Tag: Greg Laemmle

Inside the Arthouse: Porcelain War

Posted on by Team Sbarge
Porcelain War

On our most recent episode of INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE, Greg Laemmle and I welcome Brendon Ballomo, director of PORCELAIN WAR.

Winner of the 2024 Sundance Grand Jury Prize, PORCELAIN WAR is the most decorated documentary feature of the year.

In PORCELAIN WAR, amidst the chaos and destruction of Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, three artists defy the devastation, finding inspiration and beauty as they fight to defend their culture and homeland.

In a war where professional soldiers target ordinary civilians, these artists choose to stay behind, armed with their art, their cameras, and, for the first time, their guns. Their journey is a stunning tribute to the resilience of the human spirit, embodying the enduring hope and passion of ordinary people navigating extraordinary circumstances.

Hear the extraordinary story behind the film, how Brendon Ballomo smuggled in cameras and worked remotely to get this film made, on INISDE THE ARTHOUSE.

Watch the episode on Inside the Arthouse’s Youtube channel:

 

 

Inside the Arthouse: A Woman Under the Influence

Posted on by Team Sbarge

If you can get past the Sundance hype and the commodification of the term “indie,” you can see that the independent film revolution began decades earlier. And it arguably began with John Cassavetes, a man who THE NEW YORKER said, “…may be the most influential American director of the last half century.”

A successful actor, Cassavettes pioneered modern American independent cinema by self-financing and producing film like SHADOWS, FACES and HUSBANDS. But his greatest achievement may have been the 1974 film A WOMEN UNDER THE INFLUENCE, where he truly bucked the system and took on the role of distributor along with financier and filmmaker.

Starring his wife, Gena Rowlands, and friend Peter Falk, the film was a box office smash, also earning Academy Award nominations for Cassavetes as director and for Gena Rowlands as Best Actress.

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the film’s release, on Inside the Arthouse, hosts Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge sit down with Jeff Lipsky, a veteran indie sales and marketing executive who got his start in the distribution business working on the release of the film. Jeff went on to help introduce American audiences to filmmakers like Jim Jarmusch, Mike Leigh and Lasse Halstrom, founding October Films along the way. But it all goes back to Cassavetes and A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE.

Listen to the conversation on INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE‘S podcast or watch the episode on their YouTube channel: 

 

Inside the Arthouse: Hundreds of Beavers

Posted on by Team Sbarge

On this episode of INSIDE THE ARTHOUSE, hosts Greg Laemmle and Raphael Sbarge speak with the producer of Hundreds of Beavers, Kurt Ravenwood – who is also the marketing genius who believed that there was a way to connect with audiences, and plowed a path to success.

HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS was unable to land a distribution offer after several successful festival screenings. But the team behind the film – convinced that their quirky comedy would draw ticket buyers – went ahead with a plan to release the film themselves.

And with an ad spend that wouldn’t even cover the sticker price of a luxury car, they managed to gross over half a million dollars, while also achieving a 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Even more remarkable, more than half of their box office came AFTER the film landed on streaming platforms.

Watch the episode on Inside the Arthouse’s Youtube Channel: https://youtu.be/kDkBiDfEg7I