Mixed Reviews for Academy Rules Change : Movies: The new bicoastal committee for documentaries will incorporate a ‘different mind-set and a broader consensus in taste.’ Some are still dissatisfied.

“I guess they have to be applauded because the old system was obscene.” That reaction from Tom Bernard of Sony Classics was typical of the mixed reaction this week to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revisions of its documentary rules.

As with most academy decisions, the industry sentiment was that the changes were a long time coming and may not solve what some consider some essential problems. “But it’s a step in the right direction,” said Dawn Hudson, executive director of the Independent Features Project West. “It looks like the academy has taken the complaints to heart and is trying to improve the process.”

The academy’s move was partially in response to this year’s controversy over the documentary “Hoop Dreams,” admits Bruce Davis, the organization’s executive director.

One of the most highly praised movies of the year, “Hoop Dreams” was not among this year’s nominees. “I’d say ‘Hoop Dreams’ was just the straw that broke the camel’s back after years of problems,” said Liz Manne, marketing head of Fine Line films, which released the documentary.

Beginning this year, the selection committee will be divided between Los Angeles and New York. That will alleviate the strain of one committee having to sift through 65 entries as they did this year, Davis said. “We’re using members from New York who are eager to serve to get down to a much more manageable viewing load.”

The bicoastal solution is characterized by Mel Stuart, president of the International Documentary Association, as “very clever. By splitting the voting, they’re also incorporating a different mind-set and a broader consensus in taste.”

In addition, all committee members will have to view the documentaries all the way through. This is in response to complaints that submissions were only being partially screened. “I heard they turned my film off after only 15 or 20 minutes,” complains Terry Zwigoff, director of “Crumb,” another highly praised documentary that didn’t make this year’s final cut.

Also, and perhaps more significantly, starting next year documentaries will have to be theatrically released for a week during a calendar year (in either New York or Los Angeles) in order to be considered for the award. In the past, films only had to be unspooled at film festivals in order to be considered.

The changes did not sit well with everyone. “The essential question is still who sits on those committees,” Zwigoff said. “If the average age is 75, they come with certain prejudices. Also, I’ve found that they select films according to the importance of the subject matter, rather than quality. They’ve never voted for a film I like.”

But Stuart argues that by lightening the viewing load more active filmmakers, “including myself,” will be inclined to join the committee, which could alter the demographic and taste level of the members.

More troubling to some, however, is the requirement that films have a theatrical release. Davis said it “clears out a lot of films that were made for TV but which qualify because of the festival loophole.” Such films often qualify for both Emmys and Oscars--which the academy avoids in feature film selections.

“The academy honors theatrical presentations,” Stuart argues. “So that’s the way it should be. They have a right to their qualifications.”

This may work for films that already have distribution, said Manne, but it places an undue burden on documentarians who barely have the resources to complete their film and must now incur the burden of buying theatrical time in order to qualify. “This cuts people out economically and that’s a sad thing.”

Exhibitor Bob Laemmle, whose theaters often are rented to films so they may qualify, agrees that the rule change hurts those who are most financially vulnerable. And it doesn’t close the TV loophole either, he said, since documentaries financed by an HBO or PBS can afford to buy time in his houses in advance of being shown on television.

“Documentaries with the biggest budgets are the ones financed by TV. The guy who makes a film out of the conviction of his own heart doesn’t have that backing,” Laemmle said.

Another practical stumbling block is finding theater space in New York and Los Angeles for a week’s run, which is complicated by the increasing glut of film product from all sources.

“All art films are being squeezed even in the Laemmle houses and the Film Forum, which play these films,” Bernard said. “I think they’re going to have to revisit that rule.”