David Wilentz was appointed last year as an Associate Programmer for the New York Asian Film Festival and Subway Cinema. Prior to his current position he worked as a Manager of Production and Distribution for Film Movement for nine years and spent several years as a film writer for The Brooklyn Rail with 17 publications to his credit. He also served as a film accountant at New Yorker Films. David attended the National Taiwan Normal University and the New School University.
Claus Mueller is the New York Correspondent for filmfestivals.com
Claus Mueller
How has the rise of digital and on demand platforms impacted the selection of films for the festival?
David Wilentz
It's something we think about, but it has not had too much impact on our festival curation so far. If a film we select is on one of those platforms it's often a grand spectacle worth seeing on the big screen, something our audience gets and will come out to the theatre for regardless of it being at the tips of their fingertips at home. And if it hasn't made it to VOD yet, then you probably won't have much of a chance to see it anywhere else anytime soon. Generally speaking the films we show are at least making their New York if not North American premiere with us. In the case of something like Takashi Miike's remake of 13 ASSASSINS, which was streaming at the time, NYAFF showed the director's cut that was not on VOD. For the festival audience digital/on demand seems to have little impact. As far as digital's overreaching effect on film aesthetics, audiences, distribution strategies, etc., well that's a much more complex question. We do sometimes get folks asking where they can stream these films, not just the ones that are current but films that played previous years. It certainly has changed the landscape of the film industry, including festivals, but in a way it makes something like NYAFF perhaps all the more crucial as a font of influence, etc.
CM
Looking at the theatrical and non-theatrical markets how has selection of a film for your festival helped in its distribution? Can you give some examples? Is distribution assistance still a primary goal of the festival?
DW
We work regularly with some established distributors who champion Asian cinema, from Magnolia (the aforementioned 13 ASSASSINS) to Well Go, who are another great compatriot. As far as selection of films that do not have distribution in the North American or other markets, it certainly can help but still depends on the nature of the media environments and the film's marketability. A film like APOCALYPSE CHILD that the festival programmers stood behind last year seemed unable to get theatrical distribution, but it recently made its way onto Amazon Prime. With more and more content flooding the market both on digital and home video encouraging supply and demand, distribution is changing drastically daily. Going back to the digital question digital platforms seem to have had an adverse effect on theatrical releases for smaller, more niche films. Certainly we do hope films that we curate get a chance to be seen by
as many people as possible, so in that sense we aim to be at least a little stepping stone for the films we show.
CM
What accounts for the continuous growth of the festival as reflected in sold out audiences now reaching 10,000 plus individuals, larger number of films selected close to sixty this year and an increase of the countries where the films come from?
DW
We try to be more and more diverse and ambitious every year. The festival has always been a risk taker and the main goal has been the search of wild cinema that is often fun, sometime silly but always in its own way enlightening. It's a living organism that keeps changing and finding a stronger and more original identity, and this has never been truer than in the last several years as the curatorial force has gone through a robust evolution. For years it was seen more as a genre festival even though there were always at least a few films shown every year that fell outside of those parameters (cultural revolution drama PEACOCK (NYAFF 2005) and the harrowing true crime film MACABRE CASE OF PROM PI RAM (NYAFF 2004) are just a couple examples of films that may still be construed as genre in a certain respect but stood out from the crop nonetheless). This year we actually set out to show fewer films than last, but we managed to find so many strong selections and also a fascinating curatorial groove that it naturally expanded to be bigger and better. For example, we had 15 films from Japan this year and while they were across the map to a certain extent, a salient tone of overall dark films emerged. This wasn't a conscious decision, but was because we saw a lot of standout films from the region that just happened to be treading heavier ground (e.g. TRACES OF SIN and RAGE, just to name a couple). Call it a happy accident; it's one of the thrills in programming a film festival.
CM
China as a producing, funding, and film consuming country has become very important. Do you notice an impact on your festival and an influence on the films of neighboring countries?
DW
From the standpoint of a media entertainment power right now this is a fascinating time. Aesthetically we are seeing a cross-pollination, with Chinese films influenced by or even engineered by Hong Kong creatives (hyperbolic action film EXTRAORDINARY MISSION by HK stalwart team Alan Mak and Anthony Pun ) or vice versa (THIS IS NOT WHAT I EXPECTED, a decidedly Chinese rom com starring Zhou Dongyu and Takeshi Kaneshiro, directed by HK "Youngblood" Derek Hui). But this extends itself to distribution as well in an extra fascinating way. With Mainland Chinese film studios having a strong footprint in the states a lot of these films get limited theatrical exposure - playing to the Chinese exchange student crowd - before our festival even. But that's not enough exposure for a burgeoning industry. When we play these films that have had distribution we are getting them to a wider cross section of an audience and because it may not technically be a premiere we bring in special guests such as Duan Yihong, an incredibly versatile and serious actor (who had major roles in both BATTLE OF MEMORIES and EXTRAORDINARY MISSION) who is famous in the mainland but really deserves international acclaim.
CM
There is a Chinese – American film festival in Los Angeles that has taken place for the last 12 years. In New York City no significant Chinese film festival is held now. What do you think accounts for the absence?
DW
New York has so many niche film festivals. There was a New York Chinese Film Festival that seemed to be established by and for Mainland Chinese living in New York more than reaching out to a broader local audience. There is also a longstanding Asian American Film Festival, which has strong cross-cultural roots and was founded by important figures in Asian cinema. Perhaps many of these festivals take into consideration different points. It could be more politically or socially motivated, or issue based than merely about cinema.
CM
Can films still be understood as showcases for the national culture of the producing country?
DW
Certainly, but one needs to take into consideration where they may lie in the fabric of that nation's cinema and how their own cinema reflects this. For example, the Philippines has a directive set up that guarantees certain local films get seen in their cineplexes, allowing for a diverse array of cinematic voices. They offered what may be one of the more singular films we showed this year, the head scratching uncut version of TOWN IN A LAKE. Is this representative of what is de rigueur in its national cinema? Probably not, but it may hold bare just how vibrant cinema is there. And by the same token, Vietnam's KFC, arguably the most shocking and controversial film in this year's festival, also got an Honorable mention from our jury for best direction (they called it the Brass Balls Award). KFC is a stark contrast to the Vietnamese film form last year, YELLOW FLOWERS ON THE GREEN GRASS, which was a pleasant coming of age tale about sweet rural children. To this end, by showing an increasingly diverse selection of films from a continent in flux we are getting a wonderful cross-section of varied and often quite unique cinematic voices.
Claus Mueller, New York Correspondent
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30.07.2017 | Claus Mueller's blog