ANCHOR INTRO: The North County Film Club's mission is to bring foreign and independent films to their region. KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando looks at a petition the group has just started. If you live in North County, you might not have as many theatrical films choices as someone living in downtown San Diego. Jennifer Hamilton is corporate liaison for the North County Film Club. Four years ago the club started a monthly program in Oceanside to showcase foreign and independent film. JENNIFER HAMILTON: Which means not only bringing films closer to home, so for us that means in North County not having to go into Hillcrest and La Jolla and places like that but also keeping the cost down, which is why we offer season passes that end up making the cost per film about $4 each. Now Hamilton is trying to get signatures on a petition asking studios to make art house films more available to mainstream theaters like the UltraStar Mission Marketplace, where the Club holds its screenings. She hopes the theater can use the petition to prove to studios that there's a market ready and waiting in North County. JENNIFER HAMILTON: We've seen how something can start off seeming absolutely impossible and then ten years later what you thought was impossible has become the norm. The petition is online at N-C-Film-Club-dot-com. The North County Film Club's new season starts January 22nd with "The Concert." Beth Accomando, KPBS News.
The North County Film Club's mission is to bring foreign and independent films to their region. Now they've started a petition to get studios onboard with their ambitions.
If you live in North County, you might not have as many theatrical films choices as someone living in downtown San Diego. Jennifer Hamilton is corporate liaison for the North County Film Club. Four years ago the club started a monthly program in Oceanside to provide more choice for filmgoers.
"Our purpose is to bring foreign and independent films -- the kind that don't normally make it into your local movie theater -- to a wider audience," says Hamilton, "Which means not only bringing films closer to home so for us that means in North County not having to go into Hillcrest and La Jolla and places like that but also keeping the cost down, which is why we offer season passes that end up making the cost per film about $4 each."
Now Hamilton is trying to get signatures on a petition asking studios to make art house films more available to mainstream theaters -- like the UltraStar Mission Market, where the Club holds its screenings. She hopes the theater can use the petition to prove to studios that there's a market for non-mainstream films in North County.
"Well the petition basically is aimed more at the studios more than at the movie theater because the theater that we have been at, the Ultrastar Mission Market, has recognized our ability to bring in a crowd,"states Hamilton, "So we've been very successful but we still have to convince the studios that there's a point to bringing foreign and independent films to theaters like Mission Market so the idea is that this is something that the theaters can present to the studios to say we have a market for you here, it's ready and waiting and all you have to do is to tap into it."
Hamilton says that she has learned from politics that change can start small.
"We've seen how something can start off seeming absolutely impossible," she says, "And then ten years later what you thought was impossible has become the norm."
Her father Jim Hamilton is the Club's Chairperson. He says, "If you don't have expectations then don't expect to have them achieved."
The petition is online at the North County Film Club website. The Club's new film season starts January 22 with the French-Russian collaboration, "The Concert."
