6 billion of revenue in the world including 1

With more than half of the oscars which they were awarded (13 of 24), the "independent" enjoy their revenge. It is rather unexpected to see a "small" budget of $ 11 million to fight a "blockbuster" the scope of "Avatar." A cinquante-huit years, Kathryn Bigelow, Director of "The Hurt Locker" ("mine" in French), is now, Sunday evening, the first woman in the history of the American cinema to win the oscar for directing, but also that of best film, at the end of a fierce competition with her ex-husband, Canadian James Cameron, Director of "Avatar." It is also the first time in the history of the Academy as a film that won a low level of revenue at the American box office ($14 million,) or 2 of the revenue of "Avatar" was awarded the Supreme award. "Annie Hall, Woody Allen (38 million of revenue in 1977), held the record in this area so far.

"We will continue to fight", was launched yesterday the French "Deminers" producer, Nicolas Chartier, tent planted close to the beach in Malibu, where he expected after being excluded from the ceremony of the Oscars for "excessive zeal".

Rain of rewards and fragility

This former employee of Eurodisney reconverted in production had sent e-mails to members of the jury to urge them to support "Deminers" against the steamroller "Avatar." The parable of Kathryn Bigelow on the heroism of American soldiers in Iraq is not the only one to have won a rain of statuettes. The Canadian producer Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. also pocketed two oscars for "Precious" (the film about a young obese black teenage girl in Harlem) and the independent studio Summit Entertainment, distributor of "Clearance", who made his fortune with the "Twilight Saga", won six statuettes with Kathryn Bigelow film. However, the major Hollywood studios shared 11 oscars, including 5 for Twentieth Century Fox of Rupert Murdoch and 2 for Disney.

Despite this harvest of awards, the situation of independent films remains relatively weak in the United States. Already, in 2009, the disappearance of Warner Independent Pictures (producer of "Slumdog Millionaire" with Pathé and Film Four) and of Picturehouse, two labels specializing in the production of films on a small budget, Warner was seen as a blow for the sector. It was followed by the merger of Paramount Vantage and Paramount Pictures and the closure of Fox Atomic by Paramount Pictures. Especially, the recent Disney decision to REList its Miramax subsidiary, long regarded as a key to independent cinema link, confirms the will of disengagement of the Hollywood majors of the feature films costing little expensive. After reducing its workforce of 500 to 80 employees, Disney largely cut the budgets of Miramax. But he still hopes to get $ 650 million from the sale of the company bought the Weinstein brothers in 1993 for $ 80 million. While Summit Entertainment recently withdrew from the race, Lions Gate has not hidden both study resumption of Miramax... and MGM.

Despite the crucial support of the Robert Redford Sundance festival, independent film seeking to exist outside the Hollywood mold always suffer a real difficulty of distribution in the US market. Faced with "Avatar" - already $ 2.6 billion of revenue in the world (including 1.8 billion abroad)-, "Deminers" painfully emerged with a distribution in the room of 535 cinemas in the United States in August. His unexpected success at the Oscars could nevertheless consider studios and potential purchasers of Miramax.