New Yorker Films was an independent film distribution company founded by Daniel Talbot in 1965. It started as an extension of his Manhattan movie house, the New Yorker Theater, founded in 1960, [1] after a film's producer would not allow for a movie's single booking. [2] It went out of business in 2009 and was revived the next year with its acquisition by Aladdin Distribution, though it is no longer active as of 2024.
Through New Yorker Films, Talbot [3] aimed to import foreign films that were not otherwise available in the US market. His first acquisition for distribution was the Bernardo Bertolucci debut film Before the Revolution (1964). Other early acquisitions, such as Jean-Luc Godard's Les Carabiniers (1963) and Ousmane Sembène's Black Girl (1966), helped establish New Yorker Films as a presenter of innovative, artistically significant, and politically engaged films from around the world. [4]
New Yorker Films helped gain an audience for controversial and challenging works avoided by other distributors in the United States. Some of these included Jacques Rivette's Celine and Julie Go Boating ; Wayne Wang's Chan Is Missing ; Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles ; Claude Lanzmann's documentary Shoah ; Emir Kusturica's Underground ; the Merchant-Ivory docudrama The Courtesans of Bombay ; Rainer Werner Fassbinder's The Marriage of Maria Braun ; Werner Herzog's Aguirre, the Wrath of God ; and Jean Eustache's The Mother and the Whore . [4]
New Yorker Films considered itself the primary force in introducing the United States to New German Cinema, the politically embattled Latin American cinema, and the postcolonial African cinema. It discovered the early breakthrough works of such now-celebrated filmmakers as Agnieszka Holland, Juzo Itami, Errol Morris, Wayne Wang, and Zhang Yimou. Later it explored new frontiers in Iranian, Asian, and Eastern European cinema. [4]
New Yorker Films also serviced the non-theatrical market, catering to the specialized needs of film society and classroom venues not generally served by larger film providers. The New Yorker Films library includes titles from leading independent and foreign film distributors such as Sony Pictures Classics, First Look, and Lions Gate Entertainment. [4]
In 2002, New Yorker Films was acquired by Madstone Films. On February 23, 2009, New Yorker Films posted a notice on its Web site announcing it had gone out of business. An e-mail from company vice president José Lopez, published on the IndieWire news site, confirmed that the company's demise was the result of its parent company's defaulting on a loan. [5]
In February 2010, a year after it ceased operations, it was announced that Aladdin Distribution LLC, headed by Christopher Harbonville and David Raphel, had acquired the company and its library. Former vice president José Lopez was named president, and New Yorker Films officially restarted operations on March 8, 2010. [6] Since the revival, its acquisitions have included My Dog Tulip, Octubre, Turn Me On, Dammit!, and the re-release of Jacques Rivette's classic Celine and Julie Go Boating. [7]
As of February 2018, the official company website NewYorkerFilms.com only has a placeholder image, and many of its DVDs have been out of print for at least a year.
Cahiers du Cinéma is a French film magazine co-founded in 1951 by André Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, and Joseph-Marie Lo Duca. It developed from the earlier magazine Revue du Cinéma involving members of two Paris film clubs—Objectif 49 and Ciné-Club du Quartier Latin.
Jacques Rivette was a French film director and film critic most commonly associated with the French New Wave and the film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma. He made twenty-nine films, including L'Amour fou (1969), Out 1 (1971), Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974), and La Belle Noiseuse (1991). His work is noted for its improvisation, loose narratives, and lengthy running times.
Barbet Schroeder is an Iranian-born Swiss film director and producer who started his career in French cinema in the 1960s, working with directors of the French New Wave such as Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer.
Céline and Julie Go Boating is a 1974 French film directed by Jacques Rivette. The film stars Dominique Labourier as Julie and Juliet Berto as Céline.
Fremantle Limited, formerly FremantleMedia, is a British multinational television production and distribution company based in London. The company was founded as Pearson Television in 1993 when publishing and education company Pearson acquired the former British ITV franchisee Thames Television. Fremantle takes its name from Fremantle International, which was acquired by predecessor company All American Television in 1994. Pearson Television and Bertelsmann's CLT-UFA merged in 2000 to form the RTL Group, with Pearson Television itself being renamed FremantleMedia on 20 August of the following year.
Bulle Ogier is a French actress and screenwriter.
Chronicle of a Summer is a 1961 French documentary film shot during the summer of 1960 by sociologist Edgar Morin and anthropologist and filmmaker Jean Rouch, with the technical and aesthetic collaboration of Québécois director-cameraman Michel Brault.
The Cinema Guild Inc. is an American film distribution company. It was established by Philip Hobel and Mary-Ann Hobel, producers known for their work in documentaries and features, including the film Tender Mercies.
Ghost Dance is a 1983 British film directed by Ken McMullen. This independent film explores the beliefs and myths surrounding the existence of ghosts and the nature of cinema.
The Story of Marie and Julien is a 2003 drama film directed by Nouvelle Vague film maker Jacques Rivette. The film slowly develops from a drama about blackmail into a dark, yet tender, supernatural love story between Marie and Julien, played by Emmanuelle Béart and Jerzy Radziwiłowicz. Anne Brochet plays the blackmailed Madame X. Béart had previously worked with Rivette in La Belle Noiseuse, as had Radziwiłowicz in Secret Defense. The film was shot by William Lubtchansky, and edited by Nicole Lubtchansky, both frequent collaborators of Rivette's.
Paris Belongs to Us is a 1961 French mystery film directed by Jacques Rivette in his feature-length directorial debut. Set in Paris in 1957 and often referencing Shakespeare's play Pericles, the title is highly ironic because the characters are immigrants or alienated and do not feel that they belong at all.
Mubi is a global streaming platform, production company and film distributor. MUBI produces and theatrically distributes films by emerging and established filmmakers, which are exclusively available on its platform. The catalog consists of world cinema films, such as arthouse films, documentary films, independent films. Additionally, it publishes Notebook, a film criticism and news publication, and provides weekly cinema tickets to selected new-release films through MUBI GO.
A female buddy film is a type of buddy film. In these films, women are the main characters and their friendships and relationships with each other drive the story. The plots of female buddy films can share the same concept of male buddy films—opposite personalities go on an adventure or journey of sorts—or they can concern an ensemble group of women. Female buddy films gained popularity in the 1960s from the emergence of the woman's film and the male buddy film genres.
Ira Deutchman is a producer, distributor and marketer of independent films. In 2000, he moved into film exhibition as co-founder and managing partner of Emerging Pictures, a New York-based digital exhibition company, which was sold in January 2015 to Vancouver-based 20 Year Media. He also served as Chair of the Film Program at Columbia University School of the Arts from 2011 to 2015, where he has been a Professor since 1987. Deutchman is a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He was one of the original creative advisors to the Sundance Institute and formerly served on the board of advisors for the Sundance Film Festival. He has also served as a board member and former board chair for the Independent Feature Project, the board of advisors for the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, the Williamstown Film Festival, IFP/West, and the Collective for Living Cinema, and was a member of the board for Kartemquin Films.
Jacques Rivette was a French film director, screenwriter and film critic. He wrote and directed twenty feature films, including the two-part Joan the Maiden, eight short films and a three-part television documentary. He also acted in small roles and participated in documentaries. After making his first short film, Aux quatre coins, in his hometown of Rouen, Rivette moved to Paris in 1949 to pursue a career in filmmaking. While attending film screenings at Henri Langlois' Cinémathèque Française and other ciné-clubs he gradually befriended many future members of the French New Wave, including François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Éric Rohmer and Claude Chabrol. Rivette's association with this group of young cinephiles led to the start of both his filmmaking career and his work in film criticism. In collaboration with his new friends, Rivette made two more short films and worked as a cinematographer and editor on films by Rohmer and Truffaut. He also worked in small roles and as an assistant director to Jean Renoir on French Cancan and Jacques Becker on Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. During this period he began writing film criticism for the magazine Gazette du Cinéma and later Cahiers du Cinéma, and was one of the most respected writers by his peers.
This is a bibliography of articles and books by or about the director and film critic Jacques Rivette.
Jacques Rivette was a French film director and film critic most commonly associated with the French New Wave and the film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma. He made twenty-nine films, including L'amour fou (1969), Out 1 (1971), Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974), and La Belle Noiseuse (1991). His work is noted for its improvisation, loose narratives, and lengthy running times.
Surreal Estate is a 1976 French mystery film directed by Argentine filmmaker Eduardo de Gregorio, who is best known for his screenwriting work with Jacques Rivette.
NEON Rated, LLC, doing business as Neon, is an American independent film production and distribution company founded in 2017 by CEO Tom Quinn and Tim League, who also was the co-founder of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema chain. As of 2019, League is no longer involved with daily operations for the company.