THE ROAD TO THE OSCARS

BY: Michael Arkin

When Sonny Bono burst onto the music scene in the mid-fifties, working with the likes of Little Richard and Sam Cooke, nobody considered him a visionary. In fact, not many people noticed him at all, until he hooked up with Cherilyn Sarkisian, better known as Cher, and released a string of hits, including “I Got You Babe” and “The Beat Goes On.” That’s when people’s opinions started to change. When a guest spot on the Merv Griffin Show convinced CBS brass to turn the fringe-wearing pair’s good-natured squabbling act into a replacement series in the summer of 1971, it quickly became a ratings hit and ran for three years until the couple separated.

More than a decade later, people’s opinion changed again, when Mr. Bono was elected mayor of Palm Springs. The resort community, some 112 miles from LA, was at a crossroads – the city had lost a lot of its tourist business and development to other desert cities and the 40,000 permanent residents were concerned about its future. Knowing that Palm Springs had been an enclave to the stars since the Golden Age of Hollywood when their contracts required them to stay within driving distance of the studios in case reshoots were necessary, Bono had the idea to capitalize on the city’s relationship with the movie industry by mounting a film festival. He believed that the event would boost tourism in the usually quiet first few weeks of January and generate enough publicity to establish the city as a year-round destination.

In 1986, a voluntary committee was formed and four years later, backed by corporate sponsors American Airlines, Wells Fargo and Metropolitan Theatres, the first Palm Springs International Film Festival opened. Including retrospectives on the careers of Bob Hope, Kirk Douglas, director Frank Capra and everyone’s favorite funny woman, Lucille Ball, all of whom had personal connections to Palm Springs, the festival came perilously close to resembling a Turner Classic Movies event. However, two west coast premieres kept it from veering too far afield from what its founders had imagined. The first was Miramax Films’ Cinema Paradiso, a heart-touching film about the movies’ magic effect on a young boy in a war-torn Sicily, and the second was Canadian filmmaker Denys Arcan’s, lauded film, Jesus of Montreal. Together, these two premieres guided the festival towards the future of film instead of focusing on its past. Cinema Paradiso went on to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and set the stage for the festival’s reputation as a launchpad for foreign films, which it still maintains today.

Organizers expected 3,000 tourists to attend the five-day event, but when the credits ran for the last film of the festival, more than 17,000 had attended, with 12,000 coming from out-of-town. By all accounts, the festival was a critical and financial success. Over the next few years, with more quality films and more international and U.S. premieres from prestigious filmmakers, the festival continued to garner respect and grow in importance. Many credit the publicity coverage of Jimmy Stewart at the 1992 awards gala and Frank Sinatra and Marcello Mastroianni’s at the following year’s event, with earning the festival its place on the world stage.

Before Sonny Bono left office in 1992, he persuaded the city council to invest $150,000 a year in the PSIFF. That sum has increased steadily over the years and this year, the festival’s 31st, the city’s contribution is $450,000. It’s come a long way, baby.

After Bono’s tragic death in a skiing accident in 1998, the festival fell on hard times. Sundance had transcended its festival status to become a pop culture phenomenon while Toronto, one of the leading market festivals, outshone it. Back in Palm Springs, the bills were piling up, the ex-festival director quit, cancelling the opening night gala on his way out the door. That’s when Harold Matzner stepped in.

Dubbed ‘The Prince of the Desert’ by Palm Springs Life magazine, the now 82-year-old entrepreneur, humanitarian and philanthropist assembled a new board of directors, rescheduled the hastily cancelled 2001 awards gala and persuaded Sean Connery to attend. Fueled by programming, publicity and artistic vision, the festival grew in stature, and the gala has become its crown jewel, boasting one of the most famous red carpets on the road to the Oscars.

 

Dennis O’Connor, Roadside Attractions’ head of marketing, puts it this way, “The awards gala is a very important stop when you’re trying to chase awards. The festival has been very smart about choosing their dates each year so that it helps with awards and they’ve done a very good job of awarding people that almost always become eventual nominees.” Roadside has two honorees at this year’s gala – Renée Zellweger, recipient of the Desert Palm Achievement Award for her performance in Judy, and the Rising Star Award winner, Zack Gottsagen, for his role in The Peanut Butter Falcon.

 

“That gala gives a profile to a film and it can give a boost to a film that’s not a motion picture blockbuster,” says Sony Classic’s Co-President and Co-Founder, Michael Barker. “Films like Pain and Glory, The Wife and Still Alice need a profile like that gala to bring further attention of the movie to the public.”

Matzner credits Ronni Chasen, the powerhouse publicist who was gunned down in Beverly Hills in 2010, with making the awards ceremony what it is today. “Ronni was a very powerful person in Hollywood. She had tremendous credibility, believed in the future of the awards gala and the film festival, and put her support behind it. She was able to get us enough of the Hollywood flair to attract quite a bit of press.”

And press is what it’s all about. Led by the Film Awards Gala coverage, the festival generates over 1 billion media impressions, which, according to Matzner, is probably worth $25 million. “That makes this an advertising event.”

Aside from Zellweger and Gottsagen, this year’s Gala, hosted by Entertainment Tonight’s Mary Hart, will honor Antonio Banderas, Jennifer Lopez, director Martin Scorsese, Charlize Theron, Laura Dern, Cynthia Erivo and Joaquin Phoenix. That’s a lot of star power, but the festival is much more than just the gala.

 

In her first year as Artistic Director, Lili Rodriguez has put together an international affair presenting 188 films from 81 countries, including 51 premieres. This year’s Best International Feature Film Submissions program will screen 51 films under consideration for the Best International Feature Film category.

With his studio’s Pain and Glory one of the official international feature film submissions, Sony Classic’s Barker notes, “For decades the festival has been very valuable for the foreign film category for the Oscars and for the overall profile of foreign films. It’s a place where the public and Academy members can see the entries for the foreign film Oscar.”

 

Andy Bohn, Co-Managing Director of Greenwich Entertainment whose film, Incitement is included in the category, adds, “Palm Springs has a discerning audience so exceptional films, regardless of genre, tend to play best. However, there is particular excitement for international films unique among U.S. festivals.”

Aside from the official submissions program, World Cinema Now will present 56 foreign films not being submitted for Academy Award consideration, and Focus on Italy will offer seven films highlighting exceptional Italian cinema that just may have you checking airlines for the best deals to Italy.

 

Modern Masters looks at new films from 8 classic directors while New Voices New Visions will present 13 films from first or second-time directors. If non-fiction is your thing, the festival’s True Stories has them, 29 of them, to be exact. Amazing new films like The Capote Tapes, The Kingmaker and Searching for Mr. Rugoff.

One of the most anticipated programs at this year’s festival is Variety’s 10 to Watch series. Spotlighting emerging writers, actors, producers, directors, comics and cinematographers, this year’s gang of ten includes up-and-coming directors Esteban Arango Blast Beat, Nicolas Bedos La Belle Époque, Radha Blank The 40-Year-Old Version, Janicza Bravo Zola, Mati Diop Atlantics, Rupert Goold Judy, Ladj Ly Les Misérables, Shannon Murphy Babyteeth, Chase Palmer Naked Singularity and Nicole Riegel Holler.

 

While nearly every film festival includes LGBTQ films, you’d be hard pressed to find another one located in a city where 40% of the permanent residents are LGBTQ, but according to the city’s newly sworn-in mayor, Geoff Kors, those are the statistics among registered voters. Long known as a haven for the LGBTQ community, Palm Springs boasts the first transgender elected official in California, council member Lisa Middleton. Kors adds “It speaks volumes to the welcoming environment in Palm Springs. You see it in the festival, there are always LGBTQ films, and I think it’s important to send that message of diversity and inclusion”.

When Martin Scorsese accepts this year’s Sonny Bono Visionary Award, he will be the 20th recipient of the honor named for the man who had a vision and a goal and as evidenced by a 55% increase in January passenger activity at Palm Springs International Airport over the last 7 years, made both a reality. By doing so, he gave a gift to the city and to movie lovers from around the world.