“For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism” is the first documentary to dramatize the rich saga of American movie reviewing. Directed by The Boston Phoenix critic, Gerald Peary, “For the Love of Movies” offers an insider’s view of the critics’ profession, with commentary from America’s best-regarded reviewers, Roger Ebert (The Chicago Sun-Times), A.O. Scott (The New York Times), Lisa Schwarzbaum (Entertainment Weekly), Kenneth Turan (The Los Angeles Times)

We also hear from young, articulate, Internet voices, including Harry Knowles (ainitcoolnews.com) and Karina Longworth (spout.com). Their stories are entertaining, humorous, and personal. Those who hear them may gain new respect for the film critic profession, knowing the faces and voices, and also the history. From the raw beginnings of criticism before The Birth of a Nation to the incendiary Pauline Kael-Andrew Sarris debates of the 1960s and 70s to the battle today between youthful on-liners and the print establishment, this documentary tells all. With narration by Patricia Clarkson.

We love movies, and so do film critics.  That’s why we made our feature-length documentary, For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism. In our film, famous critics like Harry Knowles (ainitcoolnews.com), Owen Gleiberman and Lisa Schwarzbaum (Entertainment Weekly), Elvis Mitchell (KCRW), J. Hoberman (The Village Voice), divulge their earliest, most potent movie memories. They tell us about films that freaked them out, that changed their lives!

Do you want to see our film? It’s easy to order our DVD.

If you adore movies as much as we do, then prove it!  In two minutes or less, make your own video in which tell us about, or show us, how one film had a major impact on your life.  It could be the one that scared you when you were a wee one, the one that made you laugh till you regurgitated buttery popcorn, the one that convinced you to quit your job and try to make a difference, or the one that showed you the mysterious, dream-like wonders of the cinema.  If it made a seminal impression on you, then share it with us!

We encourage everyone to apply!  Tell your friends, neighbors, family, and other movie crazies about our contest.

What you need to do:

1. Get down with the paperwork!  Submit the online MovieLoveContest_EntryForm. Videos without an entry form will not be judged.
2. Email the entry form to ftlom.info@gmail.com.  Write “Movie Love Contest” in the header.
3. Keep your video under 2 minutes! Including credits, the maximum is 120 seconds.
4. Use one of the following formats: QuickTime/MOV, WMV, MPEG or AVI.  Follow the YouTube specification if you have any questions.
5. Upload, and submit your video to the For the Love of Movies You Tube Group. To do this, sign in to your YouTube account. Then click on the above link to be directed to our group page.  After that, click on the Join Button. After we’ve approved your membership, click the “submit a video” link, and choose the video you would like to submit!
6. All videos must be submitted on or before October 1, 2010.
7. Be original!

Rules and Regulations:

Your task: You may not use any clips from an actual movie.  Tell us your story in any way you’d like, but don’t include any parts of the original movie itself.

• Contestants must not infringe on any copyrights, or any other rights, of any third parties. Contestants agree that they have obtained all required permissions regarding music, sound and/or images included in the production. By submitting to our contest, contestants are confirming that their short film is original and he/she holds all rights necessary.
• Also, the entrant agrees that AG Films cannot be held liable for any copyright infringements perpetrated by you, or your short film.
• Failure to email us the Entry Form or provision of false information will result in disqualification from the contest.
• Keep it clean!  No naughty language or violent behavior, no personal attacks on people or organizations.
• You only get one chance, so make it good! That’s right: only one video entry per person.
• Videos must be in English, or subtitled in English.
• Contestants should avoid brand names or logos in their video.
• Your video may not contain any endorsement, solicitation, commercial, or similar content advocating for or against candidates for office, political issues, or commercial products.
• You retain ownership of your original work!  But, by entering, you are granting AG Films the nonexclusive right to use the winning entry for all purposes in all noncommercial media. AG Films agrees not to cut or alter your movie without your express permission. However, we may add our URL to the header and/or tail of your movie.
• All prizes will be awarded to the first name as it appears on the entry form. Division of prizes among co-directors is the responsibility of the winners. However, multiple directors will be listed on our website and in all press releases.
• By entering this contest, you agree to accept the decisions of the competition and its judges, which are final and binding in all matters.
• Contestants agree to be bound by all terms of these official competition rules and regulations as established herein.
• Individuals 17 years of age or younger must have a parent or legal guardian sign the Entry Form.
• Employees of AG Films, their relatives, and AG Films contractors are not eligible for the contest.
• AG Films reserves the right to disqualify any film, which falls outside of the above stated rules and regulations.
• Entry constitutes permission to use winner’s name and likeness for future publicity purposes without additional compensation.

Winner Selection:

Videos will be judged in Round One to see if they comply with the requirements of the contest. Those videos that do not comply with the rules and regulations listed above will be disqualified. All other videos will advance to Round Two, where the videos will be rated by a panel of judges from the AG Films staff on the basis of creativity, originality, cinematic resourcefulness, and entertainment value. A winner will be selected and notified by email on or about October 1, 2010.

And the award goes to:

The winner will receive a $200.00 gift certificate to the movie theatre of his/her choice, and the winning video will be posted on www.fortheloveofmovies.net, the “For the Love of Movies” YouTube channel, and any other promotional sites related to “For the Love of Movies.”  AG Films reserves the right to post and promote the videos of the other finalists, as well.

Privacy

We will not disclose, give, sell, or transfer any personal information to any third parties, unless required for law enforcement or by statute. As your video will be made available to the public, you should not include personal information about yourself that you do not wish the public to know.

We are using YouTube to host the videos for this contest. You are subject to YouTube’s use, privacy, cookie, and security provisions also. Those provisions can be viewed at Youtube’s privacy page.

Questions

For questions, please e-mail ftlom.info@gmail.com.

To download entry from, click MovieLoveContest_EntryForm.

For more info or to order advance tickets, click here.

Also, check out Dave Kehr’s piece in his Sunday New York Times video column.

See you at the screening? Come on, come all, to New York!

On Film has been on the air since 1993 and showcases the talents of local filmmakers and their work. The program provides listeners with a forum for the discussion and understanding of what makes quality films, and helps foster an appreciation for the art of cinema. Through its weekly presentations of information and interviews, On Film encourages listeners and film lovers to support local filmmakers, productions, film series, and other film related events.

On Film also covers current and past cinema by providing coverage of first-run theatrical films and noteworthy releases on DVD. With its film reviews, On Film surveys and analyzes both the noteworthy and the notorious in current cinema through honest and insightful commentary.

You can listen to the interview here!

We were in excellent company, too! Jeremy Renner, star of the acclaimed Iraqi war drama The Hurt Locker, was in Cambridge to claim his Best Actor honor from the BSFC, several weeks prior to the actual Oscars. Philadelphia Cousins, niece of celebrated chef and author Julia Child, accepted the BSFC Best Actress award for Meryl Streep, for Streep’s performance as Child in Julie & Julia.

Other local honorees include: Haden Guest, David Pendleton and the Harvard Film Archive; and David Bramante of the Stuart Street Playhouse.

You can see it all on YouTube here!

After that, Gerry traveled with the film to the Starz Center in Denver and to the St. Louis Film Festival, and, on both occasions, he was part of a panel with local reviewers about the state of film criticism. He also returned to Boston raving about both of these livable cities, which he’d never visited before.  He said: check out Denver for some fabulous used bookstores, and you haven’t lived until you’ve stood under the totally incredible St. Louis Arch.

Finally, back in New England, Gerry showed the film at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, MA, and joined Amy on stage for a showing at The Music Hall in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The Portsmouth venue is down the way from Amy’s home town, Hampton, New Hampshire, so the audience included Amy’s appreciative Mom and Dad.

More big news for 2009: in November, For the Love of Movies opened theatrically Nov.13-17 at both the Roxie Theatre in San Francisco and the Gene Siskel Center in Chicago, Nov.17-18 at the Smith Rafael Center in Marin County… Finally, Gerry speaks with For the Love of Movies at the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York, on December 11.

P.S.: What a thrill! Gerry came home one day to a message on his answering machine. It was from filmmaker John Waters saying how he’d seen our film and loved it! And there was an e-mail also from filmmaker Guy Maddin that he’s seen our movie twice, once on DVD and once bringing a bunch of friends to a screening in Guy’s native Winnepeg, He ended the e-mail saying : “I really love your movie.”

Gerry and the Buddha, Hong Kong

DECEMBER

George Eastman House, Rochester, NY: 11th

Portland Museum of Art – Movies at the Museum, Portland, Maine: 13th

West Newton Cinema, West Newton, MA: 18th-24th –Gerald Peary in person on the 19th & 20th

All above screening times are subject to change. So, be sure to double check each festival website for the most up-to-date info.

Festival that we’ve attended:

Gerry croons at the Grand Ole Opry, Nashville

South By Southwest

Hong Kong International Film Festival

Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara

Nashville Film Festival
Atlanta Film Festival
RiverRun International Film Festival

Independent Film Festival Boston

San Francisco International Film Festival

Berkshire International Film Festival

Lake Placid Film Festival

Provincetown International Film Festival

Edinburgh International Film Festival

Jerusalem Film Festival

Maine International Film Festival

And here are the key Boston reviews, all favorable:

“An insider looks at film criticism through the years” by Ty Burr, “The Boston Globe,” September 9, 2009:

“…the movie’s a lively and important first step in assaying the worth of a field on the verge of extinction, as more and more professional reviewers are let go from struggling news organizations (nearly 60 in the past 3 1/2 years).”

“‘Love of Movies’ shines through” by James Verniere, The Boston Herald, September 9, 2009:

“Learn the meaning of the scornful soubriquet “paulette.” Hear Elvis Mitchell talk about his youthful critical response to “Scream Blacula Scream” (1973). See Siskel and Ebert together (and young) again. It’s all in “For the Love of Movies.”

***1/2 “The Boston Phoenix” -  ” For the Love of Movies” beams viewers to a planet that outsiders only think they know about. But in interviewing his subjects—a score of movie critics—Phoenix critic Gerald Peary does much more than provoke condescending quotes about pedestrian favorites like Titanic. In a feat fit for civilians and fellow critics alike, Peary traces film criticism to its birth and examines movements, trends, and eras that have since evolved, with an emphasis on the feud between Andrew Sarris and Pauline Kael.”

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Well, we arrived in beautiful, warm Israel, after nearly 20 hours of travel.  Our first day, we attended a partying a private home on a hill, with the most fabulous view of Jerusalem from the balcony.  You could see all the way to Jordan!

Our biggest thrill came the next day: We ran into a protest in which over 100 Ultra Orthodox Jews were blocking the way into a parking garage which was open on Shabbat.

I jumped into the fray to take some close up photos of the sit in. (Don’t worry, I wasn’t the only photographer snapping pics.) The men were literally sitting in the street and just outside the entrance to the garage.  One eleven year-old boy jumped out of the crowd and started screaming “Shiksa” into my face.  At that point, the police showed up, dressed in full riot gear and started to move the protesters away from the garage opening.

A group of protesters drove into the street, locked arms and started to block the traffic that was driving through.  The police followed them and again dragged them onto the sidewalk.  Limbs were akimbo, hats were flying.  It was pretty incredible!

Not something you see every day in secular Boston.