Naar het voorbeeld van Guillermo Del Toro hebben heel wat Hollywood-zwaargewichten zich achter het ten dode opgeschreven FilmStruck geschaard. In twee brieven aan Warner Bros. en TCM, de eigenaars van de cinefiele streamingdienst, werd gepleit voor zijn voortbestaan.

Onder meer Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Paul Thomas Anderson, Christopher Nolan, Sofia Coppola, Alfonso Cuarón, Leonardo DiCaprio en Edgar Wright hebben onder één van de twee hun handtekening gezet.

“FilmStruck is de beste streamingdienst voor fans van alle soorten cinema,” staat in de eerste brief te lezen, “waaronder klassieke studiofilms, onafhankelijke cinema en internationale parels. Zonder ziet het landschap er voor filmfans- en studenten bijzonder troosteloos uit.”

“We weten dat Warner Bros. met een eigen streamingdienst gaat uitpakken, maar FilmStruck hoeft die niet voor de voeten te lopen. Tegenwoordig zijn er zodanig veel platformen dat het beheer van de content heel belangrijk is. FilmStruck was zowel voor oudere filmfans als jongere cineasten.”

“FilmStruck maakte de kijkervaring dieper, breder en rijker dan ooit tevoren,” staat in de tweede brief. “Die dreigt nu verloren te gaan.”

De petitie om de streamingdienst te redden telt inmiddels ruim 50.000 handtekeningen en op Twitter kwam er nog meer steun van onder meer Lee Unkrich, Judd Apatow en Peyton Reed. Lees de reacties en de twee brieven hieronder:

@WarnerMediaGrp Now the petition to save @FilmStruck has almost reached 40,000 signatures.

— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 8, 2018

Please join me in signing this petition to #SaveFilmStruck! https://t.co/v2CXPSbvBh

— Barbra Streisand (@BarbraStreisand) November 9, 2018

Happy to add my name to this. #SaveFilmstruck https://t.co/t814TDy0uv

— Lee Unkrich (@leeunkrich) November 15, 2018

I am in. https://t.co/0YNx5BHx6a

— Judd Apatow 🇺🇦 (@JuddApatow) November 15, 2018

I’m in too. #SaveFilmstruck https://t.co/u452rsQAAV

— Peyton Reed (@MrPeytonReed) November 15, 2018

Brief 1

Date: November 12, 2018 at 8:44:29 PM PST
To: Toby Emmerich

Subject: FilmStruck

Dear Toby,

We know that Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese have been in touch with you and Warners Media Group about the demise of FilmStruck and have urged you guys to keep it going.

While it was not your decision, we would like to loudly echo their sentiments. The FilmStruck service was (IS) the best streaming service for fans of cinema of all kinds: classic studio movies, independent cinema, international treasures. Without it, the landscape for film fans and students of cinema is especially bleak. There’s a reason there was a huge outpouring from artists and fans over it being shuttered, they were doing the Movie God’s work.

We know one of the reasons that it has been shut down is because of an upcoming Warners streaming service, but really FilmStruck shouldn’t be a conflict of interest. In this day and age where there are dozens of platforms, curation of content is really important, and FilmStruck was providing a service to both satisfy older fans of cinema and a younger generation of cineastes that will be making amazing movies long after we’re dead.

In an era of huge corporate acquisitions of cinema by communication companies- in a business that may render billions of dollars off a medium like cinema, we believe this is a gesture that is needed- a minuscule show of goodwill towards the preservation and accessibility of a tradition and a rich history that would benefit the public.

So we want to add our names to the petition started by Marty and Steven and want you (and Warners) to know that we feel equally strongly and would do anything to support the service being saved.

Yours,

Paul Thomas Anderson, Ana Lily Amirpour, James Brolin, Damien Chazelle, Alfonso Cuarón, Guillermo Del Toro, Leonardo DiCaprio, James Gray, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Bill Hader, Karyn Kusama, Barry Jenkins, Rian Johnson, Christopher McQuarrie, Reed Morano, Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Barbra Streisand, Edgar Wright

Brief 2

To whom it may concern at Turner and Warner Bros. Digital Networks:

Roger Ebert once said “the movies are like a machine that generates empathy. It lets you understand a little bit more about different hopes, aspirations, dreams, and fears. It helps us to identify with the people who are sharing this journey with us.”

No truer words.

Though we live in a world with increasing ways to view content, the range of content and the variety of storytellers has remained, sadly, limited. In its short two years of existence FilmStruck was a machine that generated empathy by curating not only classic Hollywood films, but by streaming and highlighting world cinema, cinema by female, traditionally disenfranchised, and LGBT filmmakers and storytellers. FilmStruck added a depth, breadth and richness to the viewing experience that had not previously been attempted, and may – fearfully – disappear permanently with FilmStruck’s demise.

We the undersigned respectfully ask Turner and Warner Bros. Digital Networks to please reconsider their plans for FilmStruck. While we understand that “business” has always been a part of “show business,” we would hope that if FilmStruck cannot be continued in its present form, it would be allowed to function until such a time as a suitable, and suitably robust, replacement can be launched.

We hope that Turner and Warner Bros. Digital Networks will pause to recognize what an extraordinary accomplishment FilmStruck is. Equally, we hope the powers that be will consider maintaining what has become a significant film site for true enthusiasts of the moving image.

Respectfully yours:

John Ridley, David Oyelowo, So Yong Kim, Rachel Morrison, Malcolm D Lee, Nicole Kassell ,Mark Johnson, Hank Corwin, Nicholas Britell, Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski, Glenn Ficarra, John Requa, Billy Ray, Eric Roth, Sofia Coppola, Lenny Abrahamson, Freida Pinto, Nina Jacobson, Luke Davies, Mira Nair, Lydia Dean Pilcher, Jason Hall, Graham Moore, Liz Hannah, Jay Cassidy, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve Golin, Susanne Bier, Elizabeth Cantillon, Brad Weston, Sam Taylor Johnson, Vidiots Foundation

Bron: The Playlist