Professor Ira Deutchman’s 'Searching for Mr. Rugoff' Showed At Galway Film Fleadh 2020

Searching for Mr. Rugoff, a documentary directed and produced by Professor Ira Deutchman, showed at the Galway Film Fleadh 2020 as part of the documentary section. The festival took place entirely online from July 7 to July 12 with Deutchman appearing in a Q&A about his film after it was presented on Saturday, July 11. 

The feature documentary Searching for Mr. Rugoff is the story of Donald Rugoff, who was the crazy genius behind Cinema 5, the mid-century theater chain and film distribution company. Rugoff was a difficult (some would say impossible) person but was also the man who kicked art films into the mainstream with outrageous marketing schemes and pure bluster. Yet, mysteriously, Rugoff has become a virtually forgotten figure. The story is told through the eyes of former employee Ira Deutchman, who sets out to find the truth about the man who had such a major impact on his life, and to understand how such an important figure could have disappeared so completely.

Ira Deutchman has been making, marketing and distributing films since 1975, having worked on over 150 films including some of the most successful independent films of all time. He was one of the founders of Cinecom and later created Fine Line Features—two companies that were created from scratch and, in their respective times, helped define the independent film business. 

Currently Deutchman is an independent producer, and a consultant in marketing and distribution of independent films. In 2017, Deutchman was awarded the Spotlight Lifetime Achievement Award by the Sundance Art House Convergence. His current projects include serving as producer of Nickel & Dimed, based on the book by Barbara Ehrenreich and directed by Debra Granik (in pre-production), director/producer of the feature documentary Searching for Mr. Rugoff and producer of the stage adaptation of Joan Micklin Silver’s Hester Street (in development). 

Deutchman’s screen credits include Associate Producer of John Sayles’ Matewan and Honeydripper; Executive Producer of Jonathan Demme’s Swimming to Cambodia, Gary Sinise’s Miles From Home, Paul Bartel’s Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills, Matty Rich’s Straight Out of Brooklyn, Stephen Gyllenhaal’s Waterland, Maggie Greenwald’s The Ballad of Little Jo, Alan Rudolph’s Mrs. Parker & the Vicious Circle, Paul Auster’s Lulu On the Bridge, Wayne Wang’s Center of the World, Daniel Noah’s Twelve, Anthony Jaswinski’s Killing Time, Loren-Paul Caplin’s The Lucky Ones, Amy Wadell’s Brothel and Georgia Lee’s Red Doors; and Co-Producer of David Anspaugh’s The Game of Their Lives. Deutchman was the Producer of Tony Vitale’s Kiss Me, Guido, Sarah Kernochan’s All I Wanna Do, Mark Christopher’s 54, Adam Davidson’s Way Past Cool, Bob Gale’s Interstate 60, Tanya Wexler’s Relative Evil, Ann Hu’s Beauty Remains and Ed Radtke’s Speed of Life. 

The Galway Film Fleadh is a weeklong international film festival held each July in Galway, Ireland. Now in its 32nd year, the central goal of the Galway Film Fleadh remains unchanged: to be a platform for the boldest new films and to bring audiences and filmmakers from around the world together to share in the wonder of cinema.