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BALCONY BOOKING AND RELEASING
CONNIE WHITE began her independent film career as manager of the prestigious Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, eventually co-owning and programming it from 1987 to 2001. In 1996, she became film booker/programmer for the Boston-area's beloved Coolidge Corner Theatre, now one of the top-grossing independent art cinemas in the country.
Twelve years ago, White co-founded The Boston International Festival of Women's Cinema, which became a model for progressive women's film festivals nationwide. She has also been Artistic Director for the vibrant Provincetown International Film Festival since its inception in 1999. Among the filmmakers to be honored and recognized at this flourishing annual event are John Waters, Todd Haynes, Christine Vachon, Jim Jarmusch, Ted Hope, James Schamus, and Gus Van Sant.
As film buyer for a number of quality movie theaters nationwide, Connie, under the banner of BALCONY BOOKING, works closely with her clients to develop programming tailored to serve that particular theater's audience, and its community at large.
BALCONY RELEASING, which designs and implements theatrical distribution strategies for independently produced documentary features. is a natural progression for Ms. White. She recognized, particularly through her work programming film festivals, that many worthy films don't find their way to movie theaters -- due largely to the labyrinthine and sometimes incomprehensible ways of the distribution and exhibition world. She enlisted husband Greg Kendall to work with her in developing this niche film distribution service.
GREG KENDALL spent many years in the music business as nightclub booker, concert promoter, songwriter, and touring performer. In 1995, Kendall was engaged to compose songs and score for the indie film Bandwagon, which was sold and released after a successful screening at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, garnering many fine reviews that singled out Kendall's evocative and catchy music. Catching the film bug after attending Sundance that year and signing with Universal Music Publishing, Greg went on to score the popular teen comedy Drive Me Crazy (Fox, 1999) and has contributed two songs to the upcoming feature When Zachary Beaver Came To Town (Echo Bridge, 2005). He also contributed two songs to Hal Hartley's first feature The Unbelievable Truth (Miramax, 1988)
Greg quickly learned the ropes of independent film distribution on Balcony's first release, the Academy Award nominated Daughter From Danang, utilizing many of the skills he'd honed in the music business. Now, having worked on the day-to-day distribution of a number of films since, including the acclaimed documentary The Same River Twice (2003), Greg is committed to the continued development of Balcony Releasing.
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