Releasing Films and Winning Oscars

As they prepare to attend the Cannes Film Festival on May 11, Bronxville residents Bob and Jeanne Berney reflected on the past year, which saw the launch of Apparition, their new film distribution company.

In just nine months, six films were released, including the Oscar-nominated "Bright Star" and "The Young Victoria."  Cannes might have included their film, "The Tree of Life," written and directed by the legendary Terrence Malick, but it wasn't finished.

"We would have loved to have taken 'The Tree of Life' there," said Bob, CEO of Apparition, adding that the Festival loves Malick. 

In fact, the Festival's theme song is from the soundtrack of Malick's 1978 film, "Days of Heaven," according to Jeanne, executive vice president of Apparition.

The company's first release, "Bright Star" directed by Jane Campion, was a critical hit.

"It was one of my favorite films of last year," said Amy Biancolli, film critic for The Houston Chronicle and Hearst newspapers.  "It was a film about the beauty and rapture of literature.  People who love literature just relished it.  It's so much about the experience of art."

In Cannes, the Berneys will seek films to acquire and survey the marketplace, meeting with sales agents, producers, and networking with friends they've made over 25 years in the film business.

It was at Cannes in 2006 that Bob saw 20 minutes of a film about the life of singer Edith Piaf and, while everyone else opted to wait until it was finished, he bought it on the spot. The film, "La Vie en Rose," was released in 2007 and won a Best Actress Oscar for its star, Marion Cotillard.

"The press is all there," Jeanne said. "It's a good opportunity to find out what they're responding to, what they like. You can think about a movie in the context of what you'd do with it based a lot on conversations over dinner, drinks or walking along the Croisette, the main promenade in Cannes."

Going with them is their 21-year-old son Sean, a junior at New York University.  Staying home to complete his senior year at Bronxville High School is 17-year-old Liam, who will attend Indiana University Bloomington next fall.

Bob first experienced Cannes in 1981 with his friend John Bloom, film critic for the now-defunct Dallas Times Herald.  Jeanne went in 1983, just when interest was growing in American, foreign language, independent cinema, which evolved into the "indie" movement.

At the time, Bob owned a movie theater, the "Inwood" in Dallas, where he booked his favorite foreign and independent films. The theater was doing well and, in the mid-1980s, Bob made his first foray into the film distribution business purchasing the rights to Lars von Trier's first film, "The Element of Crime" (1984), which was shot in sepia with flashes of bright blue.

"At that point, although [Lars von Trier] is accepted now, people were just, 'What is THAT?'" Bob recalled with a laugh.  "Every country has some kind of grain alcohol, and I do think we drank something and bought that film."

Jeanne said it was the first time either of them had created a poster or a trailer for a film.

"At the end of it, I was, 'I hate this,'" Jeanne said. "And Bob was, 'I love it!'"

Jeanne's background is in publicity, working for companies such as Miramax and Savoy Pictures, ultimately ending up as head of the film division for Rogers & Cowan, a leading public relations and marketing firm. Bob had already begun working to distribute "Memento" when he was recruited by Cablevision to start IFC Films, which generated such hits as "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (2002) and "Y tu mamá  también" (2001).

"Memento" was a huge hit as well and, soon, Bob was named president of Newmarket Films, which distributed the highest grossing independent film in history:  "The Passion of the Christ" (2004).  When Newmarket was acquired, Bob became president of Picturehouse, a joint venture of HBO and New Line Cinema, both divisions of Time Warner. Meanwhile, Jeanne was heading public relations and marketing at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. 

Since moving to Bronxville from Eastchester in 2004, the Berneys have volunteered their services to the Lawrence Hospital gala, Pelham Picturehouse and the Bronxville School Memorial Day celebrations.  

The summer will be devoted to preparing for their fall releases:  "Welcome to the Rileys," starring Kristen Stewart and James Gandolfini and, of course, "The Tree of Life," starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn.

"They're clearly trying to aim for intelligent films that are not just the usual formulaic stuff," said Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday.

While competition has dwindled with the shuttering of Warner Independent Pictures, Paramount Vantage and Picturehouse, competitors such as Fox Searchlight, Focus and Sony Pictures Classic remain.  The Berneys want Apparition to be known for quality films that are underserved, but also understand they need to mix it up with commercial films that perform well at the box office.

"We want to be a really solid, great, independent company," Jeanne said.  "There really aren't any of those left—they're all owned by big studios or tiny companies that can't really get a movie out."

Biancolli said, "I'm always glad for a new distribution company to get out there and release a film that wouldn't get much attention; that's a company that puts its stamp on a singular movie that does something different."