Ray Price, a respected producer of indie filmmaking, died July 16 from heart failure after a long battle with cancer. The news was confirmed by his long-term partner Meg Madison. He was 75 years old.
Price launched his film career in 1972, managing the Berkeley storefront theater the Rialto, and went on to build with Allen Michaan Renaissance Theaters, an independent art film chain that became one of the largest (33 at its peak) in the Bay Area and was later sold to the Landmark Theatre circuit.
A tough negotiator and exacting exhibitor, under Price’s stewardship, Renaissance Theaters were renowned for redesigning marketing materials, from posters to press books — designs that fledgling distributors often adopted when the films hadn’t found success in other markets.
At a time when most top arthouse distributors focused on established auteurs from Europe and Asia, Renaissance Theaters exploded those norms by programming new American directors like Martin Scorsese and John Cassavetes. The company also took films out of studio vaults and relaunched them, including Ridley Scott’s “The Duelist,” Jonathan Demme’s “Melvin and Howard,” Brian de Palma’s “Blowout,” Lewis John Carlino’s “The Great Santini” and Christopher Guest’s “The Big Picture.”
“Ray, while being a defiantly singular individual, was also emblematic of a bygone age of independent film,” Magnolia Pictures co-CEO Eamonn Bowles said in a statement. “From theater chain owner to distributor, exquisite marketer, and production exec, he always sought out novel ways of approaching things. He truly was a rebel, and my heart goes out to his family.”
In 1988, Price relocated to Los Angeles, where he helped start several distribution companies including IRS Pictures and First Look Pictures and built the theatrical arm for the home video company TriMark Entertainment.
During this period, he handled distribution and marketing for a slew of independent films, including “Gas Food Lodging,” “One False Move,” “The Secret of Roan Inish” and “The Scent of Green Papaya” — plus Mira Nair’s “Kama Sutra,” Kasi Lemmon’s “Eve’s Bayou,” Stacy Cochran’s “My New Gun,” Wayne Wang’s “Chinese Box,” Bobcat Goldthwait’s “Shakes the Clown,” Mary Harron’s “I Shot Andy Warhol” and Vincenzo Natal’s “Cube.”
“He had a deep knowledge and love of movies and was the source of great lore about the theatrical distribution business,” Roadside Attractions co-president Howard Cohen said. “He was part of what I might call a vanishing breed of indie film executive, along with the late Bingham Ray, who came at the business from a unique combination of cineaste love and down-to-earth, on the ground movie theater perspective, often starting out managing local theaters.”
Price was the first producer to stream a new feature film online. After First Look Pictures acquired Daisy von Scherler’s Mayer’s cult hit “Party Girl,” starring Sundance “it” girl Parker Posey, Price arranged to stream it on the internet in black-and-white at 14 fps via a T1 cable on June 3, 1995.
In 1999, Price joined American Zoetrope, Francis Ford Coppola’s indie film production company, where he supervised the worldwide sales and marketing of films such as Sofia Coppola’s “The Virgin Suicides,” which debuted at Cannes, and the former Coppola’s productions of the first “Jeepers Creepers” entries.
In 2001, Price joined his ManRay Booking partner Bert Manzari in helping to rebuild the struggling Landmark Theatres, and he published Landmark’s free FLM indie film magazine, featuring first-person articles by film directors, in order to create awareness for films on the Landmark schedule.
“Ray was the best tactician I’ve ever known,” Manzari said. “Ray not only taught me about tactics, he also introduced me to Cognac, Armagnac and other delightfully decadent pursuits. We had a hell of a good time. Ray had the best film sense and his persuasive powers were unmatched.”
In 2007, Price returned to the internet with a pair of Wayne Wang films that the director wanted to distribute theatrically, in tandem. Price felt that the first, “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers,” qualified as arthouse fare, but that the companion piece, “The Princess of Nebraska,” wouldn’t work as a theatrical release. Thus Price convinced Wang to give “Princess” away for free.
He also took on the role of senior VP of marketing and distribution at 2929 Entertainment, boosting the fortunes of such films as “Turistas.”
Price championed a slew of talented filmmakers at a pivotal point in their careers, including Tran Anh Hung (“The Scent of Green Papaya”), Gurinder Chadha (“Bhaji on The Beach”), Carl Franklin (“One False Move”), Allison Anders (“Gas Food Lodging”) and John Sayles (“The Secret of Roan Inish”). The majority of the films Price distributed were from women and people of color.
At the time of his death, Price was promoting Rodrigo Reyes’ documentary “Sansón and Me,” about a 19-year-old illegal immigrant who is sentenced to death without parole. The Ford Foundation has given a grant to fund a simulcast in prisons that are open to public discussions. There are also plans for a theatrical release and PBS is scheduled to air the film this fall.
Price is survived by Madison; her two sisters Liz and Sean Madison; his children Antigone Dempsey, Dierdre Price and Asher Price; and his brother Brian Price. In lieu of flowers, the Price family requests donations be made to give.translifeline.org.
