At first, I was shocked by the news thatParticipant Mediawasdying.
Such an appealing company.
The producer of intelligent films likeSpotlightandGreen Book, with a distinctly progressive message.
Open Road Films
How could this be?
Then it finally hit me.
The purpose-film niche was swamped.
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But, cinematically speaking, it was a much different world in 2004.
The top movie that year wasShrek 2not much message there.
Culturally, the big story was a religious film,The Passion of the Christ.
That hasnt happened since.
Most of the years popcorn picturesThe Notebook,Kill Bill: Vol.
2,Ladder 49,Cheaper by the Dozen,Raywere looking more for ticket sales than social change.
Somewhat incredibly, Disney and Pixar were suspected back then of mildly subversive conservative messaging inThe Incredibles.
Best Picture winner at theOscarsthat year wasThe Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
Against that backdrop, the Participant experiment seemed daring, but not foolhardy.
Idea movies like that were easy to write about, and festivals loved them.
More, the folks at Participant were always fun to know.
Everyones in on the game.
Gone are the days when show-business eccentricities likeBirdmanorThe Artistor a frolic likeChicagocould take the big prize.
Indeed, evenBarbiehad a socio-political ax to grind.
The film Academy requires it from contenders, either in content or hiring practices.
So the business got on board with Participant.
And suddenly Participant, no longer special, is gone.
