Cinema Today: A Conversation with Thirty-nine Filmmakers from around the World

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

xiii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Heartfelt thanks go to my colleague Philip Weisman, who first suggested I embark on this book project. Cinema Today would also not have been possible without the encouragement, support, guidance, and faith of my terrific editor, Leslie Mitchner. I am endlessly grateful to the many people who support cinema by creating and running film festivals and art house cinemas and by working as publicists to help worthy films reach their audiences. They had little to gain by arranging the interviews I conducted with the filmmakers in this book, but they did it anyway. They include Lucius Barre, Martin Marquet, Gabriele Caroti, Jeanne R. Berney, Steve Grunyo, Denise Lulo, John de Natale, Johanna Ney, Oleg Dubson, Suzanne Fedak, Susan Norget, Charlie Olsky, Sophie Gluck, Rebeca Conget, Mike Maggiore, Heter Myers, John Murphy, Jessica Edwards, Jessica Uzzan, Sasha Berman, Donna Dickman, Cheryl Duncan, Keleigh Thomas, Jenny Scheubeck, Mathieu Fournet, Gary Springer, Claire Weingarten of Film Movement, Wendy Lidell of International Film Circuit, Jessica Beiler, Jason Ishikawa, everyone at 42West, everyone at the Cinema Guild offices in New York City, Mike Maggiore and Adam Walker at Film Forum, and John Kochman, Aurelie Godot, Caroline Aymar, and everyone else at Unifrance. Special thanks as well to everyone working at the New York Film Festival, the New Directors/New Films Festival, the Tribeca Film Festival, the Rendez-vous with French Cinema Today festival, the New York African Film Festival, and the African Diaspora Film Festival. Your dedication to this art form has ensured that New York City remains a world mecca for filmmakers and film lovers. If I’ve left out anyone, please forgive me. I would like to express my appreciation to the brilliant translators who helped out whenever necessary, especially Robert Gray and another INTRODUCTION xiv excellent colleague, Vincent Cheng. Copyeditor Gretchen Oberfranc brought a sharp eye to the manuscript. To the immensely gifted photographer, David Godlis, words cannot express my gratitude for your generosity in allowing me to reproduce so many of your images. Finally, Cinema Today relies most of all on the kindness of the wonderful filmmakers who gave so freely of their time in order to speak within these pages. Cinema Today ...