Author: Team Sbarge

Inside the Arthouse: History of Arthouses in New York

Posted on by Team Sbarge

If I can make it there, I can make it anywhere. 

That’s more than just a line from a song. Among art house distributors, it has been an article of faith for almost as long as anyone can remember. Get a film off to a strong start in Manhattan and the rest of the country will fall into place. But if you flop in New York, fuggedaboutit.

But how can you succeed in New York if there aren’t enough art house screens in the city to properly exhibit the films that want to open?

On today’s episode of INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE, we sit down with Ira Deutchman, a current professor of film at Columbia University and a veteran arthouse distributor to talk about the history of arthouses in New York, the current dearth of cinemas on the Upper West Side, the reasons behind the predicament, and most importantly, some hope for the future.

Join us for a fascinating conversation with the NY Indie Guy, Ira Deutchman, as he joins us INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE, starting now…

 

 

Inside the Arthouse: Nora

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NORA

In the words of Thomas Wolfe, “You can’t go home again.”  … But if you do–it’s not likely to be an easy landing.”

As told by writer and director Anna Campbell in her new film, NORA, balancing parenting, working, and a creative life can be an impossible task. This is a portrait of the physical and emotional pressures of modern motherhood and a woman in rediscovery. Campbell also stars in NORA, and this is her directorial debut, which includes her original music. 

The film asks the big question, “Can a woman have it all?” Can she dream and pursue her passions, even while focusing on what matters to her— family, and her children? Forced to choose, more often than not, mothers are left at the bottom of the list. But music is a form of release, and it’s the artists who encourage us to reimagine a world where passion and big dreams can be included.  

Join us while we sit down with the writer, director, and star of NORA, Anna Campbell, on INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE, starting now.

 

Inside the Arthouse: Janis Ian

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As a teenage singer-songwriter from New Jersey in the mid-60’s, Janis Ian had one of the more remarkable debuts in modern music history. At 13 she scored a hit single– “Society’s Child,” about an interracial love relationship, which launched her career. She then began performing in New York City clubs with future legends, and her songwriting and singing was heralded by no less than Leonard Bernstein. 

She would follow this with her biggest hit, “At Seventeen,” and continued a career that has spanned five decades. Winning Grammys while overcoming significant personal obstacles and producing an indelible body of music that has earned her a devoted following and critical acclaim.

JANIS IAN: BREAKING THE SILENCE is a new movie about her extraordinary life, directed by Varda Bar-Kar and which lands in theaters this week. It includes interviews with Ian and her collaborators, along with Arlo Guthrie, Joan Baez, Lily Tomlin, Jean Smart, among others. This remarkable portrait uses Ian’s songbook and her turbulent life story to capture a portrait of an artist and her songs that personified a generation of American women.

Join us as we sit down with the director on INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE, starting now… 

Inside the Arthouse: Holy Cow

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RENDEZVOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA is an annual festival organized by the programmers at the Film Society at Lincoln Center. And since French films are such an important part of the programming mix, we decided to spend some time in the Big Apple talking to filmmakers

We were able to sit down in the lobby of the fabled Film Forum theater with filmmaker Louise Courvoisier to talk about her new film HOLY COW, her Cesar-award winning debut feature.

After winning a prize at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival for her short film MANO A MANO, Courvoisier returned to the Jura region in France where she grew up, and started working on a story about the hardscrabble lives of the people who make the region’s renowned Comte cheese.

Using non-professional actors, Courvoisier’s film is a beautiful and moving look into the lives of those who work in close contact with nature to create the produce which ends up in fancy shops and restaurants around the world. 

You won’t want to miss HOLY COWwhen it comes to your local arthouse, and you don’t want to miss our conversation with the film’s creator, starting now, on INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE.

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Inside the Arthouse: EEPHUS

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EEPHUS

When is a Baseball movie, more than a movie about Baseball? 

As told by director Carson Lund in his debut film EEPHUS, it’s a chance to explore themes of escape, of camaraderie, and of a deep sense of time passing.  

Named after a rarely deployed curve ball, the “Eephus Pitch,” EEPHUS is set in suburban New Hampshire, where that stubbornly independent New England mindset informs the players as they face change, and gentrification.  The film uses a mix of comedy and drama, for both the baseball connoisseur,  and for anyone who’s ever lamented their community slipping away.  

EEPHUS is a baseball story that uses a non-traditional narrative, and one that leaves you with the feeling of a lazy afternoon, tuned to the rhythms of America’s eternal pastime. 

Opening in theaters, having premiered at Director’s Fortnight at Cannes, please join us as we sit down with director Carson Lund on INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE, starting now.  

Inside the Arthouse: Seven Veils

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A new Atom Egoyan film is cause for excitement among arthouse moviegoers. A stylish, self-assured filmmaker, his return to US screens is a welcome reunion for those who appreciate how he uses a non-linear plot structure to explore complex themes of fractured families, voyeurism, and obsession.

After several highly regarded early films, his charged erotic drama EXOTICA was a career breakthrough, winning the International Federation of Critics award at Cannes. His follow-up film THE SWEET HEREAFTER earned him even greater acclaim, garnering two Academy Award nominations. 

His new film SEVEN VEILS starring Amanda Seyfried, mixes the filmmakers’ love of opera and cinema. In it, art imitates life, and this visually stunning film feels like a fever dream that sweeps you away. 

Atom Egoyan remains one of the most challenging and talked-about directors on the international scene, and we got to sit down with him, to discuss his new film, SEVEN VEILS. 

 Join us on INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE, starting now. 

Inside the Arthouse: Ex-Husbands

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As Tolstoy says, 

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

And so, it is any wonder that stories about dysfunctional families are such fertile ground for filmmakers. 

Griffin Dunne stars in a new film, EX-HUSBANDS, And in the hands of writer & director Noah Pritzker, the story of the Pearce family as it unfolds in EX-HUSBANDS, is told with a wealth of empathy and wry humor, making for a particularly enjoyable bit of moviegoing.

It’s a great cast, James Norton, Rosanne Arquette and Richard Benjamin And– Griffin Dunne, in a welcome return to a leading role. He effortlessly anchors the film.

Join us now as writer-director Noah Pritzker and actor Griffin Dunne as they discuss their new film, EX-HUSBANDS, on Inside the Arthouse

Inside the Arthouse: The Fishing Place

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The fishing Place

A new movie lands in theaters, called THE FISHING PLACE, directed by the indie maverick Rob Tregenza.  

The FISHING PLACE has drawn high praise with rave reviews from Richard Brody in The New Yorker calling it, “Spectacularly conceived,” and that Tregenza is “An artisan of the highest order.” Manohla Dargis of The New York Times calls Tregenza, “An Authentic Independent who holds you rapt.” 

Rob Tregenza has done a bit of everything in the world of arthouse cinema.

As a distributor, he brought to US cinemas works by Michael Haneke, Jacques Rivette, and Jean-Luc Godard.

As a cinematographer, he shot Bela Tarr’s WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES.

And, as a director, his films TALKING TO STRANGERS, INSIDE/OUT and GAVAGAI drew so much critical praise that he received a retrospective tribute from the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.  

As THE FISHING PLACE rolls out to theaters across the US, we asked Rob to join us for a wide-ranging conversation about art and the search for meaning and beauty in cinema.

Join us now, on INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE. 

 

Inside the Arthouse: Oscar Nominated Short Films

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If you like filling out an Oscar contest ballot, you know how important it is to have seen all the nominated films in a given category. For a long time though, actually getting to see the nominated animated, documentary, and live-action shorts was nearly impossible …even IF you were an Academy member.

But not now. For the past 20 years, Shorts International has been compiling the nominated shorts into programs that screen at theaters across the US and around the globe.

After starting in just a few markets, the Oscar Shorts program now screens in over 600 theatres, all pretty much during the few weeks between the nominations and the Oscars presentation.

This program is one of the highest-grossing limited-release programs at the North American box office annually, so art house operators are looking forward to the February 14 launch with anticipation.

In today’s episode, we talk with Carter Pilcher from Shorts International, to take a look behind the curtain to see how the program is put together, and discuss the impact a nomination can have on the life of an up-and-coming filmmaker.

Join us now, on INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE.

 

Inside the Arthouse: Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat

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A sensation when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT is where jazz and world politics collide. Cultural icons like Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Maya Angelou, Max Roach, Nina Simone, and Walt Disney get entwined in a forgotten episode of the Cold War. This story of the undermining of African self determination feels like a John Le Carre spy thriller.  

But sadly, it’s all true. 

 And that action from the early 1960’s is still being felt today, as we see a country again racked by violence and instability.

From filmmaker Johan Grimonprez, this audacious film, SOUNDTRACK TO A COUP D’ETAT is now nominated for an Oscar Award for Best Documentary. 

Join us as we welcome Johan Grimonprez on INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE, starting now.