The Guardian ran a story yesterday about a little arthouse cinema in a Paris suburb that is fighting the megaplexes and Hollywood for a slim piece of the cultural pie in a country that manages to stave off much of the Hollywood Glam-Armada through strict screen quotas.
The Georges-Méliès Cinema wanted to expand it's screens from three to six. The megaplex down the street, multinational mammoth UGC, is taking it to the government saying UNFAIR! because arthouse cinemas receive public subsidies in France. The Georges-Méliès takes in about 200,000 audience members every year. UGC: 2 million.
Damn art-socialists moving into Hollywood's territory. The David and Goliath tale could take a surprising turn in the end, what with the likes of David Lynch, Wim Wenders and Wong Kar-Wai throwing their support behind the little player. Yes, diversity in the cinemahouse still has a chance in a few hotspots on the planet.
And a quote from the 60+ directors who have signed a petition in favour of the arthouse:
In these cowardly times where artworks are reduced to consumer products, auteur cinema and enterprising art house screens fight the same battle for quality, respect and freedom for directors and filmgoers.
Via The Guardian, and thanks to one of our readers, Roddy Doucet.
Posted by Ezra Winton on October 4, 2007 in
A new project by the Los Angeles Poverty Department (the LAPD) asks: What will LA be like in the future? What makes this project unique (and not another Blade Runner mash-up) is that the LAPD is a performance troupe made up mainly of homeless and formerly homeless people. It is a way of predicting and describing LA’s future from the point of view of those made most vulnerable in its streets, and a way of valorizing analysis and points of view rarely heard.
The project is called UTOPIA / dystopia. “The future,” says the LAPD, “is being painstakingly crafted, created and promoted by a coalition of development and civic political interests: the City Fathers who know best. UTOPIA / dystopia, project activities will engage long standing and new area residents, (including homeless and formerly homeless residents of Skid Row, the working poor, immigrants and their families and the area’s burgeoning loft-living population) to inform and broaden the public discourse, through strategic public art actions, and convenings.”
The project began with a public forum in April at the LA Central Library. Community residents were asked: “Is it a crime to be poor?”. On June 21, the LAPD presents 7 Glimpses of Utopia, an evening of performances and presentations by people who are making “utopian” contributions to life in downtown Los Angeles – musicians, developers, poets, architects, small business owners, community activists, and workers. Among the participants are the creators of the landmark Grand Central Market, local activist Pete White, co-director of LA Community Action Network; downtown fashion designer and native of Iceland, Stella Dottir; Henry Procter of The art of Cleaning, Manuel Compito (aka OG Man) a local artist in the downtown Skid Row community, and local musicians.
The LAPD was founded in 1985, the first American performance group made up primarily of homeless and formerly homeless people. The LAPD is dedicated to building community on Skid Row, Los Angeles. Other projects include:
Agents & Assets, a “national residency performance project” based on transcripts from a House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence hearing looking into allegations that the CIA was involved in trafficking crack cocaine into the Los Angeles area.
Is There History on Skid Row? a local history preservation project
Fried Poetry, a spoken work and performance group on the subject of recovery from addiction
Emergency Evacuation Plan for the City of Charlotte, a research and performance collaboration with residents of Charlotte, North Carolina to gain a better understanding of the experiences of hurricane Katrina
Posted by Michael Lithgow on June 13, 2007 in
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