LIGHT, rebellion, love, equality, cinema, democracy: the words that adorn the frontispiece of the latest "cinema venue" created by Marin Karmitz, in Paris, more or less sum up the independent producer's ambitious and quasi-militant concept of cinema; indeed, Karmitz is someone who puts his passion at the service of creative film directors the world over. He is a producer, distributor both in France and abroad, and also runs a number of cinemas in Paris; after many years as a marginalised figure, he is now at the very heart of the French film-making industry.This interview, conducted by Anne Rapin, was originally published in Label France No. 31, April 1998.(1) Label France: People send you a thousand scripts a year. What criteria do you use to decide which films to produce in any given year? Marin Karmitz: There are several ways of looking at what a producer does. Personally,...
