July/August 1999

What is The Cinema Guild?
We are a well-established (in business over 25 years) “full-service” distributor of motion pictures in all markets—theatrical, nontheatrical, television, and home video—and are thereby able to oversee the release of a film and maximize its commercial potential throughout its entire distribution career.

Who is The Cinema Guild?

My desk is festooned with the fruits of two previous Independent Feature Film Markets: a cupful of pens, buttons, a mousepad, a key ring. And that's not counting the baseball caps and t-shirts that are given out by filmmakers each September to promote their work.

When and why did the Aperture Film Grant come into being?
I [Lewis] was raising money to shoot my own short film, and I thought that doing so under a nonprofit umbrella would make the process easier. This did not turn out to be the case, but a friend, Eric Taras, suggested that a nonprofit would be a good vehicle for raising money for other people and creating a permanent corporation.

When and why did the Aperture Film Grant come into being?
I [Lewis] was raising money to shoot my own short film, and I thought that doing so under a nonprofit umbrella would make the process easier. This did not turn out to be the case, but a friend, Eric Taras, suggested that a nonprofit would be a good vehicle for raising money for other people and creating a permanent corporation.

This article is dedicated to the memory of Rafik, who died on March 1. With the screening series he used to run, the help he gave people behind the scenes, and the equipment and dubbing services he ran for many years, he was a well-loved and invaluable member of the film community and will be sorely missed.