, have been treated to a plethora of incredible performances by the old indie favorites - Maggie Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Ryan Gosling, etc. films from great indie directors - Spike Lee, Sofia Coppola, John Cameron Mitchell, Michael Winterbottom, etc. and fantastic work from new filmmakers such as Paul Taylor's WE ARE TOGETHER, Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland's QUINCEANERA and Richard Wong's COLMA: THE MUSICAL. There has been more access to indie and foreign films then ever before. Stories about films such as THE QUEEN, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, SHUT UP AND SING, BABEL, SHORTBUS, BUBBLE, THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY to name very few - dominated popular press as never before. You , the audience, were able to read about, hear about, and see more about indie films than indie music - with the explosion of myspace that is something. Judging by the very significant box office grosses garnered by docs just this past weekend, more and more of you went to see indie films this year. Even if you don't necessarily think of docs as indie films, they are. Hooray!

As Michelle mentioned last week, 2006 has been the year of alternative ways of marketing and distribution of indie and foreign films. MySpace, YouTube and Google all had a place in increasing the audience for independent film - not just in the US but all over the world. Mark Cuban tried to shake things up with day and date and while the numbers of people going to see films in theaters has decreased, the numbers of DVD rentals has increased tremendously. Festival attendance numbers are increasing and more and more of you are subscribing to IFC and Sundance Channel. There was a great shift in independent and foreign film landscape this year and I can only look hopefully towards the future to see where the chips fall.

It has all been really exciting for those of us who work to bring indie film to audiences as there is nothing better than having great work to get out to receptive audiences.

So here's looking to 2007.

Thanks for all of your support for us at indieIN and for indie and foreign film in general. Watch this space for some exciting things to come.

Keeping it indie,

Julie

Top 10 stories of 2006

Well, it's time for the holidays. It's hard to believe that 2007 is just days away! Along with the holiday celebrations, now is also the time of year when critics and organizations announce their favorite films of the year. That's always been a bit hard for me because I am so influenced by each film I see. So instead I thought I would reflect upon some of the news and events that happened this year that had an effect on indie film--and on me.

1. Day-and-Date

Early in the year, the first "day-and-date" experiment took place, as Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner released Bubble simultaneously in theaters and on DVD. All the articles were a buzz that this would change the course of indie film and how audiences would choose to see independent films. So what happened? The film made an estimated $1.6 million, with just over $70K on opening weekend. According to Magnolia Pictures president, Eamonn Bowles, the company shipped more than 100,000 DVD units, with few returns. While there was plenty of press beforehand, I have not heard much from the Cuban/Wagner team, although Magnolia Pictures (owned by Cuban/Wagner) has put out many titles this year that with appropriate marketing, may have served better in that format. This leads me to...

2. I Am a Sex Addict
At the 2005 Gotham Awards, Caveh Zahedi's I am a Sex Addict won the award for "Best Film NOT Playing in a Theater Near You." And it almost stayed that way when Zahedi's film was caught in a battle between Mark Cuban, IFC Films, and Comcast, over day-and-date distribution because Comcast would not Cubans two cable networks (HDNet and HDNet Movies).To summarize, Sex Addict was being released by IFC Films as part of their IFC First Take, where films play in theatrically on the same day they are available for ON Demand for Comcast subscribers. As a result, Mark Cuban pulled Zahedi's films from Landmark Theaters because it was competition. Despite his pleas, the film's theatrical release was cut short (but did get some free publicity). IFC First Take continues to release many of its films with Comcast but surprisingly, I do not see this marketing these films. Seems like a bit of a waste to me...

3. The Critics versus The Audience
Okay, so I know the real films that got slammed by the critics yet still did fantastic in the box office were studio films—Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest and The DaVinci Code but still it became abundantly clear that critics don't always get it right. To bring it back to indie films, I will point out that the well-loved Little Miss Sunshine was given a mere "C-grade" in EW which stated the film was "...not funny." Just weeks later, the film was on the cover being touted as a "surprise hit." The film still continues to do well and is nominated for several awards so I think the lesson learned here is, read the review but decide for yourself what to see.

Okay, those are the biggies so here are the rest in no particular order:

4. Evangelist Ted Haggard being outed by a male prostitute (if not for the documentary Jesus Camp, I would not have known who this guy was or what a HUGE deal this news was)
5. AIVF closing its doors
6. Mel Gibson's anti-semetic tirade (Okay, I know not really indie but some people argue that Passion of the Christ was an indie film)
7. Inconvenient Truth making a major impact in theaters and in people's minds [personal note: the climate crisis is real folks, learn all you can!]
8. The title song from Hustle and Flow ("It's hard out there for a pimp...") winning Best Song at the Oscars
9. The deaths of Robert Altman and Adrienne Shelly
10. You. Okay, a little sentimental but the fact that you visit indieIN means that you are supporting indie film. Thank you and please continue to help spread the word that "there's more out there..."!

Have a great holiday and go see an indie film!

Long live indie film,

Michelle

Though as one would hope would be a given in any year in film, 2006 has been a pretty good year for actresses with some fantastically complicated roles played with skill, luminosity and sheer will that have blown me and the hardened critics away. Though by no means is the list below exhaustive, I have narrowed it down to a select few (in no order) so far - as I have not managed to see everything yet...

Probably the most "famous"performance this year by an actress is Helen Mirren in Stephen Frears' The Queen. If you have not seen this film, stop reading this (it will be up for at least a week) and go. Go now. I am serious. Not only is the subject - the PR, political and royal fall out from the death of HRH Princess Diana - fascinating to see from the inside but Mirren is absolutely sublime. Not only is it fantastic to see her act her socks off effortlessly but to do it as a living person who you can compare her to - a more than daunting. This is also a rare example of a performance that fits itself into the film as they are equally brilliant. Well written, well acted across the board and just the right length ( a secret pet peeve of mine) to make it worth your while but not interminable.

Two of my other favorites (and I group them together because they are both incredibly difficult roles to play) were from Kate Winslett and Cate Blanchett - two actresses that I would pay to watch read the phone book and in Little Children and Babel respectively, do not disappoint. In Little Children, Winslett plays a married wildly intelligent mother who falls into a relationship with a very attractive stay at home married father. The key to Winslett is her complete distaste for and distance from her child, a daughter whom you suspect she loves but just can't bring herself to emotionally connect with. Winslett manages to find her way to an emotional connection with her daughter by way of falling in love with a man that she knows she can never be with. The struggle, the fragile line between beauty and exhaustion, and the ferocity of sexual desire for the man are all played by Winslett in a way that you almost can't believe is possible. She manages to make us fall in love with her even though she is really without much going for her in the strength of character department. Sublime. Unlike Winslett, Blanchett has only 20 minutes of screen time (in an almost 3 hour film) to convey both the emotional and historical life of her character and her relationship with her husband played by Brad Pitt. Blanchett, with very little dialogue, tells us who she is and who she might be. There has not been a more intense scene for me on film this year than the one between her and Pitt as he does the simple act of helping her go to the bathroom. Again, sublime.

Other brilliant performances include:

Isabelle Huppert in Patrice Chereau's Gabrielle - not a film I particularly loved but worth the price of admission to watch a master at playing a woman of deception and cruelty at her very very best.

Slindile from Paul Taylor's We Are Together - not a performance as the film is a doc about this 12 year old and her siblings at the Agape Orphanage. Slindile not only sings like an angel but manages to take us through her life of pain and suffering with a sense of strength and determination of spirit that is rarely captured on film.

Penelope Cruz in Pedro Almodovar's Volver - finally a performance that reminds us why we fell in love with her in the first place. Viva Almodovar!

Lei Hao in Lou Ye's Summer Palace - again a film that is far from perfect in any way but a performance which manages to take us through 20 odd years of a woman's life from University in Bejing to the fall of the Berlin Wall with sensitivity, fascination and wonder. The only Chinese film ever to be up for the Palme d'Or.

Shareeka Epps in Ryan Fleck's Half Nelson - this debut performance by this young actress is one of the best I have seen in a long time. Epps has a wonderful maturity and walks the line between naiviete and adulthood that is so fabulous to watch. Her scenes with Ryan Gosling balance between flirtation and familial impeccably and with a sophistication that actresses twice her age and experience can't muster.

This as I said above is by no means an exhaustive list, just a few of my faves this year so far.

Keeping it indie!

Julie

The Weinstein Company has come up with an interesting new way to market George Hickenlooper's new film, Factory Girl--a design contest! Designers are encouraged to show off their artistic skills by designing a poster for the film. The grand prize winner will receive a full-sized copy of the poster signed by the cast of Factory Girl, a private screening of the film for the winner and 25 of their friends, and the poster will be used to market the film in the winner's local theater as well as posted on the film's official website, www.FactoryGirlMovie.net.

I think this is a very clever way to market this film, that explores the rise and fall of 60s "it girl" Edie Sedgwick, who became the muse to Andy Warhol. The contest is clearly geared town atracting artists but I think it would more effective if they actually used the poster for the national campaign.

Independent filmmaking is already such a collaborative process. Filmmaker's must work with cinematographers, actors, costume designers, and musicians to create the film. Why not extend the step one further and go to artists who are looking to showcase their work. I think more indie filmmakers may want to look at this model.

I'm a fan of Hickenlooper so I'm interested to see the film and the winning poster. I guess we can all stay tuned...

Long live indie film,

Michelle

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced this week that AIDS is set to be the 3rd leading cause of death worldwide and that 117 million people will die of AIDS between 2006 and 2030. 39 million people worldwide are living with HIIV/AIDS today. Staggering statistics – but even more frightening is the fact that of that 39 million living with the virus, there is a growing majority of them that are unaware that they are infected. In a world of constant awareness of anything and everything virtually at the moment it happens e.g, we know that Britney Spears broke up with K-Fed over a text message and the every movement of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie half a world away, HIV/AIDS numbers are not dwindling, but increasing at an incredibly rapid rate. The issues of poverty, access to retroviral drugs and political upheaval notwithstanding in the developing world, there is no excuse for the growing numbers of HIV/AIDS in the “developed’ world. Have we just turned off? Do we just not care anymore because we have become lax in the belief that HIV/AIDS happens to “other” people? Let me repeat myself….”of that 39 million living with the virus, there is a growing majority of them that are unaware that they are infected”

The New York Times first reported on AIDS in 1981. However, while the esteemed paper was breaking the news to the public at large, there were a number of indie filmmakers within and outside of the gay community that were already using their films to send a message about the severity and fragility of life with HIV/AIDS. Early films by filmmakers such as Vito Russo’s THE CELLULOID CLOSET and Albert Bressan Jr.’s Buddies explored the impact of the virus on the gay community. In 1985’s AN EARLY FROST directed by John Erman AIDS was mentioned on television for the very first time. Filmmakers were beginning to reflect what was going on around them furthering. One of the strongest connections between the indie film world and the AIDS “crisis” of the 80s was a film called PARTING GLANCES (1986) directed by Bill Sherwood. The film is a typical NY story about a stressed out gay couple and the impact that AIDS has on their lives. It is both funny and sad and gave the indie film world one if its greatest and most respected talents, Steve Buscemi. It was his feature film debut.

As time went on indie filmmakers focused less and less on the films about “the disease” and more on how the disease was a part of the fabric of their narratives. Indie films such as Greg Araki’s THE LIVING END, Larry Clark’s KIDS, and Cyril Collard’s SAVAGE NIGHTS all featured characters or storylines that had an element of living with HIV/AIDS. Documentaries such as Tom Joslin’s SILVERLAKE LIFE and Robert Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s COMMON THREADS were notable for their depiction of what it was like living with HIV for the infected and those who love them.

But that was then.

Where are the filmmakers now when the “crisis” that we allowed ourselves to think was over because we were distracted is far from over? It is not the responsibility of filmmakers to influence society but it is their responsibility as artists to reflect society either in a fictionalized way or just the straight truth. There have been at least 25 films – narratives and documentaries made about the conflict in Iraq and practically none on the war that is currently ravaging communities at home. Maybe it is time to wake up.

For more information on HIV/AIDS, you can check out the following sites:

www.amfar.org
www.knowhivaids.org