Indies Under Fire: The Battle for the American Bookstore

According to Jacob Bricca's documentary Indies Under Fire, over half of the 5,200 independent bookstores that were open in 1992 had closed their doors by 2006, thanks to the commercial pressures from Barnes & Noble, Borders, and online mega-retailers such as Amazon.com. This hour-shy profile focuses on three California bookstores: the shuttering of Palo Alto's Printers Inc. (one customer says, “a little familiar corner of your heart is being torn out”); the fight in Capitola to keep a proposed Borders store from being built; and the effects of a new Borders in Santa Cruz opening up blocks away from the town's oldest bookstore. Ironically, as the film points out, Tom and Louis Borders' initial bookstore (opened in 1971) became one of the nation's premier independent booksellers before being acquired by Kmart in 1992. Indies Under Fire interweaves archival footage and stills with talking-head interviews from both sides of the issue (indie bookseller-owners and Borders managers, as well as a rather insensitive developer named Doug Ley, who loses the bid to build in Capitola but then turns his attention to Santa Cruz). Although somewhat rambling, the film does make some interesting points, especially regarding the disturbing relationship between publishers and big box retailers (some of the former send manuscripts to Borders to vet for commercial viability before making publishing decisions), and the perceived loss of the independent spirit (indie word-of-mouth turned Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain into a bestseller, not the chains). Sure to appeal to both readers and those interested in the balance between commercial and community interests, this is recommended. [Note: this title is also available w/PPR from Filmakers Library (www.filmakerslibrary.com), for $295.] Aud: P. (R. Pitman)