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| Sunday, 11 September 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Marin's Karma:
Founder of MK2
Commitment to artistic endeavours
Film director, producer and theatre director are but some of the many hats worn by Marin Karmitz, founder of French film company MK2. Acclaimed for his commitment to artistic endeavours, Marin Karmitz closely nurtures the development of demanding and exacting films. Countless films produced by MK2 have received a Cesar, France's equivalent of the Oscar, a Palme from the Cannes Film Festival, a Lion at the Mostra in Venice or an Oscar. And while Marin Karmitz has produced some one hundred feature films, he sometimes struggles to find financial backing for making new films. That's because he is very demanding when selecting his different projects. From the moment he entered the film industry, Karmitz worked with creative directors. Upon graduating from France's Institute of Advanced Film Studies (IDHEC) - the country's leading film school in the 1960s - he became a shooting assistant to directors Agnes Varda and Jean-Luc Godard. Influenced by the New Wave cinematic movement, Karmitz established a production company in order to finance his own films, releasing two short films, Nuit Noire, Calcutta, based on a script written by Marguerite Duras, and Comedie, the adaptation of a one-act play by Samuel Beckett. In 1968, he began producing feature films, with Sept Jours Ailleurs and Coup pour Coup, released in 1972. It was because of the film's dismal failure that Karmitz decided to become a theatre operator. On May 1, 1974, he inaugurated his first film theatre in the Bastille district of Paris, naming the cinema "14 Juillet" . At the time, Bastille was a working class neighbourhood, but this did not deter Karmitz from showing unusual films in their original language, with the aim of making cinemas a place for spending quality time and having new experiences. The number of "14 Juillet" cinemas rapidly multiplied, creating an increasingly wider network and soon becoming the city's third largest. The theatres became cinematic meeting places featuring high-quality films and serving the industry, while symbolising a culture open onto the world. Many films from countries up to then unknown for their cinematographic production began to touch audiences and experience a success hitherto unknown. But Marin Karmitz didn't stop there. At the end of the 1970s, he went back to the production side of movies by supporting the projects of his initial partners, adding another string to his bow and becoming a film distributor. His business activities, which combined all aspects of the cinema industry, began to expand both in France and abroad and he soon started acquiring the rights to various films. As a video publisher, his catalogue continues to grow. In 2001, for example, he purchased the rights to Charlie Chaplin's films and released them in DVD format. Several Buster Keaton films were also showcased in a similar way. As a producer and international distributor who operates theatres in different regions, Marin Karmitz is both on the fringes and in the centre of France's cinematographic landscape. This diversity enhances MK2 operations. The chairman of various film-industry regulatory bodies, Karmitz has politically committed himself to defending a demanding and exacting form of cinematic production. Faced with the various conflicts shaking the French cinema industry, the increased encroachment of TV and the reinforcement of major international groups, Marin Karmitz, who understands the different types of reality confronting each of the industry's professions, has been endeavouring to rally those that support, above all, cultural diversity. In April 1998, the entry of financial backers into MK2 modified the company's economic order. The brand needed to gain in visibility and show audiences that it now grouped all cinema-oriented activities in a coherent and logical manner. Consequently the "14 Juillet" theatres took on the Group's name and became "MK2" theatres. In the meantime, Marin Karmitz continued to develop the unique aspects of his enterprise, lending his long-term support to various directors, backing their most ambitious projects, and taking risks without hesitating by investing in daring works that could not be readily classified as "general public" films. He frequently collaborated with Claude Chabrol and Alain Resnais (two French directors) as well as with the Taviani brothers - in fact, it's in part thanks to Karmitz that the two 'Italian brothers received the Palme d'Or at the 1977 Cannes Festival, along with Padre Padrone. Karmitz has worked with many renowned directors, including Austrian Michael Haneke, winner of the Best Director Award at the last Cannes Festival, Polish director Kristof Kieslowski, Taiwanese Hou Hsiao-Hsien and Iranian Mohsen Makhmalbaf. In 1982, Karmitz collaborated with Turkish director Yilmaz Guney, winner of that year's Palme d'Or in Cannes, with "Yol". Whether producing, distributing or screening films in theatres, MK2 is involved in the film industry the world over, forever endeavouring to broaden viewers' perspectives by delivering enchanting experiences. - Anne-Laure Bell |
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