Zeitgeist and the zeitgeist.

Happy 20th anniversary, Zeitgeist Films. MoMA's celebrating with Zeitgeist: The Films of Our Time, opening tomorrow and running through July 23. In the Voice, Anthony Kaufman talks with co-Presidents Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo - and with Guy Maddin: "Zeitgeist has always had the most eclectic and discriminating catalog, and I've never been quite able to believe my good fortune in being part of it. Their company is by far the most personal, passionate, and character-driven of all the distributors."

"The MoMA screening schedule spans the life of the company, and will feature a number of special filmmaker appearances," notes indieWIRE's Eugene Hernandez, who talks with Gerstman and Russo about the state of indies: "The duo repeatedly discussed that being an optimist is crucial in stomaching the ups and downs of distribution and despite the current storm clouds, expressed confidence about the future."

Updated through 6/30.

"Nobody in the film business questions that the current mode of distribution for independent film - in [Carrie] Rickey's article [in the Philadelphia Inquirer], Emerging Pictures CEO Ira Deutchman calls it the 'post-studio, pre-Internet era' - is somewhere between transitional and dysfunctional, and that some version of electronic home delivery is likely to dominate the marketplace within five to 15 years," writes Andrew O'Hehir at Salon. "But as God is my witness, we need gatekeepers! If anything, we need them in the digital era more than ever. At least in the short term, the current marketplace implosion is likely to have a highly undemocratic effect on both filmmakers and film lovers, delivering still more practical control over what we watch and when to a shrinking group of ever-larger entertainment conglomerates."

"Needless to say, media coverage of the Indie Film Crisis is entering crisis proportions itself." Variety's Anne Thompson gathers more related linkage.

Updates: In the wake of Mark Gill's LAFF keynote, indieWIRE's Eugene Hernandez asks industry insiders and observers, "Is the Sky Really Falling?"

"Can the Internet Save Indie Film?" For Portfolio, Fred Schruers asks Matt Dentler.

Updates, 6/27: Online listening tip. Maddin, Gerstman and Russo are guests on the Leonard Lopate Show.

"During the course of two tumultuous decades in independent film distribution, the company's track record demonstrates a remarkably astute sensitivity to the ebb and flow of public and critical tastes, both in the art house and the video store," writes Bruce Bennett in the New York Sun. "'That is what "zeitgeist" means, isn't it?' Ms Russo said last week. 'It's the spirit of the times, and that is what we do. We have certainly been attracted to films that have political messages or philosophical messages or some kind of social messages' - 'And emotional messages,' Ms Gerstman interjected - 'that we thought audiences of that time would want to respond to.'"

Also, S James Snyder tells the story behind Maddin's The Heart of the World.

Updates, 6/28: Since this is just as much a zeitgeist entry (as it relates to the current shakeout among indie distributors) as a celebration of Zeitgeist, this would seem to be the place to note that, in the New York Times, Charles Lyons reports on why Alex Gibney - and others - are taking ThinkFilm to court.

Meanwhile, Anthony Kaufman reports that "Sundance sleeper hit Momma's Man, which may be this year's Old Joy, will not be handled in theaters by ThinkFilm, as I reported last week." It's going instead to Kino International.

AJ Schnack gathers commentary on all this and adds himself, "Sadness all around."

Update, 6/29: The Film Panel Notetaker was a work on Todd Haynes's night at the Zeitgeist series.

Update, 6/30: David Carr runs through Mark Gill's talking points for New York Times readers and calls up Mark Harris (Entertainment Weekly, Pictures at a Revolution), who tells him, "I think Mark said a brave thing. There are too many movies, and too many of them are terrible and dull. The overproduction is a breach of faith with the audience, and they have become skeptical. I know I have."

Posted by dwhudson at June 26, 2008 7:34 AM