An Arthouse Divided

Will the recent TLA/Film Society split leave us with two great movie festivals — or none?

by A.D. Amorosi

Gail Kamenish ACTION: Thom Cardwell speaks at the Philadelphia Film Festival kickoff last year. This year, Cardwell's working on Ray Murray's new Philadelphia CineFest.

Sometimes screaming "Can't we all just get along?" is as useless as yelling "movie" into a crowded firehouse.

This may be one of those times.

We're talking about the troubles that had been brewing between TLA Entertainment and the Philadelphia Film Society (PFS) since 2008.

That mess came to a head last week with Raymond Murray — boss of all things TLA, founder and recently former artistic director of PFS — starting a new thing called Philadelphia CineFest (PCF). (Might as well warn you now: This article will contain an unusually high number of film-related acronyms.)

"Recent disagreements between PFS board leadership and TLA over the management and artistic vision of the festivals [have] necessitated a breakup of the business relationship" — that's what the press release said on tlafilmfest.com.

Murray's PCF will commence March 26 with help from Philly film folk Thom Cardwell, Jennifer Steinberg and Scott Johnston.

Those names should sound familiar. They were part of the Philadelphia Film Festival (PFF) and the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (PIGLFF). Cardwell was even a director at the Film Society until he was let go.

Things change. Sort of.

TLA previously sponsored, booked and paid for much of the two festivals — PFF and PIGLFF — that the Philadelphia Film Society produced.

PFF was supposed to start March 26; now CineFest will start then instead. Murray will host and screen all the films he had already booked for PFF.

So if it's still Murray and it's still the same films, why call this new thing CineFest? The Philadelphia Film Society has the rights to the names "The Philadelphia Film Festival" and "The Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival." Murray set it up that way as part of the PFS's nonprofit status when he started it back in 2001.

The PCF/PFS split can mostly be chalked up to good old personality conflicts.

"The board wanted to become more involved. But I created the board," says Murray. "I formed the Philadelphia Film Society in 2001 and now they wanted to tell me what to do? That's not for me."

Murray says he knows exactly what he wants to display during his festivals and that he was unwilling to bend to anyone's whim.

What the board's whim or want may have been is unknown. Murray wouldn't say. He was getting ready to leave for Sundance's Film Fest with documentary film-finder Steinberg.

In Scott Johnston's mind, you can't replace Murray. Johnston is the director and programmer of CineFest's Fest-within-the Fest for local filmmakers, the Festival of Independents.

He heard through the grapevine that some of the people Murray had brought on to the Philadelphia Film Society's board were the same ones who wanted to interfere with Murray's choices and direction.

Johnston knows what Murray wants CineFest 2009 to be — a big cultural event with lots of premiers of national and international films.

"Finding great films is what Ray does," notes Johnston. "That's why he travels — he's a fest geek. The PFS board members I know only really have knowledge of the films coming in but through the machinery of Murray."

Murray might, in Johnston's opinion, be a control freak. But he's earned the right to be. "As a programmer — he's my boss and can drop anything he wants on me, but he's rarely imposed on me and I've never told him no because he's never handed me a bad film." In Johnston's mind, Murray's decisions are for the good. "Ray's a king whose kingdom is film. Not just this festival but film itself. He wants the fest to be fair."

Johnston would also like to see the Philadelphia Film Society flourish and their Philadelphia Film Festival take off. "I'd love to see them succeed, though whatever they do with the next chapter ain't gonna happen in the TLA building," laughs Johnston.

To Johnston, PFS is a society of cultural folk with lots of money and time and a nice guy as its sheriff.

PFS Executive Director J. Andrew Greenblatt doesn't sound much like a sheriff when he calls from his outpost at Sundance, though he does sound nice.

"I'm where I'm supposed to be," laughs Greenblatt, knowing full well that people expected the PFS to die and Greenblatt to forget about acquiring films after Murray's resignation.

Greenblatt's been executive director since October 2008, but he says he doesn't quite understand all of the problems between certain TLA partners and PFS members which led to Murray's exit.

Greenblatt won't name names. He's only willing to say he's never had a problem with Murray and doesn't believe that Murray ever had a problem with him.

"I think there were differences of opinion as to whether to cut back or expand, and what films and venues would be used," claims Greenblatt. "Festivals get stale. I believe that in our case the board wanted to keep the artistic director but see if we could freshen things a bit."

He laughs at "the million dollar question" — whether there will be a Philly Film Festival come March. He can't give me a definite answer because he's genuinely not sure. Several local film professionals believe it to be difficult if not impossible. Then again, those same anonymous pros admit that Philly's Film Fest name and reputation precedes it and that anything could happen.

"We have venues reserved for March. But we need to re-brand." He credits Murray and his crack staff as skilled festival programmers and knows a worthy replacement for Murray is required. That replacement won't be Greenblatt.

"We're ready to be on our own even if the timing isn't great," says Greenblatt, knowing there's a chance his PFF might not happen this March. "But my job is to try to get films to Philadelphia for a festival. Just for now, to trade on relationships we've developed in the past in order to get films."

For the future, Greenblatt would like to see the Philadelphia Film Festival become a bigger draw. "Not to take anything away from past fests or Murray's CineFest, but I'd like to make our fest a destination," says Greenblatt. "Not just for local audiences but for industry professionals, buyers national and international, and press from all over the world." He's picturing a SXSW-style film fest. "That's something to aspire to."

The best thing that could happen is that all these organizations flourish and that this city gets several notable and fantastic large-scale cinematic events. The worst thing that could happen is that we don't, and Philly's film fest curators remain at odds with each other.

"You know it's funny, but in my 28 years of running TLA, I've never liked controversy," says Murray. "It's really with huge regret this has happened. But there was just no other way."

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)