Bingham Ray
Bingham Ray (* 1. October 1954 in New York City ; † 23 January 2012 in Park City , Utah ) was an American filmmaker and co-founder of the film distribution company October Films.
Life
Bingham Ray began his career in the film business with the US film distributor United Studios . There he was responsible for the booking of cinema films and was sensitized by Arthur Krim for the production of provocative, but also profitable cinema films.
In 1991 the independent distributor October Films was founded by Ray and Jeff Lipsky . The company was a respected port of call for filmmakers. In 1997 Universal Pictures took over 51% of the shares. The goal of the Hollywood major was to create its own independent label. October Films was merged with its North American distributor Gramercy Pictures following the acquisition of PolyGram by Universal Pictures . Barry Diller took over the new company in 1999 through his USA Networks and renamed it USA Films . In 2002 USA Films was bought back by Universal Pictures and merged with the film company Good Machine to form Focus Features .
As of September 1, 2001, Ray was president of the United Artists film company. He was responsible for the acquisition of the movies Bowling for Columbine , Osama and Pieces of April - Ein Tag mit April Burns . Both films were Oscar-winning. In addition to purchasing third-party productions, Ray was also involved with United Artists in the production of his own feature films. This resulted in the successful movie Ghost World , for example . But the expensive productions Nicolas Nickleby and City of Ghosts could not meet the expectations placed in them.
Bingham Ray created and deepened collaborations with Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope , Greene Street Films , Michael Stipe's production company Single Cell Films , Michael Winterbottoms Revolution Films and Crossroad Films during his United Artists presidency .
After differences with his superiors at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , the parent company of United Artists - Chris McGurk and MGM boss Alex Yemenidjian - Ray left United Artists in September 2004. On the one hand there was a dispute about the direction of the independent label and on the other hand the different handling of the boycott of the distribution of film copies to the members of the Oscar film awards ceremony led to the termination of the cooperation.
death
Ray passed away during the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City on January 23, 2012, where he was the Executive Director of the San Francisco Film Society.
literature
- Peter Biskind: Sex, Lies & Pulp Fiction: Behind the Scenes of the New American Film . Rogner & Bernhard , 2005, ISBN 3-8077-1004-3 .
Web links
- Bingham Ray in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Bingham Ray, Executive Who Championed Independent Films, Dies at 57 .
- ^ Bingham Ray, 1954--2012
- ↑ Indie Vet Bingham Ray Passes Away
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ray, Bingham |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American filmmaker and co-founder of the October Films distributor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 1, 1954 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City , New York , United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 23, 2012 |
| Place of death | Park City , Utah , United States |