On the occasion of MoMA’s Carte Blanche in honor of the 40th Anniversary of the founding of prominent French film group MK2, we welcome Marin Karmitz, founder of MK2, and Elisha Karmitz, director of MK2 Agency.

Marin Karmitz will introduce his rare short NUIT NOIRE, CALCUTTA (1964), and Elisha Karmitz will talk about MK2’s expanded cinema projects. Followed by a drink and snack reception courtesy of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy.

Following their infamous slogan “Another idea of cinema”, MK2 exhibition arm has focused in the last four decades in bringing cinema in neglected areas of Paris with the creation of arthouse theaters. Coming from a reflection on urbanism and the role of film theatres in the city, they worked with various architects, designers and artists to revitalize some outlying neighborhoods.

Developing the idea of expanded cinema, MK2 Agency has been very active in creating live events in unusual places (e.g. Cinema Paradiso, a giant drive-in at the Grand Palais in 2013) and ephemeral theaters in order to create unique events and challenge the audiences on their relationships with film theatres.

NUIT NOIRE, CALCUTTA:

A rare avant-garde short that Marin Karmitz directed at age 26, starring Maurice Garrel, written by Marguerite Duras and shot by Willy Kurant, NUIT NOIRE, CALCUTTA is a haunting tale about an alcoholic novelist facing a crippling case of writer’s block.

The short had a major importance for Duras who will later use that story for her novel The Vice-Consul.

Marin Karmitz, the producer, distributor, exhibitor and founder of MK2, has during the last 40 years produced over 100 films and distributed close to 350 films. Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Resnais, Claude Chabrol, Gus Van Sant, Jonathan Nossiter, Ken Loach, Jacques Doillon, Pavel Lounguine, Hong Sang Soo, Michael Haneke, Raphaël Nadjari, Olivier Assayas. The films under his banner have been graced with an impressive list of awards: three Golden Palms at Cannes, three Golden Lions from the Venice Film Festival, a Golden Bear from the Berlin Film Festival, three Oscar nominations, 25 César Awards and over one hundred international film festival awards. Karmitz’s work has received many official tributes since the 1980s, by institutions such as the Cinémathèque Française, the Pompidou Centre, MoMA, and the film heritage centres in Tel Aviv, Madrid, Munich and Boulogne. Karmitz has also received many awards worldwide for his career as a producer. Strongly involved in contemporary art, Karmitz curated in 2009 the exhibition Silences at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Strasbourg, which was restaged later that year at the Berardo Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Lisbon. At the Rencontres d’Arles in 2010, he presented his collection of more than two hundred photographic works for the first time.

–Photo credit Benoït Linero

Elisha Karmitz Born in Paris in 1985, Elisha Karmitz joined MK2 in 2006 as the director of publication and chief editor of the magazine TROIS COULEURS. In 2008, he became the director of MK2 MULTIMEDIA. In 2012, he launched MK2 Agency, specialized in audiovisuel communication, events and brand content. One of the most successful events he organized in Paris with MK2 Agency was Cinema Paradiso, the largest drive-in ever organized in a city capital, at the Grand Palais in June 2013, attracting 80,000 visitors. 

Dan Nuxoll is the Program Director of Rooftop Films and has been working with the organization since 1998. He has curated events all across North America and Europe and has managed partnerships with the Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, BAM Cinematek, MoMA, and dozens of acclaimed cultural institutions. He is currently co-directing a documentary about a mysterious woman who has been running scandal-plagued film festivals for decades.

MK2 is the first independent group of the French cinema industry (production, international & domestic distribution, exhibition, DVD publishing), founded in 1974. More than 400 titles make up the MK2 library, which includes famous titles by international directors like David Lynch, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Michael Haneke or Abbas Kiarostami as well as films by the best French authors: Claude Chabrol, Alain Resnais, François Truffaut, Jacques Doillon.

MK2 also handles the rights of recent films by famous talents (Gus Van Sant) or emerging directors such as Gela Babluani that won prices in prestigious festivals (Cannes, Venice, Sundance). In addition to that, MK2 restores in HD whole collections of classic films (Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton , Stan Laurel, H. Lloyd).

For more information about the celebrations of MK2’s 40th Anniversary in New York:

MoMA Carte Blanche to MK2 – June 5-23

Tribute to Marin Karmitz at FIAF – Friday, June 6:

http://www.fiaf.org/events/spring2014/2014-06-06-karmitz.shtml

Conversation with Marin Karmitz and ICP Chief Curator Brian Willis at Invisible Dog – Monday, June 9th:

http://theinvisibledog.org/talk-with-marin-karmitz/

This event is co-presented with FI:AF