STATEMENT OF RETRACTION
Dated: 13th August 2010
“FrightFest would like to apologise to Gregg Araki for any distress caused to him by the statement issued by us through Alan Jones’ blog dated 30 July 2010 in regards to the sudden withdrawal of KABOOM from Film4 FrightFest 2010.
We also want to make it clear that Mr. Araki did not, himself, use the words “bunch of geeks” to describe the FrightFest audience and we accept his word that he, personally, was not aware of events surrounding the withdrawal of KABOOM until after they had occurred.”
ALAN JONES
IAN RATTRAY
PAUL MCEVOY
GREG DAY
Directors, FrightFest
30th July 2010.
I feel sorry for director Gregg Araki, I really do. When I saw his latest movie KABOOM at Cannes this year, I absolutely loved it and knew it would be perfect for FrightFest. Okay, so it wasn’t your average horror fantasy, instead it was a smartly written, sexy and hyper-hip mix of BUFFY, TWIN PEAKS and DONNIE DARKO. Like Araki’s other works, NOWHERE and THE DOOM GENERATION in particular, it was a celebration of alternative lifestyles, a live-and-let mantra about people existing outside the norm.
Can you imagine our surprise then when we were told that Araki wanted KABOOM pulled from our line-up because he didn’t want it being seen by a ‘bunch of geeks’, his alleged words. The first thought that crossed our minds was, how come he’s taken this long to tell us when we’ve been publicizing the program for a month now and every major website has carried the news. The second thought was what sort of film does he think he’s actually made. The third was so much for the pleas of tolerance and acceptance he advocates in his movies. The fourth was, Wow has he got the FrightFest audience wrong. The fifth was, F**k him, we don’t need his movie if that’s his blinkered attitude.
It has always been my belief that self-professed liberals who say they aren’t easily shocked are the first to complain when they really easily are. And now I have to add to that disappointment a filmmaker who I once admired for his apparently non-judgmental stance turning out to be a judgmental asshole after all. Talk about completely misunderstanding the genre audience, but then it seems most Americans have this Comic-Con/Fangoria zombie perception about what fanboys and fangirls are. What they truly are Mr. Araki is the audience who would embrace KABOOM with absolute delight. Sorry you have such a problem with that. Your usual art-house cronies don’t like it - the mainstream Cannes reviews showed that - and I personally want you to know you’ve let down many of your followers who were looking forward to seeing it on the biggest screen in the UK, who also happen to be genre geeks too.
But then Araki’s very Old School thinking is sadly something we’ve had to deal with before. Without blowing our own trumpets too much, FrightFest has done a lot to break down the reticent industry view of what a genre audience is. It’s the reason we are now such an accepted part of the film event calendar, like the London Film Festival. Which is obviously the place Araki thinks would be best for KABOOM even though it hasn’t yet been accepted by that flagship festival.
I hope they do. I hope Araki gets the pretentious affirmation he obviously desires more than honest acclaim from a bunch of geeks. I hope the movie gets sold to a UK distributor – something we were happy to help procure when we included it in the line-up in the first place. I hope he makes another movie as good. But I won’t be going to see it. This gay geek has now seen through his reactionary smokescreen and has no desire to be preached to by someone who pretends to believe in a philosophy they don’t live by.
Until next time.
Alan Jones.
FROM GREGG ARAKI
Recieved 3rd August 2010
In light of the controversy surrounding the withdrawal of my film KABOOM from London's FrightFest this past weekend, I wanted to set the record straight. Alan Jones' inflammatory story claiming I deemed the movie too good for a "bunch of geeks" is a complete fabrication. I would NEVER call anyone who wants to see any film of mine "a bunch of geeks". I've never spoken or corresponded with Alan Jones and I'm stunned he would put words in my mouth that I never said. This kind of blatant and willful misrepresentation is not only damaging to my reputation, it's hurtful to my fans so I take this offense very seriously. As anyone who's seen my movies would know, I'm a cinema geek and genre fan myself - and in fact I have two projects I'm currently developing which are, yes, straight up horror genre films.
As an indie director, I never take any fan of mine for granted and am grateful for each and every one. The only part of this sordid saga that's true is that KABOOM was unfortunately removed from the FrightFest lineup. That decision was made after careful consideration by myself, the other producers, the financiers and upon the advise of friends who work in distribution. The sad fact of the matter is it's becoming harder and harder to make and distribute truly independent films in the current marketplace. Getting your film out there to audiences is more difficult than ever and requires careful planning and strategy. Fan buzz-generating screenings like FrightFest are of course amazing and great fun to do but they're normally slotted closer to a film's theatrical release date as part of an orchestrated marketing effort. Our foremost concern right now is what's best for KABOOM overall and how to parlay the movie's amazing debut in Cannes into the widest distribution possible. As to why the film was pulled so late, I wasn't even told of its inclusion in the festival till a little over a week ago (sorry but I don't google myself or my films on a regular basis and have no staff or assistants to keep me updated on stuff like that).
Finally to everyone who was eager to see KABOOM on Sunday night, I sincerely apologize and believe me, I'm just as excited for you all to see it. I'm super proud of the movie - everyone involved really put their heart and soul into it - and I truly hope there's a chance to see it there in the UK soon!
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© London FrightFest Ltd. 2000-2010
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