Tag: foreign_films
Michael Moore is Mad as Hell About Documentaries…
Michael Moore is mad as hell about documentaries and foreign films being crowded out of theaters, and he’s not going to take it anymore.
“My new year’s resolution is to sit down with the heads of exhibition chains and have them devote one screen in their multiplexes to nonfiction and foreign films,” Moore said. He said he’s spoken with fellow docu directors to join him in the initiative, including board members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ documentary branch, though it is unclear if AMPAS would be officially involved.
The director of four of the 12 top-grossing docus of all time — “Fahrenheit 9/11,” “Roger & Me,” the Oscar-winning “Bowling for Columbine” and the just-announced Oscar nominee “Sicko” — wants to use his influence with exhibitors to make this happen. “If not me, then who?” he said. “I’m the one who got through the door.”
Moore’s motivation is the declining box-office performance of indie films last year, in which many were taken out of theaters before they had a chance to grow word-of-mouth business. He said it’s an extension of his work promoting fellow indie filmmakers at his annual Traverse City Film Festival.
“People want to see documentaries, but there’s a disconnect between that desire and the exhibitors out there,” added Moore, who has been planning the initiative for several months. “We’re not asking for charity,” he said.
