Screening note: This digital screening is available to view between 12:01am PT on Friday, October 9, and 11:59pm PT on Sunday, October 18, and is available to ticket buyers and passholders within the state of California.
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A mercurial movie baron who became a heavily influential figure in independent cinema, Donald Rugoff came to languish in relative obscurity. In Ira Deutchman's enthralling Searching for Mr. Rugoff, the ghost of this once-legendary figure is resurrected to ensure that Rugoff and his inestimable contributions to the world of art films are not forgotten. Deutchman, himself a producer of such American independent films as Alan Rudolph’s Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle and John Sayles’ Matewan, paints an evocative portrait of his once-mentor through an array of colorful interviews with family, former employees, and directors like Costa-Gavras, Lina Wertmüller, and Robert Downey, Sr. Rugoff began as an exhibitor with the theater chain Cinema 5, which grew to be a deeply innovative distribution company responsible for releasing classics from Monty Python and the Holy Grail to Andy Warhol's Trash. Rugoff's fearless championing of art films and inventive marketing was an industry game-changer, forging a foundational legacy for independent production, distribution, and exhibition today.
See also: State of the Industry Panel: A Pivotal Year