On April 10, 2012, two years ago, Mark Rappaport called Ray Carney, tenured professor of Boston University, to ask in person what he’d requested earlier: that the materials he’d left in the US on moving to Paris, and which Carney had said he’d hold for him, be returned. Carney didn’t answer the phone. Not then, not later after repeated calls to various numbers over the next month. In effect – while later giving many stories regarding his sudden inaccessibility – Professor Carney went into hiding. Curiously it is the same time he ceased communicating with me, not long after I’d done him the favor of posting a long long “letter” regarding BU he’d asked me to print on one of my blogs. For the full story see this, the first of a series of 10 blog posts covering this whole matter in detail, which I began after Mark had sent out an internet letter in August 2012 explaining his situation.
Professor Raymond Carney, tenured at Boston University
Now, following all this, following a petition signed by some 1200 people, including some significant “names” in the film biz, I sadly have to report that Professor Carney still stays in effectual hiding, says nothing, and retains Mark’s materials. What use this has for him is difficult to fathom, though his use of the term “gifted,” which has a specific legal meaning, both in this instance and in the instance of his travails with Gena Rowlands regarding John Cassavetes’ Shadows, suggests something. Here is what Professor Carney is holding:
The content is 16mm prints of 8 of Mark’s 9 features, one-inch tapes of 5 of the films, the only copies of Mark’s short films, including the original of one of them, the HD master of Exterior Night, the only existing copies in the world from produced as well as many unproduced scripts, and much other paperwork, including reviews and newspaper clippings. For Professor Carney’s twists and turns regarding all this, see the blog posts.
In light of Carney’s behavior, I will, with some help, organize an attempt to raise funding so that Mark’s films can be transferred to 2K digital files. The material Carney holds, which includes things which would be very useful for Mark, does not however, include the original negatives. In some cases new archival prints have been made by George Eastman House. The Cinematheque Francaise, which is planning a full retrospective of Mark’s work, has had all the original negatives and sound materials sent to Paris, and can provide Mark with the discount they receive for lab work for transfers to 2K if funding can be raised for this.
The cost of making the transfers is estimated to be from $20,000 to $25,000. Which fund-raising system will be used is as yet undecided, but I am leaning towards Hatchfund, which is a non-profit, and confined to artists and thus more restricted in those it appeals to. I hope to initiate fund-raising this summer, or perhaps early in the autumn. We ask that once it is up that you contribute. I’ll be posting here, on FaceBook and other social media systems when the time comes.
cinemaelectronica 