Third Window Films To Stop U.K Cinema distribution

Here in U.K outside of London majority of Independent, World Cinema rarely get seen in cinemas especially  usually film festivals are our best chance however a DVD/BluRay release overall more likely. Back in 2011 at Glasgow Film Festival I met one of the nicest people involved in bringing great Asian Films to UK&Ireland, Adam Torrel the director of Third Window Films. Been from Near Glasgow we do have a fantastic Arthouse Cinema but rarely do we see great asian films playing, plenty of European and American Indies, so here at Cinehouse (and The Peoples Movies) we really do appreciate the hard work Adam puts in to make sure we can enjoy the varied selection of films out there from the other side of the world.

Via the Third Window Films facebook page the sad news broke that they will be releasing no more films cinematically  which I'm sure many of you will say "Sign of The Times" with the world economic crisis maybe one reason but there's more. Part of the deal for many of Japan/Asia's biggest films there must be a cinema run be it very limited before rights to distribute in UK on DVD/BluRay but now the money won't be there this could mean those big Asian films may never see the light of day even as a home release! I'm sure last years London riots didn't help much seeing the distribution centre been destroyed by thugs so this news is bad for Asian film fans , here's what Adam had to say....

I don't think people most people realize how hard it is for independent theatrical distribution in the UK. Even my friends who run distribution companies in other countries are amazed when I tell them. In my opinion it comes down to 3 things which hurt us more than most:


1: In the UK we MUST certify all films with the BBFC. In the US you can release a film 'unrated', but obviously other countries make it mandatory. The main problem with the UK is that the BBFC require you to certify your film both theatrically and for home video separately, each at a MASSIVE cost. Even though they're watching the exact same film and will give it exactly the same rating they still charge you twice! and the cost is astronomical! £8.40 per minute of film plus a handling fee of £120!! Imagine the costs for certifying "Love Exposure" for both theatrical and dvd = more than £4,000!!! Why the need to review the film twice? it's the same bloody film!! and get this: they actually watch DVD submissions AT HOME! I wish I got paid so much money to watch a film!


2: For independents we get the lowest percentage of a cinema screen take than any other country I know. In America it's a 50/50 split between cinemas and distributors. Same in Japan. Most places in Europe it's between 45-50% to distributors. What do I get for the majority of screens I play in?? 25%!!! At best sometimes 35%! When "Himizu" played this weekend at the Prince Charles Cinema I barely covered the cost of the 2 posters I gave them to hang up!


3: In the UK, about 80% of all the independent/arthouse cinemas are either owned by or booked by 2 companies, and BOTH of them are distribution labels who tend to play their own films in their own cinemas (one of them just started, but it's a worrying trend). In America I believe this is illegal, but here it's commonplace and when they're not playing their own releases they're playing "Prometheus", which actually played across the whole entire chain of both these 'arthouse' cinema bookers/owners. With a film like "Prometheus" I'm sure as an audience member it's not like it'll be hard to see it, so why does every single arthouse cinema need to play it when it's also playing at every multiplex? Even The Barbican, London's most well-known non-for-profit totally Arthouse cinema/theatre/art gallery was playing "Prometheus"!! 10 years ago and before the situation was much different, with many truly independent cinemas existing in London and the UK, but now there are barely none. Even the ICA Cinema, which was the last truly independent cinema which took real risks on many NON-EUROPEAN independent films has now been taken over by a massive cinema booking agency and are now playing "Moonrise Kingdom" (which is playing at nearly EVERY other cinema in the UK).

To be honest I've just had enough. I want to get these films out there to the mainstream, but I wonder if either there is not the audience, or the cinemas don't give the films enough of a chance to build one. When "Himizu" played this weekend at The Prince Charles Cinema (the least 'independent' independent cinema out there) and the Curzon Renoir. The Curzon Renoir only played the film as matinée screenings for only 3 days, and the Prince Charles only gave the film 4 screenings, of which 2 of them were weekday 1pm screenings. If cinemas don't have faith in the films, then how can you expect the audience to warm to them, yet as no audience comes due to lack of faith instilled by the cinemas (absolutely no promotion by cinemas) then it's hard to take when they say 'see, I told you there was no audience'. Maybe if people turned up in drones it would convince the cinemas to take the films on, but if they're not giving the films the appropriate faith or screen time then how can they expect audiences to come?? It's just a vicious cycle and I've had enough trying to fly the flag of Japanese cinema by myself on a large scale. I spent more than £20,000 on advertising and marketing to get "Himizu" promoted in cinemas with the whole purpose of trying to show the public what 'different' films were out there, but with this constant disappointment I've just had enough.

Ironically the head programmer for the Curzon Cinemas (one of the big arthouse cinema owners and bookers - owned by Artificial Eye) was actually invited to chair a recent panel discussion on why Asian Cinema isn't distributed in the UK. I wasn't invited, but it struck me as rather odd that the Curzon Cinema, the UK's most well-known 'arthouse' cinema is right now playing "Prometheus" & "Moonrise Kingdom" and the last Japanese film I remember them playing was "Takeshis", and that was only because it was released by Artificial Eye!

In my opinion there is always an audience out there for anything. When I started releasing Japanese films which went outside the spectrum of those released prior (the classics of Kurosawa/Ozu ; the French sales-agent handled Kitano/Koreeda ; the extreme of Miike/Nakata) I lost tons of money, but I realized that if you try again and again and get the word out there on a large enough scale you'll be able to either find the audience or cultivate a new one. It's just that these cinemas don't want to take a risk on anything non-European or out of their comfort zones and with so few cinemas left it's becoming more and more futile.

I want to stress that what I've been trying to achieve is something a whole lot more than the occasional one-off screening at some small cinema, but to make the whole UK pickup their ears and embrace alternative cinema from the East, and I'm trying this on a very large scale with lots of time and money spent attempting biggish theatrical releases and huge advertising spends which, to be honest, I can't actually afford. It was all done with a long-term goal of losing large amounts of money, but generating enough long term interest and audience that in the future East Asian cinema could easily find its way into cinemas in the UK like it used to. Unfortunately though, it seems that without help it's proved to be too big a battle for one person.

Unfortunately, as a small company I used the fact that I would take financial risks on getting films into cinemas as a carrot to use with Japanese companies to negotiate them giving me bigger titles at smaller prices. I just can't do that anymore, and without the press and promotion raised from theatrical releases (critics rarely review straight to video titles) then I can't acquire larger films anymore so I'm really disappointed.

Pardon the long message, but I'm really depressed about all this!


Adam Torel - Managing Director


source:ThirdWindows