Unseen by American eyes

It was, in all likelihood, one of the most depressing panel discussions to be held at this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival -- or any film festival, for that matter.

The seven-member panel had come to the Hammer Museum in Westwood Sunday to discuss “Unshown Cinema: Inside the World of ‘The Films That Got Away,’ ” but it was clear from the outset that what really distressed many of the panelists is the ever-shrinking audience for independent movies, specifically foreign films screening in America.

“I don’t think that there are a lot of good films that ‘get away,’ ” said Paul Federbush, senior vice president of production and acquisition at Warner Independent Pictures. “Foreign language films just don’t do a lot of business in this country.... If foreign language films made more money we would buy them.”

That brought this response from Marie-Therese Guirgis, a veteran distributor who has attended many film festivals over the years: “L.A. is particularly a tough market for foreign films.... Even in New York, the decline has been visible.”

She added that with the exception of Steven Spielberg in America and perhaps Pedro Almodovar overseas, Americans hardly follow filmmakers anymore: “I think people don’t care about directors anymore. I think the culture is changing.”

Exhibitor Greg Laemmle, who runs the oldest family-operated art house theater chain in L.A., noted that “Duck Season” was one of the best foreign films he has seen in recent years, but audiences simply didn’t go for it.

Another great foreign film that L.A. audiences shunned, panelists noted, is “The Death of Mister Lazarescu” by Romanian writer and director Cristi Puiu. It’s about the last two hours in a man’s life as he is shuttled between Bucharest hospitals.

“You couldn’t pay to have better press than that movie had,” said Scott Foundas, film editor and chief film critic of L.A. Weekly. Yet, “it made something like $2,300 its first weekend over at the Music Hall in Beverly Hills.” After hearing this, director and panelist Monte Hellman (“Two-Lane Blacktop”) deadpanned: “I’m really sorry I came today. I’m very depressed.”

The tone wasn’t much cheerier at another “coffee talk” across Westwood at the Geffen Playhouse. Director Terry Zwigoff and others were griping about the difficulty they have faced getting their artistic vision translated to the big screen.

Zwigoff (“Bad Santa,” “Ghost World”) said he had recently walked away from a film because the unnamed studio was demanding that he cast actors it thinks are more commercial. “They sent me a list of 10 actors -- and it’s the same 10 actors, you know: Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Brad Pitt. .... If those guys aren’t ‘appropriate’ for it, you’re going to have a hard time to get the funding. It’s very frustrating.” Zwigoff also lamented test screenings are a “horrible, horrible experience.”

“Personally, I want to please myself first,” he said. “In a couple films like ‘Bad Santa,’ people at test screenings said, ‘Ah, I don’t like the ending,’ and you sit there listening to people arguing about what they think the ending should be. I say, ‘You know what? Make your own ... movie.’ ”

Standing on a Westwood sidewalk, actor Sajen Corona was handing out fliers for his new movie, “Gettin’ It,” which is written and directed by Nick Gaitatjis.

“It’s about a young kid who’s trying to lose his virginity,” said Corona, who plays a cook who offers guidance to the young man.

Corona is hoping filmmakers or other Hollywood movers and shakers will notice him at the festival and hire him. “I’ve been doing this 4 1/2 years. As an actor, you have to get in front of as many producers and directors as possible.... Being Latino, it’s so hard to get work in this town.”