Dear editor:
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New Yorker Films is charged with renting only 16-millimeter and 35-millimeter prints of [Ousmane] Sembene’s work and no video. He’s right, and this is a pity. I have been after Semebene for years to put his works out on video. He refuses to cooperate–and I cannot do it without his cooperation, let alone his approval–because he simply loathes video and does not want to see his films in the marketplace in video. If Jonathan had taken the trouble, as any competent journalist would have done, he would’ve gotten the straight dope. Instead, he chose to bum rap me, as if his role as a critic gives him special entitlement.
As to the works of Jean-Marie Straub and Daniele Huillet, he’s got to be kidding. Would Jonathan like to be my partner in this venture? The fact that I still keep the Straub films in service should be sufficient guarantee that someday I will have a place in show business heaven. Does Jonathan think that I run a nonprofit operation? Does he know how much red ink all the Straub films are swimming in? Is he living in the same country as I am? Or is he confusing the U.S. with Bulgaria?
Jonathan Rosenbaum replies:
