Mill Valley Film Festival letter of support

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 26, 2007

Contact: Lily Buchanan 415.383.5256, x119
info@cafilm.org
www.cafilm.org

THE BERKELEY INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARY COMMUNITY: AN INTEGRAL PART OF MILL VALLEY FILM FESTIVAL’S 30-YEAR HISTORY

The San Francisco Bay Area has long been home to a film community that has been in the vanguard of the independent movement in the US. At the heart of this community is a core group of documentary makers, renowned and recognized for their vision and articulate commitment to making works that examine the concerns and ideas of our lives and times, and to telling stories that connect audiences worldwide.

For festivals like the Mill Valley Film Festival, it has, for decades, been a given that our programming will include films made by members of the Independent Documentary Community, long housed at the Fantasy Building in Berkeley. This enduring relationship is rooted not simply in the conviviality of being neighbors: it is founded in the fact that these filmmakers are some of the best documentary makers in the world.

The importance of the voices of the Independent Documentary Community in the world in general—as well as the world of film—has long been recognized, notably in their impressive list of Academy Award nominations.

The “village” nature of this group evolved so organically that we may have taken for granted, or not even recognized, all the side benefits of their co-existing in such proximity—the creative relationships, the technical ones, the support and dialogue that happen naturally between neighbors. This group has always been in the business of giving back to their communities, whether through the nature of the works they produce, or through, for instance, the mentoring they provide for young filmmakers. While their peers in other countries may have the benefits of commissions for the kinds of films they make, these makers are truly independent, developing and fundraising as much as creating films.

The concerns raised by the potential displacement of this community, as they face the possible loss of their working spaces, are legion. Our hope is that the recognition of their importance to our communities and to festivals like MVFF and its parent organization, the California Film Institute, will inspire the support necessary for their continuity, and that they will continue to work and thrive, both as individuals and as a group.