FILMBUFF AND VITAGRAPH PARTNER TO RELEASE CHRIS SMITH’S COLLAPSE

Documentary to reach audiences in record time


New York / NY (October 13th, 2009) – Chris Smith’s critically acclaimed and incendiary documentary COLLAPSE will reach audiences a record two months after debuting without a distributor at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). A unique deal with FilmBuff and Vitagraph Films was announced today. Vitagraph Films, LLC will handle the film’s theatrical release and FilmBuff will launch the film on VOD simultaneously to its theatrical run. Vitagraph will open the film at New York’s Angelika Theater and Film Buff will premiere the film on cable providers nationwide on November 6th. The film will also rollout theatrically into other markets while also being available on FilmBuff. The VOD/theatrical release of the film has also been endorsed by Landmark theatres, who have agreed to play the film day and date on December 4th, in both the Bay Area (San Francisco and Berkeley ) and in San Diego .This is the first time a film will be released this soon after it premiered at a festival without distribution.

Smith has shown an affinity for outsiders in films like American Movie and The Yes Men. In COLLAPSE, Smith departs stylistically from his past documentaries by interviewing his subject Michael Ruppert in a format that recalls the work of Errol Morris and Spalding Gray. Ruppert, a former Los Angeles police officer turned independent reporter, predicted the current financial crisis in his self-published newsletter at a time when most Wall Street and Washington analysts were still in denial. A character study of the apocalyptic imagination, COLLAPSE is a portrait of a man who believes with total conviction that industrial civilization is on the verge of collapse.

COLLAPSE elicited a powerful response from press at TIFF including: Time Out NY (“Riveting!”), Hammer to Nail (“Terrifying!”), Variety (“An intellectual horror that ranks as an essential work.”), The Onion (“Grade: A! I for one left the theatre shaken.”), Entertainment Weekly (“You may want to dispute him, but more than that you’ll want to hear him, because what he says – right or wrong, prophecy or paranoia – takes up residence in your mind.”), Movie City News (“The most important film I saw at Toronto this year.”), and Hollywood Elsewhere (““A pulverizing film. Everyone needs to see it.”).

“The film had such great word of mouth at Toronto that we immediately began looking for ways to get the film to the biggest audience in the shortest amount of time possible,” says Smith. “After considering many options, it quickly became clear that working with David Shultz and John Sloss was the most innovative and exciting way to release this film. “ Shultz heads up distribution at Vitagraph and Sloss is founder of Cinetic Rights Management which operates FilmBuff.

"When the film premiered at Toronto, audiences demanded that it be released as soon as possible, and as widely as possible. As big fans of Chris and this film, we immediately felt the best way to share such a timely and topical work, was through video-on-demand," says FilmBuff's Matt Dentler.

"Vitagraph Films has chosen to be involved with the day and date theatrical and VOD release of Chris Smith's COLLAPSE because it's part of the new frontier of documentaries that are extremely time sensitive and their strength of their impact on society is in the here and now," said Vitagraph Head of Distribution David Shultz and President of Marketing and Publicity Margot Gerber.

The deal was negotiated by Cinetic on behalf of the filmmakers.

Smith is an accomplished filmmaker whose previous films include American Job (1996, Sundance Film Festival), American Movie (1999, Grand Jury Prize Sundance Film Festival, Sony Pictures Classics), Home Movie (2001, Sundance Film Festival), The Yes Men (2004, United Artists) and most recently The Pool (2008), which was also released by Vitagraph Films, LLC. The Pool won a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and was selected as one of the Top 25 Films of 2008 by the Museum of Modern Art.

Kinosmith is releasing the film in November in Canada on the heels of the US release.

About Vitagraph Films
Established in 1999, Vitagraph Films is primarily a theatrical releasing entity with a mandate to domestically distribute rare and unique film programming to theatrical exhibitors. David Shultz and Margot Gerber are the principals who established Vitagraph, with David Shultz heading up distribution and Margot Gerber helming the marketing and publicity for the company. Most recently, Vitagraph worked on theatrical release campaigns for the current documentary hit VALENTINO: THE LAST EMPEROR, TOKYO!, THE POOL, JCVD and 2009 Academy Award and Golden Globe foreign film nominee THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX, which is currently in distribution.

About FilmBuff and Cinetic Rights Management (CRM) FilmBuff is a VOD channel programmed and operated by Cinetic Rights Management (CRM). Formed in 2007 by Cinetic Media partners John Sloss and Robert Nathan, CRM provides comprehensive film sales representation for digital media. Cinetic has become the industry gold standard through aggressive sales and innovative deal making. That reputation now extends to digital platforms through CRM. CRM is dedicated to assessing the universe of licensing opportunities in order to maximize revenue on behalf of filmmakers. CRM maintains up-to-the-minute relationships with and knowledge of all digital retailers, from the large portals serving the broadest audiences to the small sites serving deep niche interests. CRM provides clients with a fully-integrated digital rights management service including: pioneering sales negotiation and strategy, digital encoding logistics, committed grassroots marketing; and collated accounting and reporting relationships with and knowledge of all digital retailers, from the large portals serving the broadest audiences to the small sites serving deep niche interests. CRM provides clients with a fully-integrated digital rights management service including: pioneering sales negotiation and strategy, digital encoding logistics, committed grassroots marketing; and collated accounting and reporting.

Chris Smith's "CoLLapse" Coming Soon