Another Kenyon Connection: the Acquisition

From the moment the president of IFC Films heard that the new Radnor movie premiering at Sundance was filmed at Kenyon, he could hardly wait to see it. Jonathan Sehring views countless films each year as part of his job, but it's not every day that he gets to see one starring the campus of his own alma mater.

“I was dying to see the film,” said Sehring '78. “For a Kenyon alum, it's almost like watching a home movie. It brought back all the best memories of Kenyon for me, from the professors to the feeling on the campus. I fell in love with the movie.”

Everyone on his staff loved it, too, “and everyone who's seen it since,” allaying the questions he entertained about whether Kenyon-purple goggles of alumni affection had colored his judgment. Based on screenings IFC has done, he expects the film to have broad mainstream appeal. College audiences, of course, are a natural.

Sehring, fifty-six, is the president of Sundance Selects as well as IFC Films, the umbrella for a variety of production and distribution companies devoted to bringing high-quality specialty film to the largest possible audience. As producer or distributor he has been associated with such hits as Boys Don't Cry, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Transamerica, and Fahrenheit 9/11.

The former English major has become a shaping force in the field. In 2006 Sehring developed an innovative distribution model combining theatrical release with video-on-demand. Its success has exponentially expanded the audience for independent films, earning him a reputation as a maverick among his peers. He is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a recipient of the Chevalier of Arts and Letters awarded by the French government, among other industry honors.

IFC will use this distribution strategy for Liberal Arts, in addition to alumni screenings in select cities and a screening on campus. Speaking as an independent professional, Sehring foresees a great future for Radnor as a writer-director. That the two share a Kenyon connection—well, that's just the icing on a sweet cake.

—Amy Blumenthal