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August 08, 2005
Spinning indie: Desson Thomson defines
The WashPost's Desson Thomson does up a pretty good think piece about indie filmmaking, starting with his mother-in-law's perplexment at Junebug and working his way to getting Jim Jarmusch on the horn: "What is independent cinema?" asked the filmmaker in his slow-mo diction. "Is it just this category that was invented since the '80s, or is it something through the history of cinema? To me, all it means is someone who makes a film because they have a desire to express something, and they have control artistically over the film. It's not a film designed to hit a certain marketing demographic." How has Jarmusch retained his independence over the years? Simple... Avoid American money... (They want "input" and "control" and "final cut," words that will chill any artist's heart.) He gets "back end" financing from markets in Germany, Japan and other countries, in which distribution companies pay Jarmusch upfront for the rights to his film in their respective territories. And they don't exert any creative control. When the movie is made, then he [seeks] an American distributor. [But] he recently accepted financing from the [Universal-owned] Focus Films forBroken Flowers... But Jarmusch doesn't see this as a change in his ideology because Focus promised him creative carte blanche for casting, story and final cut. Bottom line: He still gets to do what he wants." [More musings at the link.]
Posted by pride at August 8, 2005 03:09 PM
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