It wasn’t an entirely unexpected announcement, not simply owing the closure of Tartan’s US Video arm at Cannes, but the rumour mill had been churning for a while and yesterday c/o Twitter I learnt that after 20 plus years of business UK distributor Tartan had closed their doors.
At the moment I can’t seem to locate confirmation that the closure is affecting both Tartan Film & Tartan Video, or whether the joint Tartan/ Artificial Eye DVD sales company World Cinema LTD will be affected.
The distributor had accrued quite a dedicated fan base over the years, particularly through their dedication to Asian and horror titles under the Terror and Asian Extreme labels, including Chan-wook’s Vengeance trilogy, Ringu and Haneke’s original Funny Games. However they have suffered several disappointing theatrical outings of Paranoid Park, Mister Lonely and Funny Games U.S. which might have proven to play a pivotal role in the closure.
Cinematical announced the closure echoing the sentiment of Mark Gill’s recent post on IndieWIRE on how the sky is falling in on independent cinema. But where as Gill’s post opens with a heavy emphasis on how the loss of the major studios indie-wood labels bears testament to this, the loss of Tartan is now one of a genuine independent.
Although seeking to reach a positive conclusion on how independent cinema can survive, I have issue with Gill’s comments on the over crowding of the theatrical market-
“Most of these pictures are pre- ordained flops from independent distributors who forgot that their odds would have been better if they’d converted their money into quarters and taken the all-night party bus to Vegas.”
Working for one myself (Soda) I can state there is no point whilst distributing a film that we ‘forget’ how the financial odds lie in this day and age. Inevitably the financial prospects of a film have a bearing on our releases, but the reason we don’t all hop on the next flight to Vegas is because our work is driven by a passion for independent film. If we thought for a second this line of work was a good way to spin a fast buck we would very much need our heads checked.
I haven’t shed any tears over the recent losses of Warner Independent, Paramount Vantage and New Line with their indie-wood releases, but the loss of Tartan is one which is genuinely sad and effecting.
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