All these wonderful things

The Monday Brief: Indie Film in Hell - The Bloodbath, CineVegas & Polanski, But Signs of Hope With Ondi Timoner's Innovations, CAPITALISM, SEPTEMBER & IT MIGHT GET LOUD

Is the entire indie film world going to hell?  That's been the question vibrating through our community for the past several weeks, particularly after a Toronto International Film Festival that was light on sales and a summary paper issued by Anne Thompson, in which she labeled this year's TIFF an "indie bloodbath":

"The old independent market is over. A new one will take its place. But we are smack in the middle between the end of one paradigm and the start of another, and it’s a scary place indeed...

If nobody knew anything before, they know even less now. The one sure thing is that moviemakers will now PAY to get their films released. The few remaining distributors can sit back and wait for movies to drop in their laps, often with P & A funds attached. All hopes of a hot sale at a festivals were dashed this year."

And if you think filmmakers going to festivals have it bad, what about the festivals themselves?  This year has seen an unprecedented upheaval, as five of the top 10 festivals for documentaries saw a change in leadership (Sundance, Silverdocs, Los Angeles, Tribeca and Full Frame) and a number of film festivals found themselves making news - Toronto over its choice of Tel Aviv for its City to City Spotlight, Los Angeles in its battle with the BANANAS!* filmmakers and lawyers from Dole, SF Jewish Film over its screening of RACHEL, Tokyo due to its rejection-then-capitulation/acceptance of THE COVE, not to mention the coup at the Denver Film Society.  And what does it say about the New York Film Festival if most of NYC's indie film cognoscenti took the first flights out of town to be in Austin for Fantastic Fest, just as NYFF was opening?

Now we learn that CineVegas, one of the best regional festivals in the US, will not be back for its 2010 edition (although they state publicly that they will try to return sometime after that) and yesterday  the news that filmmaker Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland as he was en route to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Zurich Film Festival.

Add to all this what any filmmaker on the festival circuit (including this one) can tell you with certainty - for many festivals, the days of largesse have passed.  No travel, no accommodations, no screening fees.  Oh yeah, and if you want more than a couple tickets to your film, you're going to have to pay for them.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Uproar Over Screening of RACHEL Corrie Doc, Appearance by Cindy Corrie at SF Jewish Fest

A screening of Simone Bitton's RACHEL - a documentary on the life and death of peace activist Rachel Corrie that previously screened at Berlin, Tribeca and Hot Docs - at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival this past weekend has sparked outcry in the Jewish community there, allegations of anti-Semitism, boycotts and at least one resignation.

When the film finally unspooled on Saturday night, it played to a packed Castro Theatre, where - at least according to eyewitness accounts - there seemed to be strong support for screening the film and polite opposition toward those opposed.

For the past several weeks, some conservative Jewish groups were incensed that the festival would screen the film about Corrie.  Two groups that have long backed the festival - The Koret Foundation and the Taube Foundation for Jewish Life and Culture - attacked the festival, the film as well as two other groups that were working with the festival to promote the screening of the film - Jewish Voice for Peace and American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker group that promotes pacificism.  In a joint statement Koret and Taube (both of which are led by philanthropist Tad Taube) attacked the SFJFF for working with the two groups:

"Jewish Voice for Peace and the American Friends Service Committee, two virulently anti-Israel, anti-Semitic groups that support boycotts, diverstment and sanctions against Israel.  Both are closely associated with the International Solidarity Movement and other groups that aid and abet terror against the Jewish State."

But it wasn't just the partnerships that upset the foundations, they were opposed to the screening of RACHEL:

"The film festival made a conscious choice to present a film that lays blame for the accidental death of a civilian at the door of the State of Israel.  We are deeply saddened by loss of life, most notably the countless Israeli lives lost and interrupted by virtue of service to their country.  Presenting the story of a girl who put herself in harm's way in no way advances our community dialogue.  In fact, it threatens our community purposes."