Cremaster 3.The Order. Matthew Barney. Palm Pictures DVD
5a.Are there plans for more Director Series videos after Chris Cunningham, Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze.
Yes, we are deep into negotiations with 4 directors right now (including Mark Romanek and Jonathan Glazer) with a projected Spring 2005 release. In the meantime, the original 3 will be packaged as a box set for late October.
5b. How did those 3 end up being the first trio.
As the story goes, Spike Jonze had been wanting to compile his work onto a DVD for some time and, about a year previous, Palm had issued a similar release entitled Hype Williams – the Videos. Somehow, someway, Spike or Palm approached each other and it was Spike who roped in his friends Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry and convinced them to start the so-called Directors Label imprint.
5c. What kind of negotiations does it involve to get the rights from so many different artists and record companies?
Damn, that’s one for my lawyers, but I can tell you they’re pretty hellish negotiations because they of course involve so many artists, labels and other people. I think that’s the big reason why no one had taken the time to compile releases like the Directors Label before. Negotiations are insanely time-consuming and complicated, but ultimately, well worth it, obviously. This has also been the case with the next batch of releases, but we’ll get them done eventually.
6. How do you convince a blue chip artist like Matthew Barney to allow Plam Pictures to be the outlet for his film work.
That’s the beauty of Palm’s philosophy – we don’t have to. Artists have come to realize that Palm can provide a unique outlet for their work – no matter how niche-oriented – and we are approached by the artists themselves as often as the other way around.
6B. Are there plans for more work from fine artists (Vanessa Beecroft, Douglas Gordon, etc)
We are always looking to do so, yes, particularly under our Arthouse imprint. Current and upcoming releases in this arena include The Legend of Leigh Bowery (www.legendofleighbowery.com) and How to Draw a Bunny – about reclusive New York artist Ray Johnson: (www.howtodrawabunny.com).
7.What kind of future work is Palm Pictures are looking to distribute?
Other than our separation from Manga anime, Palm intends to carry on much as we have been, with cutting edge music and film releases, including new albums by Earlimart (www.earlimartmusic.com), Gigi and Moving Units (www.movingunits.net), a third installment in the KCRW Sounds Eclectic series (http://sitelet.sputnik7.com/sitelet/kcrw/launch ), feature films like Reconstruction, Time of the Wolf, 6ixtynin9, Last Life in the Universe, Bright Future, documentaries like Tom Dowd & the Language of Music (www.thelanguageofmusic.com) and the Sundance award winning Dig! (www.digthemovie.com), and the next stash of directors label DVDs, of course.
Brilliant! I’d put good money on Palm Pictures as being the very best boutique multi-media house in the biz right this second.
Thank you
