In the frame

Performing Arts & Entertainment in Canada, Spring, 1993 by Shlomo Schwartzberg

Esperanca means hope in Portuguese and as such it's an apt name for a new Canadian distribution company.

What's not new about it is its president and CEO. Andre Bennett ran a similar operation called Cinephile from 1983-89. And like Cinephile ten years ago, Cinema Esperanca faces many obstacles in its bid for success; a shaky market for art and Canadian films, which has seen the failure of several other distributors; increasing costs for acquiring films for distribution, and the general competition against the rich independents (Alliance, C/FP) for what is available.

"We'll have to use much more imagination in terms of what films we pick up, (how we) market them and get them out in the marketplace, not go by standard models that were successful in the past," says Bennett.

By that he means thinking of different ways to sell a film, outside of prohibitive TV and print advertising, which most Canadian independents can't afford anyway. As Cinephile's head, Bennett gained a reputation as a savvy promoter of esoteric movies that many thought wouldn't fly in Canada. He distributed such acclaimed art films as Marianne and Julianne, 28 Up and Nostalgia and early films by important Canadian filmmakers, including films from Bruce McDonald (Roadkill), Patricia Rozema (I've Heard The Mermaids Singing), Guy Maddin (Tales of the Gimli Hospital, Archangel, Careful), the latter executive produced by Bennett) and Atom Egoyan (Family Viewing, Speaking Parts).

For awhile before he took in a partner for added monetary backing ("we were running by the seat of our pants and got into trouble financially") and later sold out his share of the company, Bennett did quite well in the rough and tumble Canadian distribution market.

Interestingly, Bennett had another career before starting Cinephile, as a professor of sociology (political and social philosophy) at the University of Toronto and McMaster University in Hamilton. But film had always drawn him and he remembers seeing them on Sundays back home in Pasadena, California when his mother took him to the movies, the only respite from the oppressive atmosphere of the military school he was attending at the time. "Ever since I was a kid I wanted to do something in film," he says with a smile. That opportunity didn't come until many years later, when Bennett met Quebec filmmaker Claude Gagnon at the Peterborough Film Festival and expressed his admiration for Gagnon's film Keiko ("an authentic Japanese film done by an Occidental filmmaker") which had not yet been picked up for distribution. "He suggested I take it back to Toronto, see what I could do with it." Bennett convinced a local first run arts theatre to show the movie, it was a modest success and he was on his way.

In both incarnations, Cinephile and Cinema Esperanca, Bennett emphasizes Canadian cinema, "At least 40-60 per cent (of our product) is Canadian," he says, pointing as proof of his maxim to Esperanca's first pick up, Blast `Em, (a look at American tabloid celebrity photographers that was made by two Toronto filmmakers). He's interested in several other Canadian films and promises to be involved in the production end of things as well.

The recent (and ironic) sale of Cinephile to another Canadian distributor, Norstar, only makes it clear that things will have to change in the way local film distributors do their job," says Bennett. "They have very few dollars to put into newspaper/TV/radio spots." But they also have to have somewhere to show those Canadian movies they do pick up, he adds. "It's hard to get Canadian films shown in Canada as 98 per cent of the theatres are owned by Hollywood. It's tough."

Bennett blames the two major Canadian exhibitors, Cineplex Odeon and Famous Players for the current state of affairs that has seen local companies go under. "No one has effectively dealt with the effects of exhibition (on the Canadian film industry)," he says.

As for his own company, Bennett expresses optimism that he will be able to make a go of it, especially with partner Maria Pimental on board. (Her accounting background should ensure that the books will stay balanced, insists Bennett) And he feels he has an inside track on adjusting to the changes in the marketplace for independent movies. "I'm excited. For the first time it's not business as usual for the mainstream distributors."