Authors — Sarah Salovaara
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IFP Announces Theatrical First Runs and Narrative Lab Fellows
In addition to the ten projects and filmmakers named 2014 Narrative Lab Fellows this morning, IFP, the parent organization of Filmmaker, also announced that they will offer one-week, theatrical first runs for IFP alumni, members and others at the Made in NY Media Center by IFP. Since the popularization of self-distribution, many filmmakers have squandered good resources on four-walling for the sake of that New York Times review. IFP’s decision to open up their screening room for submissions (come July) offers filmmakers a built-in curatorial buzz. As noted in the release, IFP will begin the initiative in the fall with the theatrical runs of […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jun 9, 2014 -
Watch: Leos Carax Brings Rodin’s “The Thinker” to Life in Gradiva
Galerie Gradiva, a swanky, new Parisian gallery, hired Leos Carax to fashion a promotional riff on Boy Meets Girl ahead of its opening on May 28th. Shooting within the newly furbished space, Carax crafts a cutely subversive portrait of man and woman as nude model (NSFW?) and legendary sculpture. Fed up with his status as gallery poster boy, Rodin’s “The Thinker” airs his grievances to his partner, as Carax animates the bronze with both dialogue and camera movement. The miniature of Rodin’s masterwork is just one of many notable pieces in the gallery that features Dali, Picasso, Kandinsky, Matisse and so forth. Watch it […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jun 6, 2014 -
Make it More than a Movie: Incentivizing Audiences to Watch Independent Film
Earlier today, No Film School ran a transparency-friendly guest post by VHX about the bonus features included on the film Stripped. The filmmakers offer six distinct packages for purchase through the platform, each of which includes varying degrees of bonus content. The most expensive option at $49.99 — with 16 hours of additional content — accounted for 23% of their film sales and 48% of revenue. VHX determined that majority of these purchases came from pre-existing Kickstarter fans but also genuinely curious consumers who watched the doc on iTunes, etc., and liked it enough to head to their site for more. Since VHX compiled the above data, the […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jun 4, 2014 -
Watch: Maurice Pialat’s Debut Isabelle Aux Dombes
Who would have guessed that Gore Verbinski was such a big Pialat fan? The good folks at The Seventh Art dug up Maurice Pialat’s first film from 1952, entitled Isabelle Aux Dombes. With its disjointed imagery — carcases, body parts, flea-covered horses — this silent short calls to mind the brooding sequences of The Ring, except that it’s, you know, better. The experimental horror show is rather far removed from Pialat’s feature work, which tends to derive terror from the household setting. Nevertheless, I’d be curious to hear it with a musical accompaniment.
by Sarah Salovaara on Jun 3, 2014 -
Extrapolation over Return to Form: We Are The Best! and Show Me Love
We Are The Best! may not be one of the “best” films in recent memory, but it is one of my favorites. I’ve spent the last week reading innumerable reviews that deem Moodysson’s latest a “return to form,” harkening back to the heyday of his debut Show Me Love. The majority of the critics in question are less concerned with elaborating on this “return” than diving into We Are The Best!, so I’m left to assume its of the narrative variety. Yes, both films concern teenaged girls on the fringes, drawn against societal norms as well as their own families, but I like to consider We Are […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jun 2, 2014 -
VHX Launches Transparency Aggregate “Stats”
Last year, John Sloss volunteered the closely guarded VOD and digital returns on Escape From Tomorrow, daring his competitors to do the same for their release catalogues. Unfortunately, not much came of this Multi-Screen Gross transparency crusade, but VHX, the digital distribution platform, has now launched “Stats,” a regularly updated infographic that details revenues and transactions. “We’re big believers in transparency and knowledge-sharing,” reads the announcement, “and it’s time to put our money revenue stats where our mouth is.” An aggregate in the truest sense as it provides no insight into individual titles, “Stats” nonetheless offers an idea of how to best reach your audience. The page breaks […]
by Sarah Salovaara on May 30, 2014 -
Vimeo Launches Original Programming with High Maintenance Web Series
Following in the footsteps of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon et al., Vimeo has boarded the original programming train with its acquisition of 25 New Faces’ Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld’s wonderful web series High Maintenance. Sinclair and Blichfeld began posting episodes of the serial, which stars Sinclair as a pot dealer who services a rotating ensemble, on Vimeo last year. In an email, Blichfeld said the following of their decision to join forces with Vimeo, “We have full creative control (writing, casting, etc.) of our work, which is unique. The episodes can vary in length as well. Basically we get to do High Maintenance […]
by Sarah Salovaara on May 29, 2014 -
“Good Movies Don’t Get Seen:” Ted Hope at EbertFest
“I don’t actually think it’s worth my time to make movies right now,” said producer and Fandor CEO Ted Hope at an EbertFest panel last month. “If I really want to see a vibrant, ambitious film culture,” he continued, “I can help a lot more by trying to build a better infrastructure.” Keyframe Daily, the blog imprint of Fandor, is running a four part series from this conversation, the first of which was posted yesterday. In this excerpt, Hope puts forth six key issues which he hopes to address for the betterment of the independent film industry: 1. Independent film needs […]
by Sarah Salovaara on May 29, 2014 -
Case Studies and How Tos: Selling Your Film Abroad
In navigating the distribution market, many independent filmmakers channel their efforts toward domestic deals. While it is an understandable preoccupation, a new collection from The Film Collaborative entitled Selling Your Film Outside the U.S. offers some substantial insights on how to position your film in the lucrative territory of overseas VOD. In her section Carpe Diem for Indie Filmmakers in the Digital/VOD Sector, Wendy Bernfeld breaks down the differences in transactional vs. subscription vs. ad-supported VOD deals, and determines varying revenue shares for each. She looks at what does well with audiences and ventures how to connect your film to a platform […]
by Sarah Salovaara on May 28, 2014 -
Trailer Watch: Ari Folman’s The Congress
At turns mesmerizing and confounding, Ari Folman’s The Congress was one of the more talked about titles of any Cannes sidebar last year. Though Drafthouse Films scooped up the rights less than a month after its Director’s Fortnight premiere, it’s only just now making it’s way toward theaters, with an official release set for August 29. A loose adaptation of Stanislaw Lem’s The Futurological Congress, Folman’s followup to the Oscar nominated Waltz with Bashir positions Robin Wright as a fictionalized version of herself, who agrees to replicate her once commodifiable actress for a movie studio’s gain. Playing on recurrent themes of aging in the film […]
by Sarah Salovaara on May 27, 2014
