As many of you know, I’ve travelled to many places in Latin America over the last few years, mainly talking to Latin filmmakers about both the business and the craft of moviemaking. The most common question that comes up is why, given the size of the Latin population in the U.S., is there not a [...]
The following is from one of my students at Columbia. This is an issue that all film lovers should be aware of. Please voice your words of protest as per the instructions below…
Dear Ira,
The Italian government of Silvio Berlusconi decided to close the Italian National Film School (Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia) with the excuse to [...]
Some of you are already aware that I brought 12 of the Columbia University producing students with me to Cannes this year. My goal was to demystify the event, and to give them a ground level tutorial so that if they end up coming back in any capacity, they could hit the ground running. I [...]
Scott Kirsner just informed me that videos of many of the panels at “The Conversation,” held at Columbia University back in March, are now available on line. Below is the video of my apparently controversial opening remarks, which many people interpreted as dashing the hopes and dreams of aspiring filmmmakers everywhere. But listen carefully to [...]
A few years ago, I was involved with a lovely little film called “Red Doors.” After a stint on the film festival circuit, we sold the film to a company called Polychrome Pictures, and that was when the trouble began. Let’s just say that the company never lived up to its obligations; never paid the advance, [...]
Last week, I went to a conference at the Columbia Business School, and I saw a presentation by Columbia Professor and branding expert David Rogers. He was giving a summary of major themes the emerged from a recent branding conference that he organized. In the aftermath of “The Conversation” and “DIY Days,” I wanted to [...]
There’s been a lot of speculative discussion lately about how to change the way films are booked into theaters. There have been experiments like Moviemobz in Brazil, and proposals like Critical Mass Ticketing from withoutabox. Screening request tools are being created by Brian Chirls and separately by the OpenIndie team. In that context, I thought [...]
It seems that my kickoff speech at “The Conversation” had at least one comment that seems to be causing some distress. I said (quoting a business school professor) that “film has never been a business…it’s a hobby.” Let me clarify why I brought this up, and perhaps it will ease some of your minds.
First, I WAS [...]
In case you thought that we were approaching some kind of art film apocolypse, I have good news. Art film theaters are thriving, wherever they are managed by people who really know what they are doing, and who really care. I’d like to offer up one example. The Miami Beach Cinematheque, one of the venues [...]
The following is the outline of the kickoff speech I gave at “The Conversation,” a conference on the future of independent film at Columbia University. Sorry that it’s missing the adlibs…maybe someone taped it.
On behalf of the Columbia University School of the Arts and the Columbia Business School, I’d like to welcome you all to our [...]
