American Fringe

Un nouveau regard sur le cinéma indépendant américain

Archive 2016
Cinema
La Cinémathèque française
novembernov 25 – 27

© Joel Potrykus, Buzzard, 2014 © Joel Potrykus ©

Un programme organized by Richard Peña and Alessia Palanti

An Arts Arena (www.artsarena.org) project

A detailed programme will be available in September at www.cinematheque.fr

 

Currently, no one has any real idea how many feature films are made in the United States; there are literally dozens if not hundreds of independent films that do not make it into even the generous selections of the Sundance or South By Southwest festivals. These are works shown in smaller, regional festivals, or in local film programs; some receive their only public exposure through one of the new “micro-cinemas” currently sprouting up all over the U.S. Often the makers of these “below the radar” films are at best part-time filmmakers: musicians, visual artists or playwrights, who simply get an idea for a film and decide, now with the extraordinary access afforded by digital technology, to transform their idea into an actual work of art.

Much of this work has limited diffusion even in the United States, yet some of it represents the truest independent filmmaking in America today. “American Fringe” will bring a representative sample of this exciting and little known area of contemporary American cinema to Parisian audiences, revealing both unexpected sides of American life today and that peculiar American genius for simply “doing it yourself.” Over the course of one weekend, eight programs of recent works will be screened, many in the presence of their filmmakers; all works will be presented in French subtitled copies.

Curated by Director Emeritus of the New York Film Festival and former Programming Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center Richard Peña, with Alessia Palanti, and under the auspices of The Arts Arena, « American Fringe » will show a selection of these personal works that demonstrate the power of currrent American film production beyond the few examples of officially sanctioned “independent” cinema normally seen in France and the rest of the world.