Festival Strategy
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JUST LIKE THE U.N., BUT DIFFERENT: ROTTERDAM PRODUCER LABS
Sometimes you wind up in a place where you do not have something that everyone else has. So it was being a young American producer at the Rotterdam Cinemart Labs, straight off the plane from Sundance. Think: Independent Film Model Congress. I and my fellow American, Billy Mulligan, found ourselves on Day One in a “Speed Dating” scenario, spending five minutes each with our new international producer friends. From this and the subsequent wine-fueled dinner, I understood quickly that for all the different backgrounds and accents (Bosnian-inflected Scotch English being the prize winner in this department), we were all quite […]
by Alicia Van Couvering on Feb 6, 2011 -
IN ROTTERDAM, AMERICAN FILMS THAT COULDN’T EXIST ANYWHERE ELSE
After the rush of sales in Park City this year, it seems the entire American cine-punditry is racing to declare this the beginning of a new golden age in American Independent Film. I sure hope they’re right. One wonders if March’s SXSW Film Festival in Austin will continue the trend and finally push that festival into true market status. Nearly 40 films were acquired in Park City and many more that premiered there will surely be acquired in the weeks and months to come. Yet for some of the most daring new American films, the sales rat race at Sundance […]
by Brandon Harris on Feb 4, 2011 -
My 10 Favorite Festivals Of 2010
It was a grueling and exhilarating year. Last year from January to December I road-ripped in my van, the “Red Devil,” occasionally flew on airplanes, a few times rode on trains, sprinting across and around America, then over and around Europe, parachuting in on nearly 50 film festivals. It was a manic-depressive trip on the rollercoaster-roadway. One minute I was kissing the stars and the next I was eating asphalt. It was madness, but madness that made complete sense. To understand America today, non-fiction books are giving fewer and fewer clues. Literature has become passé for making sense out of […]
by Stewart Nusbaumer on Feb 4, 2011 -
ROBERT REDFORD AND KENNETH COLE DISCUSS VOLUNTEERISM AT SUNDANCE 2011
Last week from the Sundance Film Festival Filmmaker ran a series of videos sponsored by Kenneth Cole highlighting the work of volunteers at the festival. Each year, 1,600 volunteers descend on Park City and help make the festival a good experience for both filmmakers and audiences. And each year Cole, a Sundance Institute board member, designs and donates a sleeveless down vest to the volunteers. This year those vests are for sale at Kenneth Cole stores and at Sundance’s online festival store. A percentage of the net profits from the sale is donated to the Sundance Institute. Below, in this […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 3, 2011 -
The Microbudget Conversation: What Are The Festivals Good For ?
Sorry to all for the week off. A little festival called Sundance was happening, and this column would have been lost in the hustle and bustle. PLUS, I’ve become agoraphobic after editing Orphaned for three weeks straight now. I no longer possess social skills and hygiene. (But the movie looks good so far!) After our second article posted, Blake Eckard contacted me and thought I needed to talk to someone ASAP. It could only be one person, Jon Jost (pictured below). Jon is one of Blake’s favorite film directors and he is a legendary indie filmmaker. It was a no-brainer. […]
by John Yost on Feb 1, 2011 -
“POSITION AMONG THE STARS” DIRECTOR LEONARD RETEL HELMRICH
Position Among the Stars Winning both the IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam) and Sundance for the same film isn’t anything new for director Leonard Retel Helmrich. Both Position Among the Stars (which received a Special Grand Jury Prize at Sundance this past Saturday) and Shape of the Moon — his previous documentary about three generations of the Shamsuddin family of inner city Jakarta — have won top awards at the festivals. These two documentaries, along with 2001’s Eye of the Day, combine as a trilogy to tell a moving story about religion, politics, and economics, all through the lens […]
by James Ponsoldt on Jan 31, 2011 -
A LETTER TO FILMMAKERS NOT GOING TO SUNDANCE
Last year I ran the below post, “So You Didn’t Get Into Sundance.” As the Sundance list came out this week, I thought I’d give it a once over and pen a new version for ’11. But after reading it again, I’m not sure what I’d change. Once, more then… So you didn’t get into Sundance…. I’m sorry. Trust me, I feel your pain. As a producer I’ve received both the acceptance calls as well as the rejection ones. (Actually, the rejection call is sometimes not even a call, but a form email or letter.) In some cases, I’ve known […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 3, 2010 -
On Festivals, Festival Programmers and Independent Film Week
It’s September, and after a long, scorching summer, the festival season has finally gotten under way; Telluride, Venice, Toronto are in the books, the New York Film Festival is just on the horizon and my job as a film programmer and artistic director has kicked off in earnest. The screenings begin, the landscape starts to take shape; acquisitions are tracked, release schedules scrutinized, and submissions and new films begin to make their way to us. So often, I read articles about film festivals as if they were these mysterious, unknowable institutions that make random, arbitrary decisions about which films they […]
by Tom Hall on Sep 20, 2010 -
IFP ANNOUNCES DISTRIBUTION LAB; NARRATIVE LAB DEADLINE EXTENDED
In a press release sent out today, the IFP has announced that they’ve expanded their Independent Filmmaker Labs to include distribution. In collaboration with Ted Hope and Jon Reiss, the Distribution Lab will take 20 projects (10 docs, 10 narratives) and gives them a year-long fellowship to assist the filmmakers with marketing and distributing their films. Filmmakers will receive, among other things, year-round access to IFP staff and Lab leaders, one-on-one mentorship with working producers and a five-day Completion Lab. To learn more about the Lab and its benefits read the full release below. Also on the IFP front, the […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Mar 30, 2010 -
Exclusive: B-Side Entertainment Announces Shutdown
B-side Entertainment, the Austin-based tech and distribution company that provides website services to film festivals, is closing. The company, which launched a New York-based distribution arm just 13 months ago, lost its funding from venture capital fund Valhalla Partners in late 2009. “We have spent the last four or five months looking for a [financing] alternative,” B-Side CEO and founder Chris Hyams told Filmmaker. “But we reached the end of our cash before we could secure new investment. We had to shut the company down.” B-Side laid off the majority of its staff last week and throughout the weekend notified […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 22, 2010
