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For the Love of Movies
80 minutes ■ 2009 ■ USA ■ In Competition
Saturday 9:30a
Director/Screenwriter: Gerald Peary ■ Producers: Sharon Brooks, Amy Geller ■ Executive
Producer: Ellen Poss ■ Cinematographers: Craig Chivers, Amy Geller, Nick Kurzon, Edward
Slattery ■ Editors: Aleksander Lekic, Sabrina Zanella-Foresi ■ Music/Composer: Bobby B.
Keyes ■ Narrator: Patricia Clarkson ■ Principal Cast: Roger Ebert, Molly Haskell, Harry
Knowles, Elvis Mitchell, Andrew Sarris, Lisa Schwarzbaum, A.O. Scott, Kenneth Turan ■
fortheloveofmovies.net
For a hundred years, through the history of American movies,
film critics have championed the medium they so unabashedly
love. They advise audiences in deciding what movies to see, and
why. Their reviews illuminate the film-going experience, sug-
gesting paths for readers to enter cinema more deeply, thought-
fully and appreciatively.
This is the first documentary to dramatize the rich, fascinating
history of American film criticism, from the raw beginnings of
the first reviewers to the incendiary Pauline Kael-Andrew Sarris
debates of the ‘60s and ‘70s. This insider’s view of the critics’
profession carries us all the way to the antagonistic relationship
between blogs and websites and the print establishment. An
amazing cast of America’s best-regarded reviewers provide en-
tertaining, humorous, and personal commentary on their pro-
fession and the movies they love—or sometimes despise.
Gerald Peary
Director’s Statement
I have been a film critic for thirty years, writ-
ing for magazines and newspapers, and, the
last twelve years, for the Boston Phoenix.
This is a “pro-critic” film. At a time when
American critics are being laid off and fired,
and when their influence has diminished,
this is an unapologetic defense of a profession under siege.
My first desire is for an audience to become intimate with the
reviewers behind the bylines, so it can be understood how crit-
ics think about and see movies. Those interviewed vividly de-
scribe scenes from movies which, seen as children, made an
indelible impression, and which transformed their way of view-
ing. A further object is to spread appreciation for such first-rate
prose and original thinking. I hope that this film motivates au-
diences to consider reviews by the best American critics,
whether in print or the web, as a key component in watching
movies in a deeper, more thoughtful, way.
Filmography: Directorial Debut
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