New Yorker Films, 1965 - 2009.

By David Hudson on 02/23/2009

[Updated through 2/25]

"With rumors swirling all weekend among industry insiders, New Yorker Films, the venerable film distribution company, confirmed today that it is closing its doors. They made the announcement via a simple statement on their website," reports Eugene Hernandez at indieWIRE. "Founded in 1965 by Dan Talbot, New Yorker has a legendary legacy, boasting a long-standing track record in international film distribution, bringing a staggering number of international auteurs to this country's movie theaters over more than four decades. The company's crucial role in establishing a lasting film culture in this country cannot be underestimated."

Back in December 2006, when I listened to Daniel and Toby Talbot tell the story of New Yorker on the Leonard Lopate Show (and yes, that's an online listening tip; the segment's still there), I thought: When someone writes the history of cinephilia - and really, someone should - this is going to make for one helluva chapter.

From the Wikipedia entry: "Controversial and challenging works avoided by other distributors that New Yorker Films has helped gain an audience in the United States include: Jacques Rivette's 'Celine and Julie Go Boating,' Chantal Akerman's 'Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles,' Claude Lanzmann's documentary 'Shoah,' Emir Kusturica's 'Underground' and Werner Herzog's 'Aguirre, the Wrath of God.' New Yorker Films considers itself the primary force in introducing the United States to New German Cinema, the politically-embattled Latin American cinema, and the postcolonial African cinema. It discovered the early breakthrough works of such now-celebrated filmmakers as Agnieszka Holland, Juzo Itami, Errol Morris, Wayne Wang and Zhang Yimou."

Updates: "I imagine that the real culprit in New Yorker's demise is the changing face of film distribution," writes Sean Axmaker: "foreign films are finding a harder time finding screens, local coverage of non-mainstream films is dwindling, and even the alternative weeklies in major cities can't be counted upon to cover these films that live and die by local support."

A distributor whose work was championed in retrospective back in 1987 well before it was fashionable a few years ago, this label will certainly be missed," blogs Adam at Hot Splice. "This following the word on the possible eviction of Film-Makers' Co-op is just the latest in a series of very disturbing events that threatens the life line of cinema in this country."

"And it's worth remembering that, unlike book publishers, whose wares are widely distributed to libraries (it's bitterly sad when a publisher goes out of business, but the back catalogue is already out there), film distributors hold the prints of the movies they own rights to; those which are out on home video have a second life, but the 35mm prints are, as of now, locked up, and revival houses wanting to screen them are simply out of luck," blogs Richard Brody for the New Yorker (no relation). "An additional consideration: even if the back catalogue stays in business, the company's acquisitions of new films will have come to an end, shrinking even further the prospects for foreign films getting released on American shores."

Updates, 2/24: "Mr Talbot, 82, said in a telephone interview that the company was going out of business because its library was being sold," reports Ben Sisario in the New York Times. "It had been pledged as collateral on a loan taken out by its former owner, Madstone Films, which bought New Yorker Films in 2002. The library could be auctioned off as early as next week, he added."

"For me reading that New Yorker Films is closing is like hearing that the Museum of Modern Art must shut their doors because they couldn't pay the Con Ed bill," writes Reid Rosefelt. "WHAT? This cannot be happening." Also at indieWIRE, John Vanco: "Many people already realize how vital New Yorker Films has been to the development of film culture in the United States.... Less understood is the effect that New Yorker Films had, as a pioneering independent film company, on the the culture of the film business. Their idealistic, aesthetically-based, and quite moral ways of responding to the very challenging, competing pulls of art and commerce have shown the way to many others who aspire to follow their example." And Eugene Hernandez gathers more reactions from across the industry.

"[A]mong the various modest honorifics that have ever came my way was being quoted on New Yorker DVDs from Tim Roth, Emir Kusturica and Claire Denis, even if the quotes are goofy," writes Ray Pride.

At Hot Splice, Adam asks, "[W]here are the Scorseses in this mess? Where are the Tarantinos?... The death of New Yorker is just part of the recent destruction of American cinema culture further deteriorating what makes cinema vital to life, vital to culture, vital to society. It provided a lifeline to the public, community engagement of cinema. Where then is the bail out for New Yorker Films?"

Chris MaGee: "Truly sad news, and if there's only one thing I can say to you all out there about this carnage in the film distribution business in the past year it's this: Stop downloading films."

Matt Dentler: "It may sound naive, but I actually don't believe that New Yorker is gone. From where I'm standing, the company's spirit lives on."

"Beware of being bought," warns Anthony Kaufman: That's the message for small companies like the latest casualty New Yorker Films (and ThinkFilm, Wellspring and Shooting Gallery) when new media companies come in with fanfare, optimism, ambition, and seemingly endless capital, and plan to rescue an art-film mainstay.... Of course, who's to say New Yorker would have even made it to 2003 if Madstone didn't come along? But I'm always leary of the grand ambitions of new entities, proclaiming how they're going to revolutionize the business, hire great executives, and set out on a new path. Eventually, in a subsequent year or two, or three, they take everyone down with them."

"In a broader sense, New Yorker's long-term willingness to defy the marketplace realities of American film distribution never seemed like a sustainable business model," writes Salon's Andrew O'Hehir. "New Yorker was worshiped in cinephile circles precisely because it often took on difficult and adventurous cinema that was destined to find almost no audience. Sometimes Talbot and Lopez seemed to be running an educational foundation under the guise of a for-profit business." He talks with filmmaker Jeff Lipsky, IFC's Ryan Werner and SXSW Film producer Janet Pierson about what might happen to the library.

Update, 2/25: Matt Langdon lists 20 of his favorite New Yorker DVDs; Sean Axmaker runs his finger along the spines of several favorites, too, at the Parallax View.

Tags: New Yorker Films