{"id":14429,"date":"2012-02-18T23:11:13","date_gmt":"2012-02-18T23:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=14429"},"modified":"2012-02-23T23:52:07","modified_gmt":"2012-02-23T23:52:07","slug":"remembering-bingham-ray-october-films-indiewire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2012\/02\/18\/remembering-bingham-ray-october-films-indiewire\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Bingham Ray"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Although often overshadowed by more famous rivals, Bingham Ray<\/strong> was one of the key figures in independent film over the last 25 years.<\/p>\n

Just a few days ago I posted a piece on what the phrase \u2018indie film\u2019 means in 2012<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What does independent mean when a subsidiary of a large media company (Fox Searchlight) releases movies like The Tree of Life and Shame?<\/p>\n

Or when two of the UK\u2019s highest grossing films of 2011 are genuine independents (The King\u2019s Speech and The Inbetweeners)?<\/p>\n

Part of that post meant going back to Peter Biskind’s Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance and the Rise of Independent Film<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 2004 book essentially told the story of the modern independent film movement from 1989 until the early 2000s.<\/p>\n

Much about the movie landscape has changed since then, notably the economic crash of 2008, the reduction of ‘dependent arms’ and the creative rejuvenation of Sundance from 2009 onwards.<\/p>\n

Two large characters dominate the history of modern independent film: Robert Redford<\/a>, the founder of the Sundance film festival and Harvey Weinstein<\/a>, who co-ran Miramax Films<\/a> with his brother Bob.<\/p>\n

Both sets of characters seem to embody the ideals, commerciality and contradictions of indie film over the last twenty five years.<\/p>\n

But there was a third man<\/a>: Bingham Ray<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He sadly passed away last month during the Sundance festival and Redford’s statement<\/a> on hearing the news was reflective of the many tributes<\/a> that poured out at the time:<\/p>\n

“He was a valued member of the Sundance family for as long as I can remember, and he is responsible for mentoring countless seminal storytellers and bringing their work to the world.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The recent memorial services in New York and Los Angeles, along with a Sundance fellowship set up in his honour<\/a> were testament to the esteem in which he was held.<\/p>\n

A key figure in the indie film world the company he co-founded, October Films, began as a genuine independent, in an ecosystem where the distinctions could get blurry.<\/p>\n

Among the directors he championed in his career were Mike Leigh, Lars von Trier, Jim Jarmusch and David Lynch.<\/p>\n

As a producer-distributor, Ray was that rare breed who could not only identify talent but package them for critical and commercial success.<\/p>\n

After studying at Simpson College in Iowa, he moved to New York where he became manager at the Bleecker Street Cinema in Greenwich Village.<\/p>\n

He later worked in marketing and distribution at the Samuel Goldwyn Company and then in the summer of 1987 was hired by Columbia Pictures, which was then under the brief reign of David Putnam<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2001 he recounted the story of his brief time there in the late 1980s:<\/p>\n