Anthony P. Montesano, R.I.P

Last Christmas, I made a very simple short film called John vs Laura, a kind of seasonal greeting card, and I set about trying to publicise it's online home. I sent about two dozen e-mails and posted the url on ten or fifteen messageboards, and thankfully, people seemed to like it and apparently wanted to pass the link along. In the week directly before Christmas the film was seen by a few thousand. Christmas cheer was hopefully had by all.

One of those thousands was Anthony P. Montesano, and he dropped me a line to let me know that he was going to review the film. I'd never heard of him before, but I was pleased he was going to honour my film in this way. It was a positive review, which I liked, of course - but more importantly, it was a very thoughtful review.

Anthony and I exchanged a handful of e-mails after that, and he requested copies of more of my films on DVD. I mailed them off to him, and a while later, found out he'd received them when he e-mailed back and asked to interview me. The interview never took place, and now, sadly, I'll never find out what it was he would have asked me.

I was a keen and regular reader of Anthony's blog, Movies on My Mind, ever since last Christmas, up until his final post came on October 21st. There had been a few unexplained breaks before, and as I've gone on sudden hiatus myself a number of times, I thought nothing of any disruptions in the typically daily service.

Just now, though, Anthony's obituary has appeared on Variety's website, suddenly and unexpectedly.

I hardly knew Anthony in any personal way, but I knew what he thought about film. I knew he thought it was powerful, and important, and that films and movies of all shapes, sizes, colours and flavours were to be taken seriously. That's a creed I will fight for.

From his e-mails, I knew Anthony was launching a new print magazine, but I don't know what it would be called, or if any issues made it out and onto newstands. If anybody knows, please do tell me. Variety listed his publications as Visions, Sony Network, Sony Soundbyte, CineGear Expo News, and The Park City, The Tribeca Festival and Telluride Festival Digital Reports.

I hope Anthony's blog remains online. There's a lot of good reading to be had, and Google could still be bringing people over there for years to come. I recommend you get in there and have a good rummage around.