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The newly formed Capital Cinema Cultural Exchange (CCCE) held its first public film forum March
14-17 at the Linda, WAMC's Performing Arts Studio. The forum promoted character-driven films and stories of social consequence now in development – a conscious departure from those driven by
gratuitous violence and special effects, said the organizers.
“For every big budget, blockbuster film you see in multiplex theaters, there are perhaps thousands of
independent films in various stages of completion searching to one day reach an audience,” said Michael
Camoin, the filmmaker in Upstate New York who formed CCCE with other industry professionals and
organizations. “Some of these break out into Oscar nominees, but the vast majority fails to ever see the inside of a theater or even online distribution.”
At the forum, filmmakers and panelists, which including a number of industry professionals talked about the challenges of selling films to foreign audiences and the challenge that international conflicts can also pose for the arts. "Film is a unique language," says Camoin. It has the ability to unite people and help us more fully understand our fellow human beings.
The forum also offered business opportunities, opening up channels that could one day lead to deals, says Camoin. It was exciting to be in the room when those kinds of discussions were happening between those kinds of players, he added.
The forum was also small enough to allow strong mentoring as well as one-on-one consultation between industry experts and filmmakers.
Each day began with breakfast, served in the newly unveiled Filmmakers Lounge at the Linda, before guests were treated to the day's screenings and panels. The days concluded with dinners and after-parties at local venues including Grappa '72 and Pauly's Hotel. Industry panelists includes US veteran producer, Larry Jackson, Moscow’s executive producer Dmitry Pirkulov and Canada’s co-production specialist, Sam Coppola. Konstantin Fam, a finalist for an Oscar nomination in 2013, flew in for the screening of his short film Shoes and stayed to talk about it. The film, which was partially funded through crowdfunding, was controversial for the angle the director took--focusing on the shoes of a Holocaust victim.
Other screenings included the Russian film, The Geographer Who Drank His Globe Away and the Chinese film The Ferry.
Sponsored in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, the forum also included events at The Sage Colleges' Opalka Gallery and the New York State Archives Filmscript Collection which preserves the largest collection of motion picture scripts in the world.
The Capital Cinema Cultural Exchange will take place next year February 26-March 1 at The Linda, 339 Central Avenue. For more information about the organization or next year's program, please visit the website at www.cinemaexchange.org
