Mark Finch
Mark Finch (21 October 1961[1] – 14 January 1995[2]) was an English promoter of LGBT cinema. Having founded and expanded several international film festivals he created the first LGBT film market for distributors, sales agents, and independent film producers.
Early life
Born in Manchester[1] in 1961 Finch never identified with the city, having moved to Cambridge with his mother and siblings after the divorce of his parents. For the rest of his life he was afflicted with severe bouts of depression and it was in his attempts to escape from these that he developed a passionate interest in film and, to a lesser extent, comics. In 1975 he began to publish a photocopied film fanzine entitled Worlds, which also included reviews of comics and science fiction. The magazine was not the success that he hoped and by 1976, after five issues, he owed £80 to the printer: a substantial sum at the time to a 15-year-old schoolboy. He had already attempted suicide once by paracetamol overdose and although he considered another attempt in the face of such debt, he was cheered by a friend's gift of the requisite sum.
Even with income from a part-time job at the Arts Picture House in Cambridge, Finch realised that he could not afford to publish magazines so he joined CAPA, a recently formed amateur press association, which soon merged with the larger BAPA. With typical panache Finch introduced himself to his fellow apans with a zine entitled There are fairies at the bottom of my garden. He later published a single issue of a magazine entitled Equality addressing gender issues in popular culture.
In 1981, Finch left Cambridge to attend the
Character
Throughout his life Mark Finch was boyishly charming and often masked his private depression with public bonhomie. His gently camp affectation would occasionally dissolve into tantrum socially but such outbursts were not part of his professional life, which was characterised by lively industry, incisive wit and a passionate affability. He delighted in wordplay and inventive imagery; he never stopped writing absurd narratives, and sharp observations of his surroundings. Such commentaries were sent to friends in small packages with brief covering notes or topped and tailed with the greetings and codas of more formal letters. Soon after his birthday each year after his first arrival in London he would often create an inventive calendar collage for the coming year. Similar publications became commercial products in the mid-1990s but Finch's creations were obviously amateur and intensely personal. They were photocopied, spiral-bound and mailed to friends as pre-Christmas gifts.
Film festivals
In 1984,
Finch brought his mainstream festival skills to bear upon niche festivals. He arranged pre-festival press conferences and successfully exhorted mainstream media sources to take the events seriously. He also understood what journalists needed and was happy to provide insightful, witty comments for publication.
Working extensively with LGBT filmmakers and distributors worldwide, Finch was particularly drawn to
Recognising the difficulties in bringing LGBT films to market, Finch worked to develop the first market for distributors, sales agents, and independent LBGT film producers — however those plans were disrupted by his death. The growth of the festival under his leadership demanded an organizational step change but this increased expenses out of proportion with revenue: the festival and Frameline were soon in financial difficulties. Tess Martin was brought in as executive director in October 1994 and promptly reduced the payroll and the size of the forthcoming festival.[4] Finch had found the financial strictures in the face of continuing growth both frustrating and depressing. This external confirmation of his concerns exacerbated his mood.
Legacy
Finch was coming to the end of a course of the antidepressant drug
Although the loss of his unstinting support of new work was a huge blow to many LGBT filmmakers, the festivals and the market that he developed have provided an enduring structure for the promotion of such films. His body of writing continues to be cited widely and he appeared as an actor in two films: Gregg Araki's gay road romance The Living End (1992) and (posthumously) in Todd Verow's dramatization of the controversial Dennis Cooper novel Frisk (1995).[1]
Selected works
- Mark Finch, 'Sex and Address in Dynasty', Screen 27(6) (Glasgow: 1986), 24-43 (Reprinted in Fabio Cleto (ed.), Camp (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1999) ISBN 0-472-09722-9)
- Mark Finch and Richard Kwietniowski, 'Melodrama and Maurice: Homo is Where the Heart is', Screen, 29(3) (Glasgow, 1988)
- Mark Finch, 'George Kuchar: Half the Story' in Martha Gever, Pratibha Parmar, and John Greyson (eds.), Queer looks : perspectives on lesbian and gay film and video (New York: Routledge, 1993)
- Mark Finch, 'Gays and Lesbians in Cinema.' in Gary Crowdus (ed.), Cineaste's Political Companion To American Film (Chicago: Lake View, 1994).
References
- ^ IMDb
- ISBN 9781137584380.
- ^ David Benedict, 'London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival Has Fake Cary, Thai Boxer', Bloomberg.com (29 March 2005). Retrieved 25 January 2006.
- ^ 'History of Frameline', Frameline (2000) Archived 2007-01-05 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 January 2006.
- ^ Edward Guthmann, 'Lethal Beauty', San Francisco Chronicle, 30 October 2005.
- 'Mark Finch', GLBTG.com (Chicago:GLBTG, 2002). Retrieved 25 January 2006.
- Sandra Brennan, 'Mark Finch', Allmovie. Retrieved 25 January 2006.
- Dave Ford, 'Screen queens and dyke dramas', San Francisco Chronicle, 15 October 2004.
- Jenni Olson, 'Power Over Life and Death', San Francisco Chronicle, 14 January 2005. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
External links
- Mark Finch Memorial (Video Montage) directed by Jenni Olson and Lara Mac (1995).
- Mark Finch Memorial (Photo Montage) directed by Tom Di Maria (1995).
- Mark Finch Memorial Facebook page.
- Remembering Mark Finch, 25 years later Bay Area Reporter remembrance by Jenni Olson (2020).
- Remembering Mark Finch & Mark's Top 10 Films List Framelineblog (2020).
- Vintage film reviews by Mark Finch Diabolique Magazine (2018).