Certainly, art-houses aren't going away in the near future, but the corporatization of indie films is already restricting the kinds of films you, as a resident of Orlando, can see. As I said before, the big hits and the small, truly indie-films go hand in hand - one pays for the other. Without the hits at the art-house, Orlando gets no smaller films. It's that simple. Unfortunately, art-house audiences in Orlando aren't nearly as sophisticated as they think they are. They flock to Trainspotting and Emma, but they tend to stay home for films like Heavy, or Angel Baby - probably the two best films to screen in Orlando in 1996, and certainly better than the two aforementioned "hits."

And the Orlando media doesn't help. The Orlando Sentinel, our only daily newspaper, treats its readers like 10-year-olds. Many art-films go unreviewed by the paper, to make room for reviews of such modern cinema as 8 Heads in a Duffel Bag. The two most recent examples of this are Love Jones and Chasing Amy. Both were Sundance hits, and both virtually ignored by the Sentinel. At least they had the decency to run a wire story on Kevin Smith for Chasing Amy. The sad reality of the whole situation is that it isn't even really the fault of the folks at the Sentinel. See, the Sentinel isn't owned by an Orlando-based corporation, one that might actually care about Central Florida (the Tribune Corporation is based in Chicago).

As far as they're concerned the Sentinel is just a money machine, and if they can cut staff (and quality) to squeeze another dime out of it, then so be it. Hence, you have sections of the paper like "Ticked Off" taking the place of possible coverage of art events. You don't see Gene Siskel having to review 8 Heads over Chasing Amy, do you? Ahhh, but now I'm on an entirely different rant.

The problem really comes down to heart. Art-house cinemas, for the most part, are run by people who love movies. The multiplexes are there to make money. You will never see your local AMC theater produce something like the Florida Film Festival, (although General Cinema has supported the festival in the past - and should be commended for it), or support the traveling multimedia film showcase Resfest (coming to Enzian Theater in December). General Cinema would never touch a movie like Kids, nor should we expect them to - they are a business and have no reason to offend customers with anything controversial or off the beaten path. The multiplexes and art-houses should not compete, but complement each other. If movie lovers continue to look the other way, art-houses will eventually go the way of mom & pop video stores, and the people who decide which movies you can see will be looking at the bottom line, not the quality of the film.

FADE IN

THE OFFICE OF THE FILM BOOKER FOR A MAJOR MULTIPLEX EXHIBITOR.

SMALL DISTRIBUTOR (over phone): The Daytrippers won best picture at Slamdance and played at Cannes. Many critics just love this picture. It's funny and intelligent.

BOOKER: I'm sorry, we just don't have the space for that. We've got to put The Lost World on four of our screens and I think Van Damme has a new one and we've still got the Jim Carrey film raking in the big bucks, and besides ... THOSE INDIE FILMS JUST AREN'T PULLING IN THE PEOPLE LIKE THEY USED TO. NOT SINCE THE MEDIA STOPPED REPORTING ON THEM.

CUT TO INTERIOR. A NICE HOME IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA.

MAN: Gee honey. I hope our local art-house cinema is still around or else we'll just have to wait and rent The Daytrippers.

WOMAN: Oh silly, don't you remember? All the mom and pop video stores are gone and Blockbuster won't carry foreign or small films anymore. Gosh, what are we gonna do?

FADE OUT

Michael Monello When not writing checks to Visa for the independent feature film they helped him co-produce, he can be found buying CD's from Park Avenue CD's or Bad Mood Records, renting videos from College Park Video, or shooting pool at Copper Rocket, Will's Pub, or Kit Kat Klub. He refuses to rent videos (or buy music) from Blockbuster. Other Articles I've Written