This is not in the nature of news but of ruminations. I am still thinking of Bingham, and others who have died too soon in our world of independent film...We all are aware of Donald Krim and of Wouter Barendrecht.
Recently our friend and the director of the documentary To Be Heard -- a wonderful testimonial to the winning spirit of disenfranchised youth in Brooklyn -- Deborah Shaffer also lost her wonderful husband, Larry Bogdanow, a New York architect of restaurant interiors. One of his most enticing and intimate restaurants, Wild Blue, opened on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center in 1999 and was destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001. Deborah continued on, finished the film, got it out into the festivals and short listed for an Academy Award Nomination for Best Documentary this year.
There were also the buyers reps, Richard Glasser and Steve Hirsch who passed from this scene much too early in their lives.
At the risk of becoming morbid, I am using this blog as an open forum, a place to ruminate, not on death, but to take a little more time to remember Bingham whose closeness is affecting me deeply still.
I know people live in circumstances where death and even violent death is all around them (Haiti, Rwanda, Colombia, etc.). I cannot imagine their grief and horror, and I know I am blessed as are all my friends and colleagues to be living in such peaceful circumstances. Still losing friends and family is a painful, if inevitable, process.
Sundance seemed to stop this year with the news of Bingham's death. Anne Thompson also remarked on it; time just took on a whole different aspect. It was difficult sticking to the program though we did the best we could. It seemed to end before it became a festival for me.
My most recent memory and my earliest memory of Bingham are condensed into this moment when I wrote this In Memoriam at Sundance:
Most recently, as I was checking out of my hotel the last day of the Art House Convergence, it was early and most of the participants were going to the panel: Art House Lessons for Today from the Halcyon Days: History Repeats Itself, subtitled Nostalgia for the Bad Old Days, a panel with Jeff Lipsky: October Films co-founder with Bingham, founder and president of the recently established Adopt Films, Art Takes Over, 30-year veteran in the independent film world, internationally known for his expertise in independent film marketing, acquisition and distribution, Richard Abramowitz: President of Abramorama; co-founder of Stratosphere Entertainment; Ira Deutchman of Emerging Pictures and Chair of Columbia University’s Film Program; a founder of Cinecom (and the seed planter of my own Film Finders at that time) who later created Fine Line Features; filmmaker, marketer and distributor of over 150 films since 1975 and Gary Palmucci (whose wife if Nancy Gerstman of Zeitgeist): Vice President of Theatrical Distribution for Kino Lorber, long time Kino regular on the festival circuit with Don Krim who also has passed on much too early.
My roommate at the Convergence, Bernice Baeza of the Lark Theater in Larkspur California, was leaving early and so we were almost alone in the hotel lobby, though Carl Spence of Seattle and Palm Springs Film Festivals was about to go into breakfast, and Richard Abramowitz and someone were in a corner by themselves.
We saw an ambulance draw up and it alarmed us. I realized that whoever had been in the corner was now being strapped to a gurney. I began to run to the ambulance to ask what had happened as I saw Bingham laying there with his feet crossed and a serene smile on his face as if he was saying I'm just going to rest for a while. Richard was by his side and as he saw me become alarmed, he asked me to please be very discrete and not to mention this to anyone. He said Bingham had just fallen and Richard called the ambulance to be sure he was not hurt. I agreed and returned to the lobby and said to Carl, Just forget you saw anything; do not mention this to anyone. He agreed and Bernice and I continued to check out. The woman behind the desk said that he had come to the desk and had forgotten his room number, and then could also not recall his name and his speech was slurred. She said he must have suffered a stroke.
Later Richard kept in touch with me as he stayed on watch. He told me getting Bingham to accept an ambulance had been a typical "Bingham" struggle as Bingham had felt it was unnecessary.
When I first met Bingham he was known as the former manager of the Bleeker Street Theater, a legend to me, a non native New Yorker. I had moved from L.A. to New York and was managing Films Inc/ Pmi's Social Issue Documentary Division, founded by Marge Benton who was also Chairman of the Sundance Institute at the time and active with the Democratic campaign to elect Carter. She felt that such a documentary division would help further the causes she loved and election time was an important time to do so.
All the "guys" in the business were very intimidating at the time: Bingham, John Pierson, Douglas Green, Tom Bernard...and I was struggling to hold my own. Last Berlin, as Bingham and I were talking, he admitted to knowing how intimidating he was and we laughed as I admitted to always wanting to cry after having "conversations" with these guys.
Bingham had grown, he had already had two near-death experiences - one during the London Screenings, when stepping off a curb in London, he was pulled back by Mark Ordesky (my former assistant before going to New Line!) as a car rushed forward towards him (from the "wrong direction"), and the other in an auto acccident in Connecticut. I had written him then about my thoughts in the face of his terrible accident and we became more than mere acquaintances when he thanked me for the note.
Bingham knew the value of life and he lived it fully. His much too early death should remind us all to be mindful of how we are living. I myself almost did not want to take the time to write this; the pressure of working at Sundance was very strong and it would have been easier to work through, but the thoughts of Bingham and our common histories would not let go of me.
He himself was about to start a whole new chapter in his life at the San Francisco Film Society, already marred by the premature death of its beloved director Graham Leggat. This alone should be a reminder to us all that no matter what our age, there is always a new chapter to begin if we live creatively.
We need to take the time to consider how we live in this world we all share, how we treat others, how we build our lives around what are truly the important issues....family, friends, our community, our city, our nation and our planet...and cinema which we all believe can truly change the world.
Bingham is out there now and he will always be a part of our world in whatever form we human beings take after shuffling off our mortal coil.
Recently our friend and the director of the documentary To Be Heard -- a wonderful testimonial to the winning spirit of disenfranchised youth in Brooklyn -- Deborah Shaffer also lost her wonderful husband, Larry Bogdanow, a New York architect of restaurant interiors. One of his most enticing and intimate restaurants, Wild Blue, opened on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center in 1999 and was destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001. Deborah continued on, finished the film, got it out into the festivals and short listed for an Academy Award Nomination for Best Documentary this year.
There were also the buyers reps, Richard Glasser and Steve Hirsch who passed from this scene much too early in their lives.
At the risk of becoming morbid, I am using this blog as an open forum, a place to ruminate, not on death, but to take a little more time to remember Bingham whose closeness is affecting me deeply still.
I know people live in circumstances where death and even violent death is all around them (Haiti, Rwanda, Colombia, etc.). I cannot imagine their grief and horror, and I know I am blessed as are all my friends and colleagues to be living in such peaceful circumstances. Still losing friends and family is a painful, if inevitable, process.
Sundance seemed to stop this year with the news of Bingham's death. Anne Thompson also remarked on it; time just took on a whole different aspect. It was difficult sticking to the program though we did the best we could. It seemed to end before it became a festival for me.
My most recent memory and my earliest memory of Bingham are condensed into this moment when I wrote this In Memoriam at Sundance:
Most recently, as I was checking out of my hotel the last day of the Art House Convergence, it was early and most of the participants were going to the panel: Art House Lessons for Today from the Halcyon Days: History Repeats Itself, subtitled Nostalgia for the Bad Old Days, a panel with Jeff Lipsky: October Films co-founder with Bingham, founder and president of the recently established Adopt Films, Art Takes Over, 30-year veteran in the independent film world, internationally known for his expertise in independent film marketing, acquisition and distribution, Richard Abramowitz: President of Abramorama; co-founder of Stratosphere Entertainment; Ira Deutchman of Emerging Pictures and Chair of Columbia University’s Film Program; a founder of Cinecom (and the seed planter of my own Film Finders at that time) who later created Fine Line Features; filmmaker, marketer and distributor of over 150 films since 1975 and Gary Palmucci (whose wife if Nancy Gerstman of Zeitgeist): Vice President of Theatrical Distribution for Kino Lorber, long time Kino regular on the festival circuit with Don Krim who also has passed on much too early.
My roommate at the Convergence, Bernice Baeza of the Lark Theater in Larkspur California, was leaving early and so we were almost alone in the hotel lobby, though Carl Spence of Seattle and Palm Springs Film Festivals was about to go into breakfast, and Richard Abramowitz and someone were in a corner by themselves.
We saw an ambulance draw up and it alarmed us. I realized that whoever had been in the corner was now being strapped to a gurney. I began to run to the ambulance to ask what had happened as I saw Bingham laying there with his feet crossed and a serene smile on his face as if he was saying I'm just going to rest for a while. Richard was by his side and as he saw me become alarmed, he asked me to please be very discrete and not to mention this to anyone. He said Bingham had just fallen and Richard called the ambulance to be sure he was not hurt. I agreed and returned to the lobby and said to Carl, Just forget you saw anything; do not mention this to anyone. He agreed and Bernice and I continued to check out. The woman behind the desk said that he had come to the desk and had forgotten his room number, and then could also not recall his name and his speech was slurred. She said he must have suffered a stroke.
Later Richard kept in touch with me as he stayed on watch. He told me getting Bingham to accept an ambulance had been a typical "Bingham" struggle as Bingham had felt it was unnecessary.
When I first met Bingham he was known as the former manager of the Bleeker Street Theater, a legend to me, a non native New Yorker. I had moved from L.A. to New York and was managing Films Inc/ Pmi's Social Issue Documentary Division, founded by Marge Benton who was also Chairman of the Sundance Institute at the time and active with the Democratic campaign to elect Carter. She felt that such a documentary division would help further the causes she loved and election time was an important time to do so.
All the "guys" in the business were very intimidating at the time: Bingham, John Pierson, Douglas Green, Tom Bernard...and I was struggling to hold my own. Last Berlin, as Bingham and I were talking, he admitted to knowing how intimidating he was and we laughed as I admitted to always wanting to cry after having "conversations" with these guys.
Bingham had grown, he had already had two near-death experiences - one during the London Screenings, when stepping off a curb in London, he was pulled back by Mark Ordesky (my former assistant before going to New Line!) as a car rushed forward towards him (from the "wrong direction"), and the other in an auto acccident in Connecticut. I had written him then about my thoughts in the face of his terrible accident and we became more than mere acquaintances when he thanked me for the note.
Bingham knew the value of life and he lived it fully. His much too early death should remind us all to be mindful of how we are living. I myself almost did not want to take the time to write this; the pressure of working at Sundance was very strong and it would have been easier to work through, but the thoughts of Bingham and our common histories would not let go of me.
He himself was about to start a whole new chapter in his life at the San Francisco Film Society, already marred by the premature death of its beloved director Graham Leggat. This alone should be a reminder to us all that no matter what our age, there is always a new chapter to begin if we live creatively.
We need to take the time to consider how we live in this world we all share, how we treat others, how we build our lives around what are truly the important issues....family, friends, our community, our city, our nation and our planet...and cinema which we all believe can truly change the world.
Bingham is out there now and he will always be a part of our world in whatever form we human beings take after shuffling off our mortal coil.
- 1/29/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
A memorial service for Kino International's former president Donald Krim will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 27, between 10 a.m.-12 noon, at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater in New York City. The former President of DVD and film distributor Kino International, Krim later became co-President of the recently formed Kino-Lorber. He died last May 20 at his New York home following a year-long battle with cancer. He was 65. During Donald Krim's tenure, among Kino's Us releases were films by Wong Kar Wai (Happy Together; Fallen Angels), Michael Haneke (The Piano Teacher), Amos Gitai (Kippur; Kadosh), Aki Kaurismäki (The Match Factory Girl; Ariel), Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth), Julie Dash (Daughters of the Dust), and Andrei Zvyagintsev (The Return). Kino also distributed independent American productions (e.g., Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy), and both Hollywood and international classics, including numerous silent films, e.g., Fritz Lang's Metropolis,...
- 9/18/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Sad news today: the passing of veteran independent distributor, Kino’s Donald Krim, who has been responsible for the U.S. release of many of the best films ever made. Throughout his long career, he handpicked excellent world cinema titles as well as the best of the American independents, creating one of the most enviable libraries around. Remarkably, Krim’s taste remained on the cutting edge even in his later years — witness last year’s release of the extraordinary Dogtooth. He will be missed.
Below is the press release we received from Kino.
May 20, 2011 – Donald B. Krim (b. October 5, 1945), the President of Kino International and co-President of Kino Lorber Inc., one of the most prestigious independent film distribution companies in the United States, died at his New York home on May 20, 2011, after a one-year battle with cancer. He was 65. A funeral service is planned for Monday, May 23 (11:45Am) at Riverside Memorial Chapel,...
Below is the press release we received from Kino.
May 20, 2011 – Donald B. Krim (b. October 5, 1945), the President of Kino International and co-President of Kino Lorber Inc., one of the most prestigious independent film distribution companies in the United States, died at his New York home on May 20, 2011, after a one-year battle with cancer. He was 65. A funeral service is planned for Monday, May 23 (11:45Am) at Riverside Memorial Chapel,...
- 5/21/2011
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Kino International president and Kino Lorber co-president Donald Krim died May 20 at his New York home after a year-long battle with cancer. He was 65. Among the directors Krim brought to American audiences were Wong Kar-Wai ("Happy Together"), Michael Haneke ("The Piano Teacher"), Amos Gitai ("Kadosh"), Aki Kaurismäki ("The Match Factory Girl"), Julie Dash ("Daughters of the Dust") and Andrei Zvyagintsev ("The Return"). After receiving undergraduate and law degrees ...
- 5/21/2011
- Indiewire
Donald Krim Donald B. Krim, the President of DVD and film distributor Kino International and co-President of the recently formed Kino-Lorber, died today at his New York home following a year-long battle with cancer. He was 65. As head of Kino International since 1977, Krim, who discovered the magic of movies after watching Disney's Cinderella in 1950, helped to introduce some of the world's most respected filmmakers to American audiences. Among those — untouchables, as far as Us majors are concerned — were Wong Kar Wai (Happy Together; Fallen Angels), Michael Haneke (The Piano Teacher), Amos Gitai (Kippur; Kadosh), Aki Kaurismäki (The Match Factory [...]...
- 5/20/2011
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Lorber Films has snapped up U.S. rights to Italian director Michelangelo Frammartino's "Le quattro volte" (Four Times), a meditative film set in rural Calabria.
Screening this month as an official selection at the Telluride, Toronto and New York film festivals, it will have its U.S. theatrical premiere March 30 at New York's Film Forum, followed by engagements in select cities nationwide.
The deal, for which no price was available, was negotiated by Kino Lorber co-president and CEO Richard Lorber and Fionnuala Jamison of Coproduction Office.
Lorber, who recently nabbed several European art titles including Stephane Brize's "Mademoiselle Chambon" and Erik Gandini's "Videocracy," described the latest from Frammartino ("The Gift") as "a brilliant integration of the rich traditions of neorealist Italian cinema and transcendental visionary filmmaking."
Frammartino's four-part ode to man and nature traces the cycle of life through the daily rituals of rural folk, connecting the dots among animal,...
Screening this month as an official selection at the Telluride, Toronto and New York film festivals, it will have its U.S. theatrical premiere March 30 at New York's Film Forum, followed by engagements in select cities nationwide.
The deal, for which no price was available, was negotiated by Kino Lorber co-president and CEO Richard Lorber and Fionnuala Jamison of Coproduction Office.
Lorber, who recently nabbed several European art titles including Stephane Brize's "Mademoiselle Chambon" and Erik Gandini's "Videocracy," described the latest from Frammartino ("The Gift") as "a brilliant integration of the rich traditions of neorealist Italian cinema and transcendental visionary filmmaking."
Frammartino's four-part ode to man and nature traces the cycle of life through the daily rituals of rural folk, connecting the dots among animal,...
- 9/7/2010
- by By Elizabeth Guider
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kino International, the new distribution arm of recently formed Kino Lorber, has acquired U.S. rights to Ben Steinbauer's "Winnebago Man," a documentary about Rv salesman Jack Rebney.
The film will be released in July in New York, followed by a major market roll-out and a DVD release for the holidays.
"Winnebago Man," produced by Joel Heller, Malcolm Pullinger and Steinbauer, is presented by Bear Media in association with James Payne Media.
The deal was brokered by Josh Braun of Submarine Entertainment on behalf of the filmmakers and by Donald Krim, head of Kino International and co-president of Kino Lorber.
The film will be released in July in New York, followed by a major market roll-out and a DVD release for the holidays.
"Winnebago Man," produced by Joel Heller, Malcolm Pullinger and Steinbauer, is presented by Bear Media in association with James Payne Media.
The deal was brokered by Josh Braun of Submarine Entertainment on behalf of the filmmakers and by Donald Krim, head of Kino International and co-president of Kino Lorber.
- 3/12/2010
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Lorber Films, the theatrical releasing arm of the newly formed Kino Lorber, has picked up U.S. rights to "Videocracy," an expose of the high-glitz, low-politics media culture epitomized by Italian Prime Minister and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi.
The deal was negotiated by Susan Wendt, head of sales at TrustNordisk Films, with Richard Lorber, co-president of Kino Lorber. No financial details were made available.
Swedish-Italian director Erik Gandini, whose credits include "Gitmo: The New Rules of War," helmed the doc feature.
Lorber called the pic "more fantastical than any fiction film I've seen in a long while. As a saga of greed, decadence and privilege that's transforming a democracy into a media circus, it's both a cautionary tale and outrageous cinema entertainment."
The film was released theatrically in Italy on 90 prints by Fandango and grossed about $1.2 million. The DVD is now out, with distribution in bookstores and on newsstands.
The deal was negotiated by Susan Wendt, head of sales at TrustNordisk Films, with Richard Lorber, co-president of Kino Lorber. No financial details were made available.
Swedish-Italian director Erik Gandini, whose credits include "Gitmo: The New Rules of War," helmed the doc feature.
Lorber called the pic "more fantastical than any fiction film I've seen in a long while. As a saga of greed, decadence and privilege that's transforming a democracy into a media circus, it's both a cautionary tale and outrageous cinema entertainment."
The film was released theatrically in Italy on 90 prints by Fandango and grossed about $1.2 million. The DVD is now out, with distribution in bookstores and on newsstands.
- 12/21/2009
- by By Elizabeth Guider
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
By the New York Times
Kino International, which has helped introduce American audiences to foreign filmmakers like Wong Kar-Wai and Michael Haneke, and Lorber Ht Digital, which has recently handled such arthouse releases as Alexander Sokurov’s “The Sun,” said Wednesday that they had merged into a single company.
The new company, called Kino-Lorber Inc., will be run jointly by Kino founder Donald Krim and Richard Lorber, Lorber Ht Digital's chief executive.
The principals said the merger would make their single company "the biggest of the little guys."
Read...
Kino International, which has helped introduce American audiences to foreign filmmakers like Wong Kar-Wai and Michael Haneke, and Lorber Ht Digital, which has recently handled such arthouse releases as Alexander Sokurov’s “The Sun,” said Wednesday that they had merged into a single company.
The new company, called Kino-Lorber Inc., will be run jointly by Kino founder Donald Krim and Richard Lorber, Lorber Ht Digital's chief executive.
The principals said the merger would make their single company "the biggest of the little guys."
Read...
- 12/9/2009
- by Lisa Horowitz
- The Wrap
Hidden Treasures, the holding company of Richard Lorber's Lorber Ht Digital, has acquired Donald Krim's Kino International and will merge to form Kino Lorber.
Principals Donald Krim and Richard Lorber will each serve as co-presidents of the combined operation and together will continue to release films under their established labels -- Kino International and Lorber Films -- as well as through Lorber's Alive Mind for docs and Knitting Factory for music titles. No financial details were available.
Each exec will remain primarily responsible for acquisitions for his ongoing lines, along with other differentiated roles: Krim will guide the traditional distribution operations, while Lorber will be charged with business development and corporate strategy. Staffs of both companies will remain with the merged business.
The union brings together two execs, each with 30 years of experience, and film libraries that total 600 titles. The combined company will continue to distribute classic and...
Principals Donald Krim and Richard Lorber will each serve as co-presidents of the combined operation and together will continue to release films under their established labels -- Kino International and Lorber Films -- as well as through Lorber's Alive Mind for docs and Knitting Factory for music titles. No financial details were available.
Each exec will remain primarily responsible for acquisitions for his ongoing lines, along with other differentiated roles: Krim will guide the traditional distribution operations, while Lorber will be charged with business development and corporate strategy. Staffs of both companies will remain with the merged business.
The union brings together two execs, each with 30 years of experience, and film libraries that total 600 titles. The combined company will continue to distribute classic and...
- 12/9/2009
- by By Elizabeth Guider
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Israel Film Festival will honor actor Elliott Gould with a Lifetime Achievement Award when it kicks off December 5 at New York’s Sva Theater. Also that evening, writer/director Paul Schrader will receive the 2009 Iff Achievement in Cinema Award and Donald Krim, President of Kino International, will be honored with the 2009 Iff Visionary Award for his devotion to showcasing Israeli cinema in the United States. The opening night film …...
- 11/30/2009
- Indiewire
NEW YORK -- The latest film to be rescued from financially troubled ThinkFilm's slate is the 2008 Sundance premiere "Momma's Man".
Kino International has acquired U.S. rights to Azazel Jacobs' darkly comic drama about a man (Matt Boren) who visits his parents on a New York business trip and decides to stay, leaving his wife and child behind. The director's parents, underground filmmaker Ken Jacobs and Flo Jacobs, play the parents in the film.
Kino was an early bidder on the film up until ThinkFilm announced it acquired North American rights in March. The indie distributor returned to the negotiating table around three weeks ago after a call from the filmmakers, says Kino president Donald Krim. The fate of several other ThinkFilm acquisitions this year remains unclear.
Despite the March acquisition announcement, Hunter Gray (who produced the project with Alex Orlovsky and exec producer Paul Mezey) says negotiations were ongoing with ThinkFilm but never materialized into a deal.
Kino International has acquired U.S. rights to Azazel Jacobs' darkly comic drama about a man (Matt Boren) who visits his parents on a New York business trip and decides to stay, leaving his wife and child behind. The director's parents, underground filmmaker Ken Jacobs and Flo Jacobs, play the parents in the film.
Kino was an early bidder on the film up until ThinkFilm announced it acquired North American rights in March. The indie distributor returned to the negotiating table around three weeks ago after a call from the filmmakers, says Kino president Donald Krim. The fate of several other ThinkFilm acquisitions this year remains unclear.
Despite the March acquisition announcement, Hunter Gray (who produced the project with Alex Orlovsky and exec producer Paul Mezey) says negotiations were ongoing with ThinkFilm but never materialized into a deal.
- 6/29/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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