Local film critic Jan Lisa Huttner says she opened her Sunday New York Times one June morning five years ago and got hit in the face with an article that inspired her to start a consumer movement aimed at the film industry, WITASWAN.
“Who reviews films on staff for the New York Times? Three men. Who reviews films for the New Yorker? Two. When the National Society of Film Critics published its recent book of 100 ‘essential films,’ how many of the contributors were women? Answer: 4 out of 41.” If more film critics were women, Huttner wrote, there might be more of the buzz that builds box office for the films that women make.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Of course, there are other ways to get publicity. The recently released indie Waitress appears to be benefiting from the buzz around the director’s sensational murder last year: Adrienne Shelly was beat up and hung from a shower rod in her Greenwich Village office, allegedly by a construction worker after she’d complained about noise he was making. She’d threatened to call police; he reportedly feared he’d be deported. That might make a movie plot, but it’s a tough way to build an audience.
In a written statement acknowledging that the project advisory panels and Public Art Committee will be dumped, Cultural Affairs commissioner Lois Weisberg maintains that the changes will nonetheless “provide for more community input into the process.” According to Public Art Program director Greg Knight, “the Public Art staff and curatorial staff will take the lead. We want broad public participation, and that starts with the alderman’s office, but we also have great confidence in the staff to work on public art projects in a very informed way.” Knight says restrictions on the program had become “ridiculous,” focusing on details, mandating meetings, and hampering creativity. “We’re worn down by eight years of lawsuits by Scott Hodes,” Knight says. “He needs to get a life.”
