Episode Description
Here’s a special bonus episode for y’all – a wonderfully frank discussion with Jonathan Hertzberg, founder of boutique repertory film label Fun City Editions (and its self-proclaimed one-man-show). Two of the films he helped re-release were screened at the Trylon in January 2022: WALKING THE EDGE (1983) and RADIO ON (1979). With Jonathan, we dive into the freedom of running his own label after working in Kino Lorber’s theatrical distribution, what it takes to sell a movie nobody’s ever heard of, and the comfort of knowing there’s always an audience for something. - Pre-order Fun City Editions’s January 2022 release, a 2K Blu-ray restoration of Lynn Ramsay’s MORVERN CALLAR (2002), here: https://vinegarsyndrome.com/collections/frontpage-partner-labels/products/morvern-callar-fun-city-editions - Learn more about Fun City Editions and browse the catalog on their website: https://www.funcityeditions.com/ - Shop Fun City Editions releases and merch through Vinegar Syndrome: https://vinegarsyndrome.com/collections/fun-city-editions - Follow Fun City Editions on Twitter at https://twitter.com/FunCityEdition Special thanks to John Moret, film programmer at the Trylon Cinema, for connecting us with Jonathan. Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trylovepodcast and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch! Buy tickets and support the Trylon at https://www.trylon.org/. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "Opening Credits Music” from the WALKING THE EDGE soundtrack by Jay Chattaway. Timestamps 0:00 - Episode 155: Building a Boutique Film Label with Jonathan Hertzberg of Fun City Editions 4:56 - Fun City’s connections to the Trylon 6:20 - The learning curve from Kino to one-man show 8:53 - How you build film distribution relationships 11:10 - Bringing MORVERN CALLAR (2002) back to life 16:54 - The freedom of having your own niche 20:08 - How do you know a Fun City Editions film? 26:34 - Fun City’s white whale 31:50 - The right pace of releases for Fun City 35:53 - Finding an audience for older, lesser-known films 41:13 - Building branding & loyalty 47:48 - Sourcing new art for disc packaging 51:10 - How to reach younger audiences 57:46 - A little bit about WALKING THE EDGE (1985) 1:00:35 - Plugs & goodbyes
