Today's Column: behind the scenes of arthouse programming

Wrote another column for MovieScene:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/154147/column_-_hoe_programmeer_ik_een_filmhuis

Inspiration was tough this time because I was quite busy with both my regular job and my new hobby supporting the programming department of the new Filmhuis Alkmaar arthouse theater. I eventually decided to just write a piece about that, as it seemed appropriate to do this follow-up to my emotionally charged column about Provadja's demise a few months back. Nevertheless, because of my lack of available time I consider this latest column to be a bit on the superficial side, even though I daresay you get the gist of it. So far it's fun work, though because of the poor quality of internal communications between the various departments that comprise the staff (voluntary that is) of the theater it can at times prove stressful. Also something to take into account, and not mentioned here, is the fact distributors love to mess around with their movies' release dates, making a keen eye for spotting such moves and accordingly flexible programming to accomodate these happenstances rather imperative. The most striking example was the German film Das Wochenende, which was originally slated for release in January, then moved to March and is now currently expected to hit theaters in October... Am I glad we didn't plan that one for our opening weekend, that would have been awkward to say the least! As for Wes Anderson not being popular in Alkmaar, as far as I'm concerned we'll make him popular. The decision to order his upcoming magnum opus The Grand Budapest Hotel for only a single week has seemingly been reversed in favour of a two week appearance, something I opted for from the beginning. There weren't that many other attendance magnets available, so Anderson got out on top. Suits me fine.

Here's to a bright future for Filmhuis Alkmaar!