Two batches of doc-related news out of the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival in the past couple of days. The first is an environmental initiative straight out of the Oscar winning An Inconvenient Truth and starring, you guessed it, Al Gore. As reported on the Filmmaker Magazine blog, the former Veep will be hosting the festival's opening night, and will be screening 7 short films from Gore's SOS (Save Our Selves) series. Among the filmmakers chosen to make shorts are Oscar nominated nonfiction filmmakers Amy Berg (Deliver Us From Evil) and the team of Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (Jesus Camp).
Second, and perhaps more exciting to those who've followed the previous films in the series, comes news (via Erik Moe at About: Documentaries) that Albert Maysles' The Gates, will close the Tribeca Fest. The Gates is the sixth film that Maysles has made about the art projects of Christo and Jean-Claude, a collaboration that began more than 30 years ago. The previous films in the series are available in a stunning box set from Plexifilm.
All this news comes in the midst of a public relations disaster for the festival, which began when Eugene Hernandez reported late last week at indieWIRE that Tribeca would be raising its ticket prices by 50% this year, up to $18 per ticket from last year's $12. From Eugene's excellent piece:
Numerous organizers from other American film festivals privately expressed surprise at Tribeca's dramatic move and a few spoke with indieWIRE about general ticket pricing, noting that festival ticket costs are typically set at or near the cost of a regular movie ticket at local multiplexes and arthouse venues. A survey of costs for film festival tickets around the country supported the link to pricing at local theaters and not factored in are any number of fees and surcharges some customers pay when buying tickets online or by phone.
Eugene went on to post the following on his blog:
Increasing ticket prices to $18 for most movies is a bold and shocking move by a festival that unapologetically burst onto the scene six years ago after 9/11. In particular, the ill-fated decision sends an unfortunate message to many people in the industry, some of whom are silently skeptical about the motives and future of the event. Earlier this month an industry insider whom I respect confided a deep resentment towards the Tribeca Film Festival, detailing numerous reasons based on specific encounters over the years. I can only imagine what that person is saying to co-workers today after reading the news.
In its first few years I consistently praised Tribeca for one important thing, its committment to creating a community event aimed at engaging a broad cross section of New Yorkers and supporting diverse filmmakers. I was thorougly excited to see such an amazing array of people at the festival in the early years, people of many colors, ages and backgrounds. It was something I rarely saw at other film events in this city. I believe this decision will impact the broad community of support this festival has developed.
Several other film writers jumped on the festival after reading the news. From Movie City News/Hot Blog's David Poland:
This is just a jaw dropper for anyone who knows film festivals. For one thing, Tribeca started as the second highest capitalized film festival in America, just behind Sundance... from Day One. American Express and others have kicked in millions to a budget said to exceed $12 million a year. But oh, that hasn't stopped the festival from whoring itself out in new and unique ways year after year. Last year seemed to be a low as a festival could go, with the Mission:Impossible III television program, funded in part by the festival. (...)
Plus... it's just so f-ing arrogant. The excuse given to indieWIRE in their excellent coverage was, in part, ""unique experience that cannot be re-created." True... because most of their crap programming will never be seen again.
From The Rabbi Report:
(I)t's not Cannes, Sundance, Toronto or Venice and I don't think I'm giving away any state secrets by saying that. Is the festival raising expectations among the ticket-buying public to dangerous levels? What exactly is this "unique experience" and what comes with the $18? The chance to buy some milk duds? I mean really, how many films at Tribeca are going to be a $50 burger?
Most film festival programmers understand full well that a significant amount of their programming is less than what might be called outstanding. It's simply the nature of the beast. With hundreds of film festivals around the world programming hundreds of films, well you do the math. Film festival programming is "hit or miss" at best (or sometimes worse) and I think Tribeca's heretofore loyal audience knows that which makes this price rise a gamble of potentially Hindenburg-ian proportions.
And finally, from NY Post film critic Lou Lumenick:
Those of us who have covered the festival over the years have largely turned a blind eye to the issue that the bulk of the offerings are mediocre or worse -- largely films that were rejected by Sundance or New Directors/New Films, many of which are never heard from again. The steep ticket prices may force the media to abandon our previous civic boosterism and start looking at Tribeca's offerings from a more consumerist point of view -- are these flicks really worth $18?
Although I personally have not attended Tribeca, I want to add just a note that while I can't speak at all to the narrative choices of past Tribeca festivals, it's clear that Tribeca's line-up of doc premieres is usually among the best in the country. As I noted in my post on this year's Oscar shortlist, Tribeca premiered three of the films that went on to make the semifinals (including eventual nominee Jesus Camp), second only to Sundance. And this year's line-up, which I blogged about here, also looks quite promising. So, while I agree with criticism of the ticket increase, I must at least lodge a small protest in support of Tribeca's doc offerings.
I'm too haven't been and am reserving judgement until I do (this year), but when I got a press release the fest is home to the US Spider Man 3 premiere (it opens nationally on May 4 so it's really a sneak preview screening, for $18) and the panel line are making me look sideways. Tiki Barber. Really? But then opening and closing night are really intriguing. There's going to be a lot to report on.
Posted by: Agnes Varnum | April 07, 2007 at 04:21 AM