This success comes after years of film industry leaders proclaiming the death of the market for subtitled films, the recent success of the Italian-made LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL notwithstanding. And subtitles have begun to find their way into American film. They appeared in John Sayles" LONESTAR, with a strong Latino theme. Indeed, Sayles' follow up film, MEN WITH GUNS, was entirely spoken in Spanish. This year the award-winning and popular TRAFFIC had a great number of subtitled scenes and also passed the$l00 million mark

Certainly, both the making of and the acceptance of CROUCHING TIGER point to a larger trend, the blurring of the distinction between an independent and a commercial film that has been going on for years, but is still something of a problem for distributors when it comes to acquisitions and marketing.

These are relatively new issues. A short time ago veteran film programmer George Mansour and I were on a radio talk show. Ironically, the show was called "Risk." I thought we would be talking about financial risk in film investment. Not so, we had to define our terms, so, when we started talking about what independent film is, we found ourselves discussing the increasing blur between commercial and independent film. Clearly we weren't going to talk about investment guidelines or radical approaches to film financing

Certainly we observed that the state of independent film is confusing. When I see THE CONTENDER, a somewhat routine wide release film starring Jeff Bridges, up for the Independent Spirit Awards, or when I see that Steven Soderbergh of SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE and SCHIZOPOLOS fame is nominated for two Oscars, I get confused. When I hear that Darren Aronofsky of the truly independent PI and REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, is going to make the next BATMAN, do I shudder or do I see it as a sign of hope for commercial filmmaking?

On the one hand, several years ago I was dismayed at the critical and commercial acclaim given to Ed Burns' amiable but otherwise routine BROTHERS McMULLEN, whose charms are largely derived from the fact that the film was so low budget

On the other hand, there are filmmakers like Soderbergh, Richard Linklater and Brad Anderson, each of whom has heard the call of the siren of Hollywood, and have found a way of remaining idiosynchratic. Linklater, who made such distinctive films as SLACKER, DAZED AND CONFUSED and the vastly underrated BEFORE SUNRISE made a wrong turn in making THE NEWTON BOYS for a studio. But, as was revealed at Sundance with the World Premieres of TAPE and A WAKING LIFE, he is back in true independent form.

THE BOSTON CONNECTION

These concerns bring me to ponder the fates of two extraordinary films made in Boston by Bostonians, prime examples of the incredible vitality of the Boston independent film scene: THE BLUE DINER by Jan Egleson and Natatcha Estebonez, and LIFT by DeMane Davis and Khari Streeter. Both films are beautifully shot and acted narratives that use Boston in stunning ways that observe the city as few other films have.

Audiences and the press have acclaimed both films on the film festival circuit. The black themed LIFT has screened in competition at the Sundance Film Festival and was selected for the New Directors/New Films series as the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It has twice been written up favorably in the New York Times. The Latino themed BLUE DINER has appeared in festivals in Cuba and Argentina and was seen by sold out crowd sat the recent Taos Talking Pictures Festival and won two awards at the New England Film and Video Festival. It has been selected for the prestigious Seattle International Film Festival in June.

The similarities don't end there. Both films are character-driven narratives with strong, problematic mother-daughter relationships. But, most important from the standpoint of a potential buyer, both are set in minority communities. In addition, THE BLUE DINER is half in Spanish. Although the dramatic situations in both films deal with issues that specifically relate to the respective communities, Latino and Black, the dramatic approach is universal. In other words, both films have crossover appeal. The buyers are afraid to take a risk. The problem for a distributor is, first to recognize that quality in the film, and second, and more difficult, to devise a marketing plan that can reach that crossover audience. Unfortunately, the kind of distributor that would be interested in these films deals primarily with specialty theatres. Occasionally, a low budget domestic comedy-drama like the locally produced AUTUMN HEART would play better with a multiplex audience than with the sometimes more sophisticated "art house" audience.

Distributors and other buyers don't have operable crystal balls. Several years ago, with so many nominations for Mike Leigh's SECRETS AND LIES and LarsVonTrier's BREAKING THE WAVES, everyone was talking about the death of the big studio film and the emergence of independent films. This year saw GLADIATOR and ERIN BROKOVICH winning Oscars. Last year, independent film supporters were rooting for the Latino-based GIRLFIGHT, put together by Gloucester-based indie producer Sarah Green. In spite of awards, great reviews and excellent media coverage, it was a box office disaster. It's that perception that a serious, minority-based drama can't cross over that must be broken.

BLUE DINER and LIFT are excellent dramas that deserve to be seen and enjoyed by as wide an audience as possible. Although they are not necessarily bold in form and content the way a Darren Aronofsky film might be, they are bold in that they risk treating subjects that audiences can relate to in a fresh context. And maybe, just maybe, the success of CROUCHING TIGER might pave the way for their deserved success as crossover films.