Ira Deutchman: Independent Film Producer, Distributor, Marketer, Columbia University Professor and Cubs Fan
While I was at the PGA “Produced By” Conference in L.A. (which I’ll write more about shortly), I was interviewed for a podcast called “The Brand Show” which is described as being about “the growing connection between storytelling and branding.” If you are curious about the subject, my interview is below. You can find others at the Two West web site.
UPDATE: Unfortunately the Brand Show podcasts are no longer available.
Leave comments after the jump Continue reading “Podcast: The Brand Show”
Juliet Goodfriend, the Executive Director of our affliliated venue in Bryn Mawr PA, and her companion Marc R. Moreau, PhD Chairman Philosophy Department, LaSalle University wrote this excellent summary of the films they saw in Cannes this year…
Quick impressions from the 62nd Cannes Film Festival
Juliet J. Goodfriend and Marc Moreau, May 16-21, 2009
The blue sea, white yachts, black-tied men with spike-heeled arm candy make this the festival of festivals. Yes, there are also the grunge-clothed industry professionals, and the bizarre groupies who stake out a square foot of territory on the median strip of La Croisette so they can oogle their favorite stars from padded step ladders (seriously). All of this and the parties and crowded sidewalks make the environment bubble like champagne. The sun soaked long lines for admittance can be deadly, but we escaped that punishment being in a wheelchair and with industry badges that put us at the head of the line. So we are thrilled to have been to Cannes, would recommend it to others, but may not bother to go again, since Toronto has the films and it’s a whole lot easier to get to, albeit not nearly as glamorous! Continue reading “Bryn Mawr Film Institute Reports from Cannes”
On March 25th, I participated in an event sponsored by the Producers Guild that was called, “Independent Filmmaking in the Digital World: A Conversation with Ira Deutchman.” The PGA has kindly provided the video so I can share it. It’s divided into four parts, assuming you can last that long. Let me know your thoughts.
UPDATE: Unfortunately this video is no longer available.
Leave comments after the jump… Continue reading “PGA Event Video”
About 5 or so months ago, David Pogue wrote in the New York Times that he had tried out Twitter and wasn’t sure what it was good for. He wrote “Like the world needs ANOTHER ego-massaging, social-networking time drain? Between e-mail and blogs and Web sites and Facebook and chat and text messages, who on earth has the bandwidth to keep interrupting the day to visit a Web site and type in, “I’m now having lunch”? And to read the same stuff being broadcast by a hundred other people?” But then he had a revelation. He was on a panel and used Twitter to send out a quick request for an answer to a question, and got dozens of immediate responses from his followers. Continue reading “After 3 Months on Twitter, still wondering…”
Ever since I joined forces with my partners Barry Rebo and Giovanni Cozzi to form Emerging Pictures, one of our goals was to use the new digital technologies to revive the idea of the neighborhood repertory cinema. At first, there was a lot of resistance…from filmmakers and from theater owners, both of whom were still married to the 35mm format. Over time, that resistance has worn down, as both filmmakers and theater owners began to realize the economic benefits of leaving 35mm behind. But perhaps more importantly, as they began to experience it in a theater, they realized that the compromise in picture quality was very minimal, and was compensated for by not having the degradation that goes along with running 35mm through a projector. The image was the same in week 3 as it was in week 1. It was the same in Oklahoma City as at the Zeigfeld. Continue reading “Could digital projection save repertory cinema?”
When I think of Sam Cohn, what comes to mind is not his reputation for not returning phone calls, or his famous habit of eating paper, but rather I think of a man of impecable taste, who truly loved the arts–all the arts. My fondest memory of Sam is when both he and I were in Chicago for the premiere of a film he packaged that I was involved with financing and releasing that was called “Miles From Home.” The morning after the premiere, Sam and I went to the Art Institute to see a major Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit, and we ended up spending the day together. Sam was exhuberant about the exhibit, and loved being my guide, filling in details that he knew, but had not been included in the museum’s signage. He was a genuine enthusiast. Continue reading “Memories of Sam Cohn”
I don’t usually write reviews of films I’ve seen, but after a public debate (on Facebook) with my son, I feel compelled to explain my feelings about the new Woody Allen film in a larger than Twitter-sized forum.
In the context of Woody’s career, it would be easy to dismiss “Whatever Works” as a minor piece. The plot makes very little sense, the characters are all “types,” and the world the film takes place in is as realistic as Seinfeld’s apartment building.
But that’s the point. Woody is just having fun. Continue reading “The Knock on the Door”
I was very sad to read in the New York Times about the death of Steven Bach. Steven and I were colleagues at Columbia University, and we discovered we had many other things in common. We both went to Northwestern and we both worked at United Artists at the same time, although we didn’t get to know each other until we were at Columbia. Steven was instrumental in shaping what has become the producing program at the school, and even after he moved to Vermont, he came down for guest lectures a few times every year. The students loved his lectures on the history of producing and the origins of independent film.
The last time I saw Steven was at a lecture and book signing for his latest book about Leni Riefenstahl. Steven, as usual, was fascinating and entertaining, and he was genuinely pleased by the number of Columbia students who attended the event. Continue reading “Steven Bach”
Just got back from the Guadalajara Film Festival, after gorging on undistributed Latin American films and tequila. There was a palpable sense here that filmmakers are opening up to alternate paths of distribution, and ready to do whatever it takes to get their films out to audiences. I walked away feeling that this new realism might actually lead to something interesting.
On my final night in Guadalajara, I went to see Emir Kusturica’s new doc about the Argentinan soccer star Maradona. As an American with very little interest in soccer, I found the film incoherent. But after the screening, Kusturica came on stage with his band–Emir Kusturica and the No Smoking Orchestra–and it became the highlight of the festival. Emir plays a mean lead guitar, and the band puts on quite a show. I heard someone describe their music as Yugoslavian Punk, but to my ears it sounded more like Weimar Republic-era cabaret, as performed by Devo. An audience of around 4000 Mexicans went wild. It was a stunning example of cross-cultural communication—which after all is one of the missions of an international event such as this. Check out this crude video (taken on my Treo Pro) for a taste…
Inspired by Gerald Peary’s new doc ” For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism,” and the current crisis in legit film criticism, I’ve compiled a page of links to the film critics that matter to me. You can find the page here. At some point I’d like to to develop this into a live feed that combines the latest articles by these critics in one place. If there’s anyone out there who would like to help me do this, please let me know. In the meantime, I’m open to suggestions about who is missing from this list. Are there archives on line of critics who are no longer with us? I’d like to make this as useful as possible.
UPDATE:
Just for the sake of clarity, these are not critics I necessarily agree with, but they are people I think are serious and worth reading. I’ve both loved and hated all of them at one point or another.
ANOTHER UPDATE:
The suggestions are flooding in, and it’s clear that this list is woefully incomplete. I’ll be adding all legitimate suggestions as I can get to them. This is no longer to be thought of as MY list.