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Independent's Day at the Academy Awards?
Much was made of the fact that only one of this years 5 Academy award
nominees was from a major studio Jerry
Macguire (Sony pictures).
This was the year of triumph for so-called "independent" filmmakers.
In actuality, only one of the films, Secrets and Lies, was "independent,"
it was financed in part by Microsoft, and distributed by October Films.
Slingblade
was made by Miramax, which is owned by Disney.
Shine was made by Fine Line, which is owned by Time Warner.
And the winner, The
English Patient, was also made by Miramax (Disney). It was also
reported that producer Saul Zaentz, originally took the film to 20th Century
Fox, but they demanded that Demi Moore play the lead role, which would have
pushed costs from 31M to 43M.
But a more important question is "what does it mean to be 'independent'
anymore?" An analogous situation has occurred in the music industry
with "alternative" and "independent" labels that must
be distributed by the majors.
8 may 1997