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Good Year for San Francisco 2011 was a pretty good year for San Francisco. Its vaunted Film Commission started an indie incubator, the Film Society continued its program of handing out $300,000 bi-annually and a good half a dozen Hollywood films shot some scenes here.
Meanwhile Hollywood North didn't do bad, three or four billion between Pixar and Lucas, indeed, the latter is about to release "Red Tails", about the all black Tuskegee air men. In point of fact, however, it was self-financed, produced independently of Hollywood. They turned him down because they can't sell an "all black" movie.
Slightly to the south, Google's YouTube is launching a series of fully produced channels, further garnishing it as the biggest television station in the world. Even the archivists are expanding: the Disney museum is doing well and there's agitation to establish a film museum downtown.
Of course, the recession slammed some members of the community and three esteemed organizations, Video Arts, Bayshore Studios and Kerner Optical, recently closed although there are rumors the latter will re-emerge under the tutelage of an old Hollywood North hand as both an "action miniature" studio and a school.
Video Arts, which started with one B/W Portapac in 1973 and grew into one of the premiere commercial and indie post-houses under the auspices of the personable Kim Salyer, fell victim to a paradigm shift. "We all used to post here," one documentary filmmaker told me at Video Arts' holiday party, always one of the season's best, "Then we all got Avid and Final Cut and finished here. And then we figured out how to finish at home and put our dear friend out of business."
At Bayshore Studio, after 17 years, owner Tom Banducci decided to close it. "I can’t thank all of you enough for all the support over the years," he noted, "I feel proud to have been a part of the Bay Area production community for so long and am grateful for all the friendships and smiles along the way."
Alas, that is the way of all flesh and even more furious in film/video. How about Ed Burns, who debuted in 1995 with "The Brothers McMullen", which was shot on film, won Sundance's Grand Jury Prize and grossed over $10 million? He's back with "Newlyweds" shot on a Canon Mach V for $9,000—one quarter the price tag of the "Brothers" which will show here this month.
Also opening this month is a Bengali film shot here last year. In his third outing, "Aparajita Tumi", director Aniruddha Roy Choudhury has turned his lens on the Bengali diaspora with Bengali hunk Prosenjit Chatterjee Prosenjit in the lead. In keeping with Hitchcock's assessment of environment, Choudhury said, "I always choose locations depending on the plot and the characters."
More locally, the San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking has begun a one year intensive program designed to prep people for a career in pictures and Lexi Laban has come on to helm the nationally know San Francisco Jewish Film Festival from the Art Institute of California and directing her award winning feature documentary, "Girl Trouble".
If SF can keep this mix of media, genres and accomplishments up for the next year 2012 should be bright.
Crew Call Sept 11 The hills are alive with the sounds of commercials being shot—indian summer and all. While the dreaded double dip may be upon us, and the esteemed Kerner Optical has closed, the activities at some rental houses and vendors suggests life goes on.
In point of fact, the film business is doing well in general. Aside from a slight drop in 2010 (there was a larger dip in 2005, ironically), box office revenues have marched up steadily from 4.5 billion in 1992 to an estimated 11 billion today, not excluding rental, DVD, streaming, television views and peripherals.
Speaking of peripherals and expendables, we welcome aboard JCX, which just moved to a new digs on 23rd St in SF and joined CineSource as an advertiser. If we can only bridge the film shooting and film showing with a slew of post work we will be golden.
Welp, the fall festival and gathering season is upon us and we, at CineSource for one, hope to get away from the small screen to see some big dramas.
The SF Film Society kicked opened its new digs at the New People's Cinema, a Japan-mod mall in Japantown, with the Hong Kong film festival and the opening party was mobbed. No wonder, the film "Merry-Go-Round" was partially shot in San Francisco and concerns an herbalist who goes back to Hong Kong for her family business and meets young woman fleeing gringolandia.
October is one of the richest months for Bay Area film-lovers. Mill Valley Film Festival runs form October 6th to16th in Mill Valley and San Rafael. See our interview with Director of Programming Zoe Elton. Next up is the Arab Film Festival, October 13th to 23rd in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose, plus Los Angeles. The there is a three-day children's film fest for ages 3-18, October 21st-23rd, is the result of a partnership between the Film Society and the New York International Children's Film Festival.
Plus, the Film Society is also offering two series or mini-festivals, Taiwan FIlm Days, October 13-16, followed by French Cinema Now, October 27–November 2. Check out our new blog, launching Monday, October 3rd, for more on each of these festivals, including capsule reviews of select films.
Meanwhile, the Director's Guild of America will have its annual mixer October 11, hosted by the indomitable DGA director Paul Martin. Sadly, we won't be having those cool events at Kerner Optical, like we did last year. Alt filmmaker Bruce Bailey, is coming to town, for a showing at MOMA, while not far away, Rob Nilsson will demo his new film about Trotsky at Dolby Labs on Potrero.
Of course, Oakland is big in the Hollywood press with the debut of Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian’s adaptation of "Moneyball", starring Brad Pitt as the genuis behind the Oakland A's. As big a film as it is, it's quite Oakland insomuch it follows an impoverished team using smarts and gumption, to crack player's statistical code, take chances on them and apply new strategies.
Meanwhile, Oakland's Kurt Norton and Pleasanton's Paul Mariano, both in the criminal defense attorney or investigator trade, recently showed "These Amazing Shadows," their 88-minute documentary about National Film Registry and its efforts to preserve America's films. Started in 2008 and chock full of fantastic clips and interviews with actors like Tim Roth interested in film preservation as well as Christopher Nolan, Debbie Reynolds, Rob Reiner, George Takei and John Lasseter. It debuted at the Sundance Film this January and has shown at other festivals and in theaters in San Francisco, Boston and New York.
In Berkeley another ex-lawyer-type filmmaker Abby Ginzberg who has made a lot of "law oriented films,' about prominent civil rights lawyers federal judges and the like completed, "Cruz Reynoso: Sowing the Seeds of Justice" about the child of immigrant farm workers who became a fierce advocate for the rights of farm workers and the poor the first Latino to sit on the California Supreme Court, in 1981. The film showed on KQED on Sept 24 and Sept 27.
There is also talk afoot of a film museum with the first meeting for roundtable discussions and brainstorming sessions happening on September 30, 10:00 am – 3:30 PM at the San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking 925 Mission St. Considering their object is to highlight filmmaking in San Francisco, CineSource salutes them and wishes them luck.
Arrivederci!
Crew Call June 11 It seems like we can finally say—or shout from the rooftops—the #$%* recession is #$%* over!
It may not look that way, from where I sit in Oakland, but my producer and equipment-rental friends here and around town tell me the joint is popping! Albeit only for production—the same is not true for postproduction.
At one point recently, there were four major features shooting by the Bay. They included "Untitled Western Movie," "The Master," with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix, and directed by the quirky Paul Thomas Anderson of "There Will Be Blood," (2007) fame—who apparently pulled to shoot in the Bay Area—and "Knife Fight."
"Knife Fight" was written and directed by William Guttentag, a big time doc maker out of Stanford ("The Cocaine War," 1992, "Soundtrack for a Revolution," 2009, and many others), and is currently being edited by the very sweet Robert Dalva working out of a suite at Video Arts in The City.
There were also a some smaller features, like "Five Year Engagement," filming in The City and Sonoma, and the indies are cooking. Re the latter, Rob Nilsson and his Citizen Cinema Brigade are pumping away in the East Bay even though he is taking a break for an award and retrospective at the Moscow Film Festival, see "Bezerkely Indies: Alive and Expanding Worldwide."
Meanwhile, the car and computer commercials were off the hook.
In the smoking hot shorts department, the Oaklandish artist supreme Kreayshawn was hired to do the first video for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' long anticipated tenth album, "I'm with You." The song is called "The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie."
Despite the sound of jaws dropping along Mulholland Drive, the wild and crazy rapper as well as filmmaker (graduate of the Berkeley Digital Film Institute) beat out a host of more seasoned LAers. A mere 22 years old, the ever-modest and kooky Kreayshawn, also known as the female "Lil B" or "based goddess" (although her real name is pretty sweet, Natassia Zolot), couldn't believe it herself.
There's also been some young guys netting big fish in the doc rivers. Four Northern California Emmys went to 30 year-old Torin Simpson (out of Lompoc) and his SFG Productions for “Inside The Clubhouse: The Journey,” a behind-the-scenes look at the San Francisco Giants as they hustled their asses for and won the 2010 World Series. The film, initiated before the Giants won their title, has been lauded for its look at sports luminaries as ordinary, even eccentric, guys.
Alas, reports from the postproduction trenches are not as stellar. Our main informant on that scene, Kim Salyer of Video Arts, says, "Things are as lumpy as ever and June was pretty slow over all. There is always stuff going on and people are always talking about stuff (of course!). I think production has been doing better if you look at all the little houses doing corporate."
In fact, even Video Arts, one of the The City's premier postproduction houses, is doing production, servicing their corporate clients as the prime contractors.
"That is what everyone has be these days," Salyer says, "In front of the creative. One way or the other, you have to have control of the job, pitch the ideas. Then you run the show."
Of course, no one does that better than the elephant in the room, which we had to leave out of our Berkeley Gala Issue simply because there was not enough room: Pixar.
Admittedly the golden boys and girls at Pixar finally got their come-uppance on "Cars 2," their 12th feature (at least it wasn't their 13th) when they got a less then perfect score from the critics. I guess it had to happen eventually: 11 megahits in a row is uncanny by any measure. Indeed, last year's "Toy Story 3" made everyone's top ten list, including Quentin Tarantino's! But this will probably just rile them up to get out in front of the creative even more!
Pixar's new building in Emeryville is almost complete, meaning they'll soon be switching to a two-film-a-year or more schedule, much like a regular Hollywood studio. But even before those doors open, there are rumors of a secret project hitting the screen that is a little racier than their regular Disney fare—and I'm not talking "Cars 3."
For almost five years, Pixarians in the know have been intimating they would jump to live action with "1906," about the days surrounding the earthquake, which they bought years back from author, Marin resident and Academy of Art professor James Dalessandro. Instead, it seems like the big surprise is a more adult and realistic animated version of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "John Carter of Mars."
Announced some years back, it disappeared under the avalanche of accolades for "Wall-E" and "Toy Story 3." On top of this, the trades tell us Disney has scheduled an untitled original 3D movie from Pixar for fall 2013: "1906?"
Meanwhile, nearby the East Bay Professional Filmmakers Meetup (Facebook: ) started recently and is going great guns with monthly networking, folks helping each other and classes. For another angle on this sort of stuff, check out Making Movies Throughout the Bay, which meets every 2nd Saturday or the good old standard in the field, the Scary Cow Indie Film Co-op.
So, as we can see, from small artists to large enterprises, the Bay Area is booming, the summer shooting season is upon us—see CineSource's "The Many Locations of Northern California," if you need location ideas, and staying in front of the creative is growing.
What more could we ask for? Happy filming.
July 1, 2011 by D. Blair
crew_call_mar_2011 How’s biz? A quick question to the Magic 8-Ball comes back with the answer: “Concentrate and ask again.” After checking with colleagues around the Bay, the answers are just as vague and, as usual, vary considerably.
The big news for local production personnel is the start-up of production on “Hemmingway & Gellhorn” the HBO production being directed by San Francisco’s own Phillip Kaufman. It is always good news when a major film comes to S.F. but this production is committed to hiring local talent and virtually all of the crew is home grown. Kudos to Phil, HBO and the SF Film Commission on making it happen!
In general, it seems like production has been up over the last several months with equipment rental houses reporting a general increase in rentals with some genuinely robust periods mixed in. Commercial production seems to leading the way with viral videos and other web-centric productions also on the increase. For many folks, perhaps the majority, the ride continues to bumpy and full of fits and starts, busy periods followed by fallow.
Corporate spending on media production also seems to seeing more blue sky as certain areas of the economy, particularly finance and banking doing well. Biotech and Pharma seem to be active and large scale meetings have been making a comeback of sorts though travels costs are on the rise again along with oil prices.
In general, for most of us, the challenges still seem more immediate than vacations to Tahiti and bread and butter accounts remain hard to find. Major industries remain disrupted and the disaster in Japan is sending out economic aftershocks that are not fully understood at this time. (See our story on the looming world-wide shortage of videotape and other media). And then there’s the nasty rainy weather! Keep your umbrellas handy and keep singing in the rain!
Crew Call Jul/Aug Gala Issue 2010 All's Well That Ends Well
We promised a Gala Issue and here it is: one of a kind, perhaps a collector's item, considering what's been happening to newsprint - although from 16mm to 3D IMAX, and even print, every medium has its place. Come to CineSource's townhall meeting, Thursday, September 16, 6-9 p.m. (see invite right), and we'll sign it, if you'd like, although our preferred transaction is to discuss it.
You are invited to a CineSource Townhall/Open House from 6-9pm on Thurs, Sept 16
With thirty articles, over twice a regular CineSource, there should be enough to stimulate conversation in anyone. Please let us know your opinion, in person at the townhall, or by email, or any other conveyance, because this is the theme of the issue: communication between the vast diversity of Northern California's cinema scene.
In order to decipher the complex relationship of the Bay Area's various media workers, CineSource developed this map, which also serves as an advocacy ad. illo: D. Blair
This has always been our assignment, as the local film/vid mag/web (indeed, the only one north of Hollywood), but now we're making it into a science. We've identified 15 film "families" (see illo, left), which includes CineSource, to symbolize those of us who write about it. From Kerner Starts Studio System, our lead story, to art filmmakerLawrence Jordan, from the postproduction perspective of Salyer's Midterm Report to the Gamer's Report, from a story aboutfalling in love with silent movies to the troubles at Current TV, we have documented some very separate local realities.
Some articles had to stretch mightily just to cover a single protagonist, like Diane Baker: she's a Hollywood actress, a world-travelling indie and the dean of the Academy of Art film school, our largest; or Celik Kayalar, who is a scientist and an indie writer/director; or Dennis Hopper, who was a wild man, yes, but also an original artist, fine as well as film.
Isn't that nature of filmmaking? Don't we need the dreams of poets and the sharp pencils of producers (Debbie Brubaker), the beauty of bodies and the machinery of cameras (Milan), the director's will and the actor's vulnerability, in equal measure? Much like the genders, which join in balance to beget life, filmmakers must marry opposites. It is through the synergy of difference that we alchemize dramatic gold.
Northern California is in a unique position - we have it all! What other cinema center has such a Hollywood presence, outside the place itself? Or so many world-class festivals, like the SF International or Telluride (see Gary Meyer) Or such a robust avant-garde? In addition to Jordan, see our article on Canyon Cinema or the new book "Radical Light." Or so much venture capital?
It's hard to fix a dollar value, but if we aggregate all aspects of our moving image community, including Silicon Valley, the creators of our software and hardware, not to mention the content engines of YouTube and Facebook, we have a ten plus billion dollars-a-year industry, well over Hollywood, and with an even greater potential.
At the Kerner Group, the sharp new CEO Eric Edmeades has partnered to co-produce a thriller - "Golden," coincidentally - with an opposite, the bubbly artistic writer/director Dean Yurke. But more than that, Edmeades wants Kerner to become an actual Hollywood North studio, the first of its kind. And they've cracked the code on high-quality, lower-budget 3D!
"3D movies have proven to be economically viable," Edmeades told me, "But there is something we have that 'Avatar' and 'Up' didn't. A secondary 3D market. There are 3D TVs. That means there will be an ongoing market to acquire 3D content. If we move quickly - and if Northern California moves quickly - we can really establish ourselves in that world!"
Hurray! And if we hook up Brubaker for production, or Meyer for feedback, or Jordan for dream sequence, or Baker to touch base with a few Hollywood buds, or her school's top students - the possibilities are endless! But we must move quickly! Indeed, we need to get cracking on new stories and interpretations as well as new technologies, at which we are so adept at (this is the problem plaguing Current TV).
Like it or not, we're creating a new world here, in terms of environmentalism, multiculturalism and freedom (medical marijuana, anyone?) but also regular pharma, biotech, Silicon Valley and green tech. And where Northern California goes - it is well-known - so goes the rest of the country (medical marijuana? 14 states thus far). Which means, we're not just hustling film jobs to feed our families and buy Priuses: We're writing the narrative of a new civilization! A crazy as that may sound, Jordan notes, "Pure art does have a function. From the beginning of civilization, [that] was what kept the spirit of the race alive."
If we are, in fact, creating a new civilization, then we are obliged to create the art that empowers it - political correctness or the surfeit of pleasure be damned! Like any aboriginal society, we must investigate our site specific issues, with penetrating art and critique, simply so our culture can stand up, get a leg up, and evolve.
Even as our infrastructure and economies collapse, we are racing into a future of connectedness, luxury and life extension - surely, that's a dilemma in need of deciphering. Or our new morality: In a time of tribalism, postmodernism and ambidextrous sexualism, we need flexible metaphors - but where do they actually break and destroy our narrative? Or that perennial question of romantic love: What is our interpretation? Despite our immense capacity for innovation and dream realization, we haven't really fashioned an operational understanding of this ancient and magical endeavor.
Translate those themes into powerful moving images - Hollywood, indie, doc, Web or personal film, or all in one - and I guarantee you a bright future for our new civilization not to mention Northern California film/video. Don't and - as Brubaker or Salyer would say: "We won't have diddly-squat!"
PS Hence our Gala Issue, intended to celebrate as well as critique. Join us to do the same for CineSource at our townhall meeting/fundraiser with libations, Thurs, Sept 16 (see ad at top).
Crew Call June 10 The Month from Hell We started May in heaven. I was under the impression the May CineSource was our best issue ever and augured a rebound. It had our longest interview ever (with edit/sound guru Walter Murch), important breaking news (from tech leader Dolby), and insight about local cinema (from Benjamin and Peter Bratt). But it was longer then estimated, and with late articles and ads, we had to stay up two nights – and the copy editor couldn’t make the second.
Then our webmaster quit. After slowly flaking for months, he now refused to do anything, including email (ironic for a webmaster), while appeals for Web links, particularly for the Murch article, poured in. Our other techmiester just moved to Australia but no problem in cyberspace, right – not! When the lovely lady nerd I located through Craigslist bowed out for better fees elsewhere, I had to take over deciphering Flakey’s arcane Web code myself.
Then there were the angry emails: we had misspelled a name or two (alright, three) and people were pissed. Alas, that was nothing compared to the guilt tripping from my Jewish mother: “You still doing that Cine-thingy? Does it make any money?” Or the bill from the mail house: UPS had gone up, and they wanted all our advertising revenue just to mail the mag – forget printing, writers, rent, cameras.
Why not go Web only, people chimed, as if a Greek chorus? Sure, but few folks advertise on the web. Even though we’re getting up to 20,000 hits a month (while printing 5,500 mags), we can only charge a fraction of print.
We’d have to stop paying writers. Sadly, I had already let go our office manager/cover model, Krystal Nzoiwu, a deep disappointment to male PAs across the Bay, especially when they saw me showing up to do the paper deliveries myself.
Losing Krystal led to a lapse in bookkeeping. I was broker than I thought and June was proving to be our worst advertising month ever. I called the hotline for the Bay Area Lawyers for the Arts. They knew what to do when the winner of our film production contest tried to sue us. “You make too much to file,” the bankruptcy lawyer told me. “But I don’t make anything!” I protested. “It’s about gross,” he claimed, “not net.”
I did qualified for food stamps, however. But, after ten hours waiting, the torn meniscus in my knee started acting up and Oakland’s computers were standing down, a stick in the eye to the line full of of sweet single moms, out-of-work gangsters and Oaklandish skaters. I headed to Highland Hospital, where it was more of the same. When I finally saw the doctor, his knees were so bad he was in a wheelchair. “Nothing can be done,” he said. This should make deliveries fun, I thought.
Limping back to the studio, my brother, a successful cinematographer out of NY, called: “Mom’s worried sick since you told her what’s happening with CineSource,” he said. “You’ve got to get a real job and do it as a hobby.” “But what about the two decade hole in my resume,” I replied, “Or the thousands invested, or the fact that California is in a bad recession and no one is hiring fifty-something writer/designer/filmmakers?” “That and a token,” he said, sympathetically, “Will get you on the subway.”
True, why complain? Just work hard, grin and bear it, until one day they call and no answer: CineSource has gone all Web, and I’m all webmaster – out of a Starbucks in Barcelona!
But what about the many monthly emails from filmmakers and submissions from writers, or the invitations to interview master cineastes or attend cool parties, or the encouragement from directors and film school deans or my suspicions that if one local indie has a breakout hit – and they cite CineSource – or if one tech giant places an ad – and they all join in (finally realizing: We work better when we communicate!), CineSource would be golden.
From CineSource’s April 2008 start, we wanted to make it look and read like a movie – not just be about movies. Is this the cliffhanger climax before the transcendent denouement?
Staying up for days to get slammed by spelling errors: hard. Telling friends and family, “I told you so,” after finally making it: priceless. – Editor
Apologies and Corrections
In last month’s Dolby article, we erroneously listed Stuart Bowling as Stewart Bolling, their Surround EX as DX, and Arqiva as Archiva, Sorry!
Crew Call May 10 Well, we topped our personal best: An 8,000 word interview with one of our cinema saints, Walter Murch, the master of the mix, the elect of the edit. Plus another 3000 words with Hollywood leading man and Mission homeboy, Benjamin Bratt, whose angst at the battle of his better angels, made us cry. The interview also included his brother Peter, who wrote and directed "La Mission."
While that's the art side of this month's CineSource, in tech, Stuart Bowling of Dolby Laboratories has breaking news. In another 3000 word piece, he tells of Dolby's quest, in partnership with Pixar, to set new standards in theatrical sound. Called 7.1, it's the next step since Murch invented 5.1 thirty years ago. Some even call it sound's response to 3D. Between the big ideas of Murch and breaking news from Dolby, we're calling May our sound issue.
In addition, Murch speaks to San Francisco's film business 'mouse' and LA's 'elephant,' which dovetails with the Bratts' discussion of the difficulties as well as the benefits of working in the Bay Area.
These problems present challenges, certainly, and many fellow filmmakers are feeling the brunt. As Peter Bratt says, we have to hustle and share more.
But, while I am running top speed, can I also stop and smell the roses? Yes, you can! That's beauty of Bay Area, we have quality environment, food, and culture, often nearby. More importantly, we have an excellent film schmorgesborg, from Hollywood North to large low-budget (above a million), from the indie siblings - narrative and documentary - to the commercial and art makers.
Don't forget exhibition, theaters and festivals - very popular (we cover the recent Sonoma Fest and its Hutton/Williams gala, see p2) - or our 22 film schools - get your free class at the SF School of Digital Filmmaking (see Mis En p13).
Each of the aforementioned have something critical to offer, none is overwhelmingly dominant, and we are egalitarian enough to transcend difference. We can go from one to another, bringing back inspiration, knowledge or equipment and leaving something -- that is our secret weapon. - Editor
Crew Call April 10 With Image Movers Digital joinING the Orphanage, W!LDBRAIN, and other esteemed local animation studios in the production house in the sky, and Cali still kicking 12.5% unemployment, it seems naive to keep repeating: "Things are getting better." Nevertheless, Obamacare finally passed, a leg up to the self-employed, and the folks who rent equipment have noted a change. Our man in that hot seat, Tim Ranahan, said: "March continued the surge in production from January and February," (see Production Rantahan p10).
Not to mention 3D. The California economy, as well as its film biz, thrives on tech. Indeed, 3D delivered film's best year ever(!) in 2009, and is promising to do ditto in 2010 (see Mis En Sc p10), which has to trickle down.
Re: new film tech: we reviewed an fascinating jib-dolly hybrid (p1). Designed by Charlie Kim, the Cineped is a perfect tool for indies, a low budget access to complex camera moves.
Meanwhile, new display modalities are emerging. Even as home/personal entertainment comes to rule, we are still going out to films, be it 3D spectacles, where the theater will always be king - you can quote me on that - or film festivals, of which there are more and more (see CineQuest and SFFIFF p1, Women's, p4 or the new Oakland Underground, p5 ad). Unfortunately, other theaters are in under the knife (see Curtains, p1).
It's all part of the spectacle of spring, of rebirth, even through death, as Kim Salyer, poignantly points out in "Chicken Soup," p1, or the Miller Brothers, in their filmic rebirthing after their father's death. Until then, that final relaxation and Buddhist acceptance, damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead. - Editor
Correction & ASpology
CineSource would like to apologize for the headline on the article on Peter Esmonde and his film about the sound artist Trimpin. "Pimpin' Trimpin" took excessive liberties with humor and rhyme and misrepresented an excellent film and highly original sound artist.
Crew Call March 10 I suppose it's still a tad early to say the Bay Area film drought is coming to an end but what the hell. We've certainly had our share of impressive docs, as you can see by this issue, our second in a row to highlight them.
With a couple in Oscar contention (coming up next week), with "Variety" noting "Demand for Hollywood product is soaring around the world," and with Tim Rahanan, our new columnist on the commercial scene, claiming television commercial production has heated up (see below), the corner seems to have been turned. Even CineSource has enjoyed a jump in ads and ad inquiries to match our massive increases in article submissions and Web readers.
To be sure, lots of local companies are still suffering terribly. California production has dropped substantially in the last decade, with places like Toronto enjoying a 40% increase. With belt-tightening in the Great South, there's a desperate scratching at every possible job that can be done cheaper down there.
CineSource has been criticized for not covering the commercial scene more but, as the son of a cinematographer and brother of another, it's one close to my heart. We'd welcome any articles on the subject and look forward to the Academy of Art's Epidemic Film Festival, April 16th, which will also address it (see back page).
Nevertheless, we must remember that even during the Great Recession of 2009, box office was $10.5 billion, the biggest in history, and 10% over 2008. Sure that 10% was all "Avatar," but "Avatar" will draw new cinema-converts and it proves Cali cinema ability. There are all sorts of innovators waiting in the wings - see front page article about Web series.
More corrections: last month, we mistakenly made Jay Rosenblatt the SF Jewish Film Fest's new director, whereas he's only the new programming director - the executive director remains Peter Stein. Moreover, the writer/co-director of "Silent Alarm" is Gerry Mogg, not Moog, or Mugg (his email monicker) - errors for which we apologize profusely. - Editor
Crew Call January 10 Hope you had a lovely holiday - we sure did (can you say "Dame me un otro magarita, por favor!"). Now we're all dolled up and ready to go to the Sundance ball, delivered by our friends flying out, notably local actors Kari Wishingrad, Cheryl Fidelman and Jeffery Davis (thanks!). Find out about their adventures in the cover "Sundancing" story or follow them on our blog. It's a big year for Bay Area film there, see the other cover article, "SF Film Opens' Dance," which augers well for the film scene here.
The Bay Area film business is already rolling, from the indies coming out in droves, see "Mis En Scne" p8, to the car commercials, up from last year, according to new columnist, Tim Ranahan, in his "Production Rantahan," p2. We also welcome Soumyaa Kapil Behrens in her debut article on the dearly missed Film Arts.
Hollywood is active from George Lucas's "Blockbusting," his new book on the anthropology of myth vis-a-vis cinema success, to the N. Cali-esque "Avatar," also p8. From high budg to low, all herald a good year to come. - Editor