IFP » Festival Strategy

Lessons from the Sundance ShortsLab NY 2013

Justin Ferrato — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 15:32:04 +0000

After attending the Sundance Shorts Lab at BAM this past Sunday, I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of people wanting to write, direct, or produce a short and submit it to the Sundance Film Fest. For 8,000 submissions, there are only 80 films that are actually accepted into the program. That’s a slim margin for success, and daunting for any filmmaker angling to elevate themselves to the next level. I was reminded throughout the day that just because you don’t get a short into the Sundance Film Fest, it doesn’t mean you aren’t a good filmmaker. Maybe there was a similar film that edged your film out by a fraction, maybe it was simply the luck of the draw. For whatever reason, I stopped thinking about the day as ‘ways to get into Sundance’ and started thinking about it as ‘unique ways to tell an authentic story really well’. Here are a few observations from the day and lessons I learned from the various panels:

Programming Tips

The programmers had a Q&A on how they select projects for Sundance (and a rough outline of how other festivals select films). Ultimately, it comes down to how they can group films together: theme, genre, etc. They look for similarities that help them assess what type of slate they have overall. From there, they choose films based on how they’re grouped. Even if someone else has made a short film similar to yours, was the story told as “interestingly” as yours? At the end of the day, the programmers themselves always ask the same question: How did the short film affect the viewer? Regardless of production value, concept, plot, theme, or acting, they will always think back to how the film affected them emotionally. I thought this was a valuable lesson for filmmakers, since they should consider their audience pragmatically throughout the writing/production process. Before spending time and money in production, it might be a good idea to think about how an audience would react to your film while it’s still in the early story development stages.

Story Development

Both filmmakers Craig Zobel (Compliance) and Howard Gertler (How to Survive a Plague) had refreshing perspectives on story development that most screenwriting books don’t really offer. Craig explained how he discovered his story for� Compliance and The Great World of Sound. When writing, he taped one crucial question to his keyboard and referred to it constantly to keep himself focused:“What bigger question are you asking with the film?” He said that this was his biggest guiding principle. He said that this question should supersede plot and link more directly to theme, but never be stated outright. Rather, it’s best dramatized throughout the story.

Another interesting nugget Craig shared: while researching for a story, he noticed that he would often have a very specific reaction to something he found. He would then evaluate how he reacted and analyze why he reacted that way. When Craig was researching for Compliance, he noticed he shrugged off the victims of a fast food restaurant for sexual assault as ‘naïve’ and that most people wouldn’t do something like that. After reflecting, he wondered why he responded so defensively and why his initial response was to dismiss these people. He began to think about how any person might get caught up in a situation like that and suddenly he was on his way.

Working with Actors

Craig Zobel explained that actors always need to have a purpose in their scene, otherwise things slow down or the actor loses focus in the scene. This is a bit of a textbook point but still important- always give actors a specific goal to reach in the scene to help them focus and stay in the moment. It gives them a purpose beyond stating the lines.

Also, it’s always helpful to give actors a couple different goals to vary performances. Sure, you could get 8-10 takes of the same performance, but that won’t give you much to work with in the edit room. It’s refreshing for the actors and helpful for you to have different emotional ranges from the actors to color your story.

In the ‘Working with Actors’ panel, Alex Karpovsky shared that as both an actor and director, the most alienating thing a director can do is to just leave the actor hanging after a take, or fail to provide any context for the actor in the headspace of the scene. As a director, Karpovsky always has a conversation at the top of the scene with each actor to ‘dial in’ to the context of the scene: What’s at stake? What are the beats of the scene? Where does the scene fall within the greater story? What does each character know? What do they think they know? What have been the dynamics of each of the characters with respect to one another? The more context you can give an actor, the more they can use in each take.

Collaboration

In a panel with Producer Mike Ryan (Old Joy, Palindromes, The Comedy), DP Jody Lee-Lipes (Wild Combination, Tiny Furniture, Martha Marcy May Marlene) and Editor Melody London (Down By Lawy, Mystery Train, New York I Love You) they all echoed the same sentiment- when working with collaborators it’s important to set up a code or manifesto for the project that gets everyone on the same page right away. It’s essential that you identify what film you’re trying to make, and then establish that all your key collaborators are on board. If your editor is trying to turn your campy horror Zombie film into an ironic statement of post-recession malaise, it might be good to discuss before collaborating with them. Talking to your collaborators about your goals and purposes for the film, even if they are emotional, is a good way to help your collaborators relate to the story.

In the panel with filmmakers Cutter Hodierne (Fishing Without Nets), Rashaad Ernesto Green (Gun Hill Road), and Eliza Hittman (It Felt Like Love), the topic of discussion was ‘navigating the business end of your film from short to feature’. One point that all the filmmakers made was how important it is that you not wait to get your film made. Set a date, and then tell collaborators, investors, distributors, etc that you’re making a movie on this date, and that they should either get on board or get out of the way. They all stated that if they had had discussions with potential investors and said something along the lines of ‘I have a script, but I’m just waiting on financing’, they likely wouldn’t have gotten the same enthusiasm.

If you do end up being one of the lucky ones getting accepted into Sundance, be prepared to have an upcoming project. It’s a total waste if you get to the fest, get meetings with a powerful distributor and have nothing on slate.

Of course, this is a top line digest of some of the points discussed at the Sundance Shorts Lab. Hopefully it proved a little useful information about the day. For a full day event, there’s just too much to fit into one blog post. As always, any workshop or conference is always a fantastic way to learn from filmmakers who have been lucky enough to find their film a place in the world. Sign up for IFP’s newsletter for a weekly digest on upcoming events in the film world and how you can stay connected.

Getting your short onto the festival circuit

Mike Plante — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 16:25:32 +0000

You’ve just made a short film. The good news is: you may be able to get as many people to see it in a movie theater as an independent feature film does. Bad news is: that doesn’t pay anything. Distribution is a word usually saved for feature films. But short films may have the best option of all.

I’m talking about film festivals. Almost all film fests have a short film section, playing shorts in front of some features and multiple 90-minute programs of shorts. If you make a good short it’s possible to play literally 100 cities with it. Here is some strategy to go into the festival world with.

First thing is first – find another film that’s just like yours. I know, nothing else is like it, but find something similar in style and atmosphere, if not a similar story or form. Which festivals did that film play? Look for features too. It’s safe to assume that the festival programmers would like your work too.

For a short to play in front of a feature, it will need to be on the shorter side, often 10 minutes or less. But fests play a lot of 70 and 80-minute features and programmers love to get more talent in the mix and want to play a short in front of them. Something that isn’t exactly the same but compliments the show.

And think sideways – a fest that shows weird sci-fi films may also be into a stylish doc about Tesla.

Many festivals have a focus, and that’s the best way to spend your submission fee budget. There are tons of niche fests with a specific focus: documentaries, animation, experimental, genre, and some only show short films. Whatever you made, there is probably a fest that only wants that type of film, even shorts about mountain climbing.

Festival logistics help make decisions. Festivals have budgets for travel and rooms, but it often covers the features only. Don’t get sad, just see which fests do have stipends for shorts to help out, or prize money if that interests you. With CineVegas, any filmmaker with a short just had to get themselves to Vegas and we’d provide a room for 4 nights (gambling not included).

And don’t forget friends and family. You got parents in the US? There is probably a festival in their town and you know they’ll bring you home and feed you. Look cool in front of the parents that might have paid for the film too.

Side note: why try to go to the festivals? Besides the best reason – to see your film on a big screen with big sound and an audience – you will meet future collaborators. Just the people inside your shorts program will be great and most likely at the same stage of filmmaking you are: hungry. You’ll run into cast and crew, and if lucky a producer who wants to help on the next one.

Plus the motivation you’ll find at a festival to make more work is impossible to describe. You think you re the only one struggling, and then you meet others in the same boat and realize you’ve all made something that is worth sharing with others. This is how “waves” start.

Last but not least, try for the large film festivals. This may seem like the most important thing to go for first but not necessarily. Check their submission rules. If they require a world premiere, which is rare for shorts but it happens, then you would have to submit there first and see what happens. For many fests we just want to show the best shorts we can find and its ok to play another fest first as a short. In fact, every festival finds a great film at another fest. It doesn’t matter who finds it first, just that the film gets one or more champions.

The biggest thing is to keep trying. If you made a film and it doesn’t get into one of the big festivals, it’s not personal (I’ve been right there too). It can be frustrating waiting for the first show but it doesn’t mean you are a bad filmmaker, its just that every festival has its own taste and even then they can’t fit every good film made into the screen space we have. Keep making films and keep trying.

Want to learn more about the world of short filmmaking? Check out Sundance ShortsLabs on July 14th in NY and Aug. 11th in LA.These full-day workshops for shorts filmmakers offer firsthand insight and access into story development, production, and exhibition of narrative short-form storytelling.Hear directly from festival programmers and short filmmakers about their work.

Click here for more information about NY: http://www.sundance.org/programs/shortslab-nyc/. And here for LA: http://www.sundance.org/programs/shortslab-la/.

Better Film Panels Now

Mynette Louie — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:47:30 +0000

Producer Peter Phok and I speaking on a panel at IFP’s Filmmaker Conference.

In the year and a half since Brian Newman wrote his very apt and memorable post, “Killing the Film Fest Panel,” panels haven’t improved much. In that time, I’ve spoken on or moderated over a dozen panels, and it seems that panel organizers haven’t really taken Brian’s suggestions to heart. The majority of film panels remain as excruciatingly boring and useless as ever.

So, let’s try a different tack: I propose that we panelists and moderators step up our game and give the (sometimes paying) audiences a better panel. Here’s how:

1. Be succint. This is the golden rule of panel-speaking. Way too often, I feel like I’m being held hostage by a long-winded moderator or panelist. I see the eyelids of audience members flitting with sleep as the Run-D.M.C. lyrics, “You talk too much, you never shut up,” loop in my head. Speakers (and everyone else for that matter) should learn how to say more with less words. Time on panels and time in life is limited, so please stop wasting it.

2. Stay on topic. It’s OK to go off on a tangent once in a while if it’s relevant and instructive, but people came to hear you based on the topic that was advertised. So do your best to keep reminding yourself what your panel is about, and what key questions the audience expects you to answer.

3. Know your audience. Tailor what you say to who’s in the audience–directors vs. producers vs. press vs. laypeople, etc.–and the level of their film knowledge. I always like to poll the audience at the start of each panel to find out who’s in it. Also, ask the panel organizer or festival programmer about the audience composition.

4. Be specific & universal at the same time. Your expertise is based primarily on your own particular experiences, so it’s good to offer specific anecdotes, but only if they can be applied broadly. Don’t be an obvious shill for your specific agenda and interests–always frame them in terms of how the audience might apply them to their own experiences. However, be careful not to go to the other extreme and start speaking in vague platitudes. It’s alarming how many mantra-like tweets emerge from panels–it’s just a stupid panel, not an evangelical mass. And remember: nobody knows anything anyway.

5. Be conversational. Don’t talk at people, talk with people. The most interesting panels are interactive. I love engaging in genuine conversations with my co-panelists or audience members. To me, dialogues are almost always more compelling and instructive than monologues.

6. Be flexible & organic. This relates to the preceding point. If you are too stubborn about making certain points, or too rigid in your delivery, people will get bored. Like in a film production, you must allow for “happy accidents,” so listen to what your co-panelists are saying and react to them.

7. Be honest & real. Audiences aren’t stupid; they can tell when you’re being phony. Also, share as much insider info and data as you can without violating your confidentiality clauses or threatening your own livelihood.

8. Don’t be boring. You are on a stage with a mic in front of a captive audience. Say something provocative or crack a joke every now and then!

9. Moderators: Don’t be afraid to cut people off. This one is just for the moderators. Don’t be afraid of reminding panelists how much time they have left or cutting them off and bringing them back down to earth. You guys are the “ADs” of panels. It’s your job to keep things moving and on track!

10. Audiences: Don’t pitch your own projects in the Q&A. OK, this one’s a postscript, but I gotta say it because this is such a common problem. I’m sure your project is very interesting, but no one came to that panel to hear about it. So please keep it to yourself, and just ask your question–which will be broadly applicable and succinct, of course!

Top 10 lessons I’ve learned as a SXSW newbie

Dara Bratt — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:00:38 +0000

I was super excited when I learnt that my short documentary “Flutter” was accepted to SXSW. After weeks of prepping postcards, business cards and posters, it was time to go.

My buildup to departure was full of anxiety. With full east coast snowstorm alerts, it wasn’t a sure bet I’d make it out of NY in time for Day 1 of SXSW. After repeated flight status checks, we arrived to JKF and boarded fairly successfully. (Although my producer had more of a planes/ trains / and automobiles adventure).

My flight was fully SXSW loaded—full of chatter, absent of baby cries, a plethora of drink refills and a downed internet system from being overloaded with too many log in attempts. So I escaped NY and its snowstorm threats successfully, merely to arrive to a crazy wind, rain and lightning storm. No problem.

Okay Austin. Hello SouthBy. What do you have for me?

Here are the top ten things I’ve learnt on my first time to this festival and this town. Take them for whatever it’s worth.

Gummy vitamins make a great breakfast. Luna bars make a great lunch. If I knew how to use twitter, I’d might write #vegetarian #Austin
Pack your dvd screeners in your carry on. When my producer’s lost luggage was finally delivered, missing from the bag were her leather jacket, her perfume and all 50 Flutter screener dvds.
Avoid someone who offers this pickup line: You’re Jewish? I am too! (This might lead to you randomly turning to a group of filmmakers and saying “Help” and then making new friends)
Always enter the raffle- you might win. (Yay for filmmakers lunch and winning a brand new Avid Media Composer. Signed, yours truly #Avid)
Make friends with your bus ride companion, your luncheon or happy hour neighbor. Why not? They could be cool. And that also means go to the happy hour—a quieter venue conducive to conversation.
Be patient in lines for coffee, food, movies. You’re not in NY anymore. This town is friendly and moves at a less rushed pace.
See at least 1 movie per day. Aim for 2. Try to see something in the Topher Theater- a beautiful venue with a giant screen.
Bring good walking shoes and prepare to use them. It’s a walking town. (Thankfully, it almost justifies all the food indulging)
Stay hydrated. Take time-outs when needed. But most importantly…
Take it all in.

Overall, it’s been a great week, full of numerous conversations, contact exchanges, guacamole induced food comas, and movie going experiences. Flutter played beautifully and the screenings were a great success. Thank you Austin and the programmers for inviting me into your film home. Thank you to my team for coming out to SXSW for the screenings and sharing in the fun. New York, here I come. It’s time for a vacation.

***

Flutter shares the life of John Bedford, a 76yr old amateur butterfly collector. Immensely visual, the film follows John on his excursion to the jungles of Vietnam, plunging audiences into a world of wonder and childlike excitement. But as the film reveals, our subject is as fragile as the habitat he loves and seeks to preserve. Extending beyond the exotic and gorgeous butterflies, this is the reflective and meditative portrait of a lonely man seeking companionship in the arms of nature.

For more information, visit flutterthemovie.tumblr.com and darabratt.com

darabratt@gmail.com

What to expect when your expecting to get into a film festival

Kat Candler — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 16:39:12 +0000

In the spirit of SXSW starting this weekend, I’ve put together a list of things you can expect when taking your short film out into the world.

But let’s start with … Making movies is hard. And you’re gonna get rejected. A lot. And getting rejected repeatedly can kill your soul. I remember a student getting rejected by her second festival. She threw up her arms and said, “I quit!” I looked at her and said, “You gotta be kidding me. Really? Cause if you can’t take this … I don’t know, dude.” You have to have solid-steel thick skin. Or at least be able to fake it.

Still from Candler’s HELLION

So let’s turn the table and start with the idea that you’ve made a really great short. It’s awesome and it’s getting into some festivals. What could happen to my little film? What should I expect from my film festival adventure?

The holy grail would be that someone sees your short, falls in love with it, falls in love with you and wants to turn it into a feature film with (of course) a million dollar budget. Holy shit, that’d be rad. It happens. But it’s rare. Very, very rare.

Here are some things that are more likely to happen …

1) New Friends! You’ll make new friends with some amazing filmmakers. Those friendships will last a lifetime. You’ll call on each other over the years to swap scripts, help each other out on set or call up for advice. These relationships are just as valuable as getting that million dollar film deal. No lie.

2) New Collaborators! You’ll find new collaborators. You’ll see other people’s work that excites you and people will see your work and want to work with you. Finding new people to work with as DPs, Editors, Production Designers, actors … is such a reward. With that said, go watch a ton of films at the festival.

3) Exposure! People will see your film. You’ll have an audience, in a theater, seeing something you and a team of bad asses made. And you never know who’s in that audience. It could be an agent, a manager, a financier, a new fan … But I think something that’s pretty important when you’re on the circuit with a short film is to have a feature script ready to go. If someone does come to you with that golden ticket, you better be ready.

4) Awards and Reviews You could win an award. And that award could get you the attention from other festivals or industry folks. And then you can put that festival laurel and that award on your postcards, posters, website. Same with reviews. You can rack up some great press and reviews and use that in your publicity materials. Building a name for yourself through press, reviews and awards, will legitimize you in people’s eyes.

5) Meeting the Programmers It’s great to meet and befriend the programmers. Establishing those relationships can last a lifetime. And when you come back with that feature film, those programmers will be super excited to see your new work. The door opened with that short film.

6) Distribution Distributors will probably contact you. That’s awesome. Do your research into the company. Talk to other filmmakers that are housed at that company and what their experiences have been like. It’s exciting, yes, but do your homework.

Still from BLACK METAL

I’m going to reiterate number one, one last time. Make new film friends. I swear to god, this is the best part of the community we work in.

Producer Kim Jackson on preparing for a festival like Sundance

Kim Jackson — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:00:57 +0000

I’ll be honest with you. It wasn’t until a week ago that I could see straight.

When I stumbled off of the red eye at JFK and headed to my apartment in Manhattan after attending The 29th Annual Sundance Film Festival, all I could do was run to my bed and collapse. For two days straight I barely moved. I couldn’t. I was overwhelmed.

To attend Sundance is to know you belong as a filmmaker. The caliber is so high and the work so strong, I can say without any reservation, our film, Blue Caprice, would not be the artistic success it was without the support of IFP. They helped us fine-tune the cut, develop our marketing strategy and learn what problems to anticipate before they appeared. It was a valuable experience and one every serious producer must undertake if they want to create work which is artistically and commercially successful.

Like all filmmakers, our road has been long and challenging.� Blue Caprice was lucky enough to have been selected and mentored the year prior in IFP lab. The IFP Labs are an ideal place to gain exposure for new works, navigate the industry and create new relationships, and not simply by virtue of attendance in the Lab. The process helped us realize what our story was and how best to tell it. It was indispensable.

During IFP Week we met sales agents, distributors and festival programmers, including the inspired John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival. We also met our new sales agent, Cinetic Media. Going into a festival like Sundance, you need an additional team focused on selling your film for optimum festival experience. Let me be clear: you don’t need a good sales agent, but the right sales agent. Their role is to sell the film and get the best deal possible. This is like pushing three looming boulders up a steep hill while nursing two bum knees. Hiring someone who knows the buyers and can get their attention and convince them to attend your screening is crucial. We could not have been in better hands.

You also need a great publicist who is proactive but sees the bigger picture and knows how to work with people and talk about your film. Our publicity team, Brigade Marketing, did an outstanding job and continues to take us into the future…did someone say Oscars?! Oh, yes I’m dreaming big!

I also called on the support from my company’s PR group, dominion3PR. Kim Dixon of dominion3PR is a seasoned, well-respected publicist and a Sundance veteran. I can’t image experiencing the festival without her.

As a creative producer, there are endless hours spent on various stages of a film. From idea to story development to script to casting to production to the premier, the road is long and bumpy and exhausting. With the support of IFP, we were challenged but we had the skills needed to thrive. By the time we finished the distribution labs in December, we were ready for the dance!

Once at Sundance we all knew our roles, supported each other and did our best to enjoy all that came our way. We hoped, but I don’t think any of use anticipated the level and amount of critical acclaim our film has received. After our premier screening at The Library we all left speechless. And then we waited… waited for what the critics would have to say and when the first of the reviews came out and the response was positive, we all breathed a sigh of relief and felt intense gratitude. We rode the wave and enjoyed the rest of the festival, which included interviews, photo shoots, meetings, receptions, networking and non-stop parties. It took an incredible amount of stamina, but it was all worth it.

The Sundance family is one of the most supportive, loving and dedicated
group of people any filmmaker could ever dream of working with. The
process I undertook at Sundance helped me to refine my taste as a
filmmaker. Because of them, I learned how to ascertain what was
relevant in work and how to be clear and concise when communicating new
ideas with others.

Here’s a list of essentials to survive Sundance:

- Create an itinerary before you arrive, print up a couple copies and put a PDF on your phone. Serendipity and spontaneity are regular occurrences and you want to be ready for anything that comes your way.
- Go to Fresh Market in town upon arrival and buy healthy provisions (especially for late night). Bottled Water, Fruit, Mixed Greens, Juice and Vitamin C, D3, emergency C to put in your complementary green Sundance Britta water bottle.
- Drink a lot of water all day – you are 6500 ft above sea level the altitude makes some people queasy for a couple of days.
- Light on the alcohol, it dries you out and makes you look puffy in your photos.
- Wear comfortable snow boots and versatile day to evening wear; you’ll be out from dawn till dawn meetings lots of people, so stay fresh looking and present. Main Street Park City where it all happens is a steep hill and you’ll walk up and down it more times than you can image.
- Watch at least 3 films, more of course if you stay the entire ten days. After all you are at a FILM festival and it’s good to be aware what you’re fellow filmmakers are up to. Also a great way to take a deep breath from all the hustle, and you’ll need it.
- Stay open, have fun and bring lots of business cards.

My own experience as part of IPF has come full circle. When I first moved to NYC 10 years ago, I didn’t know anyone in the city and attended my first Film Week and told people, “I’m working on being a producer”. Now I say, without any hesitation, “I am a producer”. IFP is dedicated to advancing the art of cinema. I urge new producers to attend as many panels and workshops through IFP as possible. Stay open and receptive. As a producer, you are the CEO of yourself. You are the company. Always be ready for whatever opportunities come your way. Working with IFP prepared me for the world of professional producing. I’m still humbled by the success we had with Blue Caprice, but thanks for IFP, I feel it’s deserved.

I realize I’ve just hit you with a lot of information, so to summarize here’s a practical list you could follow.

Kim Jackson’s advise for aspiring producers once the film is “in the can”:

- Align yourself with an organization like IFP.
- Be open and receptive to criticism and feedback.
- It’s not about you, it’s about the film.
- Create a festival strategy that’s realistic for the type of film you have.
- Manage expectations for yourself and your team before arriving at the festival.
- Hire a strong sales agent who is passionate about your film.
- Hire a great publicist for the film and perhaps yourself.
- Prioritize the goals for the film and your own career, they are separate.
- Enjoy the ride, and submerge yourself in what the festival is offering: screenings, panels, discussions, meetings and networking.
- Stay grounded and healthy, there’s only one you.
- Dream big, because if you don’t, someone else will be on that stage accepting the awards.
- Stay strong and keep up.

Now excuse me while I go take a small nap. I have to get ready for my next four projects. We producers need all the sleep we can get.

Kim Jackson

Producer

Blue Caprice

www.StreetwisePictures.com

Shaka King at Sundance

Shaka King — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 15:00:14 +0000

My name is Shaka King and my film� Newlyweeds� premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday, January 18th. I intended to blog about the experience throughout but didn’t have the energy. The month and a half leading up had been a dead sprint to finish, promote and hopefully sell the film at the festival. Our tasks ranged from hiring a publicist to figuring out how to house forty cast, crew, and family members. I’ve never spent that much time in front of a computer or on a phone. At first it was oddly empowering, keeping all those balls in the air. It was like “oh, so this is how the pros do it.” But I showed up in Park City, sallow and bird chested. Anticipation and enthusiasm got me through. From the buyers, to the cinefiles to the celebrity hawks, that mountain has anticipation and enthusiasm to spare; none more potent than that of my crew. We had the energy of city kids who go to the woods for the first time. No moment was too small. For most of us it wasn’t only our first Sundance but first feature film premier. My dad hadn’t boarded a plane in over 30 years. So although I advanced my career and sold the film, what I’ll remember most about Sundance are the memories made with my cast and loved ones. They reminded me that what makes� Newlyweeds special are the people who helped shape it and shape me. As soon as they left Park City, I got sick. Fortunately, I had the audience to carry me through.

Cast and crew at Sundance 2013

Trae Harris and Amari Cheatom as Nina and Lyle

From a cultural aesthetic, Newlyweeds� is very Black and very Brooklyn. So it’s gratifying when a White couple in their 60’s, from Utah, stops you on the street to tell you they not only laughed their asses off but saw glimpses of themselves in the characters. The beauty of screening at a festival like Sundance is the access to an audience you otherwise might have difficulty courting. Our Q&A’s and conversations with viewers confirmed that we made a movie so specific, it’s universal. To that end, I suggest attending your screenings as often as possible. I was so sick of my movie until I watched it in a theater with a bunch of strangers.

Actress Trae Harris

Actor Amari Cheatom

Newlyweeds cast and crew at Sundance 2013

Since I’m handing out unsolicited advice:

- Make sure your people come out. The film’s premier is a celebration of your collaboration.

- Try not to go there sick because you’ll probably get sick there. It happened to most folks I spoke to.

- Stay as long as you can. During the second week it’s a nice change of pace to watch movies and take in the snow capped mountains.

- When interviewing agents to sell your film, don’t distribute a rough cut via DVD. It will be copied and shared around town. Go with a password protected link and change up the password every so often.

Be well.

Shaka King

Producer Robert Profusek on Building Buzz at Slamdance

Robert Profusek — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:00:16 +0000

I had an amazing opportunity to return to Park City this year with my film WITHOUT SHEPHERDS. I was more than excited as not only was I going public with the first documentary film I had produced, but I was playing Slamdance for the first time in my career.

Without Sheperds poster at Slamdance

While this had been my 5th year returning to Park City during the festivals as a film enthusiast, professional and former Sundance alumni, I had a few anxieties about how to approach the assembled film community. I’d always been very impressed by the filmmakers and films emanating from Slamdance but I couldn’t help but be concerned about battling everything that transpires during those 10 days in January. Also, our film is an issue-oriented foreign documentary dealing with a very relevant but at times visually disturbing story of Pakistan.

After receiving notice around Thanksgiving that we had been accepted into Slamdance the reality of how much work was required became very obvious. Web-site redesign and poster development, social media strategy and re-ignition of our various feeds, PR pitches and media placements, color and sound finishing and everything in-between. While I had been pushing for months to get some of these tasks finished before our world-wide premier, the realities of budgets and time and a thousand other variables makes us always feel like we could have done more.

Postcards of the film

While our film might be somewhat smaller in size compared to other documentaries playing Sundance or even Slamdance, we more than make up for that in terms of our message and the devotion of the team we’ve nurtured over the past 5 years. Our premier at Slamdance was no exception with over 40 members of cast and crew supporting our launch, including our co-director/cinematographer, Imran Babur, who had traveled all the way from Pakistan. Together, with the support of Clare Anne Darragh at Frank PR and the team at Picture Motion, Jonathan Gray and Nicole Compass at Gray Krauss, the collection of graphic designers helmed by Rachel Yoo, interns and production assistants helping on the ground day by day, we worked to make a splash at the top of Main Street for our World Premier.

Over the course of 10 days, we completely sold out both of our screenings and assembled a nice group for our P&I screening after handing out over 500 buttons, posting 100 posters and distributing over 1000 quarter cards throughout Park City. Although we were going up against the major agency parties Sunday Night, we still had over 250 people come out for our after party that generated over an uncountable number of social media posts through the on-site photo booth where guests could do shout-outs in support of our cause. In all, I’m extremely proud of what we were able to accomplish as the smaller David against the larger Goliath, which typifies Park City in January and as we work through negotiations on some foreign and domestic distribution deals I’m excited by the fact that this literally is just the beginning of a long road.

Without Sheperds

Some of the more memorable moments from the week ran the spectrum from happy to sad, exciting to concerning. Our grand scheme to do a series of street projections along Main Street Friday and Saturday night promoting our Facebook page along with campaign hash-tags ran aground after the power adapters in the vehicles running the projectors all blew fuses despite having enough power to support the equipment we had rented. Rest assured, we still got a few moments of video up until our PA was told by the cops that they were going to be shut down because of a lack of permit. I recall the warm feeling of our crew dinner Saturday night at 305 Main, as members of the team from all over the globe came together for the first time to not only meet in person but to congratulate each other for many years of committed energy and passion. I also will never forget the applause and engagement of the audiences during our Q&A’s where always the question of “did you feel safe” was guaranteed to come up!

Still from Without Sheperds

I recall an amazing interview with Shanna Yehlen at FilmBuff that evolved into a larger discussion on the role of art to help transform rigid beliefs on important social and political topics. As we gathered that same morning waiting for our live broadcast segment on CNN we were saddened to learn about the shooting in Houston and the need to throw live coverage to that horrific event. We were naturally disappointed that the interview piece we had worked so hard to secure was going to be preempted but we were able to reschedule for next week. I remember almost missing our red-carpet moment when a panel that I was sitting on in Deer Valley for The Collective ran late. I finally made it to the Treasure Mountain Hotel 10 minutes late only to realize that I had to sprint down Main Street as I was at the wrong address!

Leaving Park City, exhausted and somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer volume of work that had been accomplished over the past 2 months, I remembered why I had committed to this project a short 3 years ago. Armed with a sense that our director Cary McClelland would be an authoritative and eloquent voice for the challenging political stories that needed to be told I was now more than satisfied with our results. A huge thank you to Asad Rahman, Saad Siddiqui, Rob Collier, Phil Michaelsen, Usman Nabi and Arik Ruchim, among others, for making this happen financially; to Billy Smith for being such a steady and constant force for all; to Jonathan Gray and Nicole Compass from Gray Krauss for their continued legal advisory; Daryl Dunbar and Douglas Burack from Lutz & Carr for their accounting advisory; and, Clare Anne from Frank PR along with the entire Picture Motion team for its continued dedication and immense effort.

Cast and crew speak at Slamdance

My annual pilgrimage to Park City, regardless of how difficult the challenge may be, always reaffirms why I do what I do. In the darkest and most concerning of times, you need to go with your gut, keep your head down and work hard. Seeing long time friends and making new ones year over year gives fuel to all my creative endeavors and has served as the means for many successful collaborations. A heartfelt thanks to Slamdance 2013 for letting us tell our story and being so amazing along the way!

Indie film distribution in a digital world: A master class w/Dylan Marcetti & Josh Braun

Justin Ferrato — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 15:00:26 +0000

Short interviews with the heads of some of the most exciting new companies such as Dylan Marchetti (Variance Films) and Josh Braun (Submarine Entertainment) working in independent film & media today. Hear about their work, and the ways they are working to make change for independent media makers. The panel is moderated by Janet Pierson producer of the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival.

This discussion was part of IFP’s Independent Film Week.

Filmmaker David Lowery on “Ain’t Them Body Saints”, Sundance 2013 & the Power of Persistence

David Lowery — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 15:00:01 +0000

In the days and weeks leading up to our film’s premiere at Sundance, I pulled from the shelf my dog-eared copy of Steven Soderbergh’s� sex lies and videotape diary, which I’d purchased from a second-hand bookstore my sophomore year in high school and devoured (along with the screenplay included therein) before I actually saw the film it chronicled. This ordering was oddly habitual at that point in my life, a natural progression from all the reviews I grew up reading of movies my parents wouldn’t let me see. I read Spike Lee’s� School Daze and� Malcom X� journals before I ever saw the films; I saw� Hearts Of Darkness before I saw� Apocalypse Now. But Soderbergh’s was my favorite, and the one I hung onto the most. I took (and still take) to heart the recipe for success he cites in his forward: talent + perseverance = luck.

David Lowery with Ain’t Them Bodies Saints cast

I was sixteen then. I was about to turn 32 when I began reading it again over the holidays, for what was probably the third or fourth time. It was glib and entertaining and insightful, as always, but it also seemed deeper and richer – a natural side effect to my own evolving understanding of the filmmaking process. There’s not a lot of technical jargon in the book, and each journal entry is often comprised of a span of days or weeks, but I didn’t notice that the first time I read it. It all seemed breezy and exciting and fun. Soderbergh made filmmaking – serious filmmaking, great filmmaking – seem like something efficient and doable. When you’re sixteen and don’t even know what the word coverage means, you’re drawn towards the broad strokes. You� need the broad strokes. And then, as you grow as a filmmaker, you start to read between the lines.

What I found between Soderbergh’s lines – and sometimes not between them at all but right smack dab on the page in clear and simple text – was a marvelous reflection of what I’d just been through, and a projection of what we were about to embark upon. How had I not previously picked up on the fact that there were days that didn’t go well for him, too? How had I missed the bit of his production journal in which he mentions his AD pulling him aside and telling him he should have serious conversations with his actors in their trailers during the set-ups and not on set when the cameras were ready to roll? The days where they ran out of time? Where the Louisiana heat wore everyone down? There on the page is a description of conversations I felt like I had been having on a regular basis. There at the outset of the book is mentioned a financing meeting with Cassian Elwes that came out of the blue but didn’t quite pan out, which felt alarmingly similar to the sudden financing meeting� we had with Cassian Elwes, which did in fact work out and lead to our film getting made.

David Lowery’s Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

I don’t mean to say that I was reducing his experience – and mine – to a checklist of corresponding points. But the parallels were unavoidable, and also amusing, interesting and gratifying. All of this information deepened my understanding of his humbly triumphant first-person narrative, and it also helped me contextualize what I’d just been through. And indeed, to see it in broad strokes. I realized that my own shoot was breezy, exciting and fun in its own way. And, too, that I was unquantifiably lucky and quantifiably persistent (and that hopefully the talent quotient of that equation wasn’t running at a deficit).

So then there was Sundance. Back when� sex, lies was invited to screen there, it was still called the U.S. Film Festival, but it was up there on the same Main Street, at mostly the same venues, with lots of the same people. Soderbergh describes in nonplussed terms (or maybe he was dazed) his first screening, and then the second, and then the point at which Todd McCarthy hints at the positive review he’s going to give the film in Variety. He also describes having enough free time to join the festival volunteers in shuttling other directors and actors to and from the airport.

Since then, Sundance has become Sundance, and while I imagine the intrepid filmmaker might still find time to volunteer services here and there, I don’t think it would be possible (if it ever truly was in the first place) to be nonplussed about showing a film you’ve finished only days before to an audience of 1200 people. I anticipated a quickening of my pulse, but not my transformation into jelly when John Cooper called me out onto the stage at the Eccles. I have no idea what I said up there, other than thank you. When in doubt, those are always good words to fall back in, especially if you mean them, which I did.

Ain’t Them Bodies Saints at Sundance 2013

This is not the sum of my experience there, but a small part of it, and here is where I leave my parallels with Soderbergh’s narrative behind (aside from the fact that Todd McCarthy, now writing for Hollywood Reporter, gave us a really great review after our own first screening) and dovetail fully into my perception of the experience. When one’s been aspiring towards premiering a feature at Sundance since the age of sixteen, it would be natural to assume that a sense of culmination would accompany that moment. But the thing about persistence is that it renders success in varying shades of gray. Accomplishment is not divided into the setting of a goal and its achievement, nor is that achievement a plateau which one rests upon. Everything is a step. Some steps are bigger than others. Sometimes they lead you right back to the bottom. Sometimes they provide an opportunity to step back and survey the view. As you look back, all the little footholds and switchbacks blend with distance into one singular path, one broad stroak, but you don’t forget that each one came with its own encompassing sense of triumph, of disappointment, of accomplishment, of knowing you can do better. In the moment, each one was everything you were working for – and then you achieved it, and you moved on. You may have done well. You’ll do even better.

At some point you might find yourself referring to the process in vaguely distended metaphors, which is a good time to turn back to that script you were writing or that book you were reading. We left Sundance two weeks ago. It was spectacular. It was overwhelming. It was equivocal to running a marathon, except that marathons end. Time now to keep persisting, and hoping the luck holds out.

Footnote: I went to see Steven Soderbergh’s Side Effects last night. I have a feeling he won’t be publishing a journal about this one, and I am OK with that. But if he were to write it, I’d definitely read it, and read it again in 16 years.

IFP Alum @ SXSW 2013

Justin Ferrato — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 19:09:28 +0000

We’re so thrilled about the 2013 South by Southwest Film Festival’s line up and congratulate our IFP Alumni who will premiere at the festival!

IFP staff will be present throughout the festival, stay tuned for updates if you’ll be at SXSW and come say hi!

Below is a list of the filmmakers who have have participated in one of our IFP programs.

Congratulations to all of our filmmakers!

Before You Know It- WORLD PREMIERE

IFP Spotlight on Documentaries 2012
Director: PJ Raval

Three gay seniors navigate the adventures, challenges and surprises of life and love in their golden years.
(World Premiere)

Brothers Hypnotic- WORLD PREMIERE

IFP Spotlight on Documentaries 2009
Director: Reuben Atlas

Eight brothers, extraordinary brass musicians from Chicago’s South Side, test their brotherhood and their father’s legacy against mounting mainstream success.
(World Premiere)

Short Term 12- WORLD PREMIERE

IFP No Borders International Co-Production Market 2010
Director/Screenwriter: Destin Daniel Cretton

The film follows Grace, a young supervisor at a foster-care facility, as she looks after the teens in her charge and reckons with her own troubled past. An unsparingly authentic film, full of both heart and surprising humor.
Cast : Brie Larson, John Gallagher Jr., Kaitlyn Dever, Rami Malek, Keith Stanfield
(World Premiere)

12 O’Clock Boys- WORLD PREMIERE

IFP Documentary Lab 2011
Director: Lotfy Nathan

Pug, a young boy growing up on a combative West Baltimore block, finds solace in a gang of illegal dirt bike riders known as The 12 O’Clock Boys.
(World Premiere)

Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton- WORLD PREMIERE

IFP Documentary Lab 2012
Directors: Stephen Silha, Eric Slade

A documentary about embracing your passions and becoming the person of your dreams, disguised as an inspiring biopic about pioneering filmmaker and poet James Broughton (1913-1999).
(World Premiere)

Good Ol’ Freda- WORLD PREMIERE

IFP Spotlight on Documentaries 2012
Director: Ryan White

The story of Freda Kelly, a shy Liverpudlian teenager asked to work for a young local band hoping to make it big: The Beatles. Their loyal secretary from beginning to end, Freda tells her tales for the first time in 50 years.
(World Premiere)

Mr. Angel- WORLD PREMIERE

IFP Spotlight on Documentaries 2011
Director: Dan Hunt

Chronicles the extraordinary life of trans male porn pioneer and educator, Buck Angel. It’s a moving & provocative story of a man’s search for acceptance from his family and the world. An inspirational tale of an unlikely hero.
(World Premiere)

Our Nixon- NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

IFP Documentary Lab 2012
Director: Penny Lane

Recently discovered Super 8 home movies filmed by three of Richard Nixon’s closest aides – and fellow Watergate conspirators – offer an intimate and complex new glimpse into his presidency in this all-archival documentary.
(North American Premiere)

These Birds Walk- WORLD PREMIERE

IFP Documentary Lab 2012
Directors: Omar Mullick, Bassam Tariq

The film documents the resilience of a 6-year-old Pakistani runaway as he tackles one critical question: where is home? The streets, an orphanage, or with the family he fled in the first place?

Savoring the Small Moments at Sundance 2013

Dan Schoenbrun — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:04:41 +0000

This January’s Sundance Film Festival was my first, and though I came armed with a three-inch binder’s worth of printed out screening schedules, flight itineraries, custom made Google Maps, and much, much more, I quickly learned that it was the kind of thing that you just can’t quite prepare for. As soon as I hit the ground in Park City, many of my plans – films I couldn’t wait to see, parties I just couldn’t miss – were quickly rewritten as I adapted to the unique flow of Park City.

Sundance is a festival where you’re constantly checking your watch; stressing as one movie’s credits roll about how you’re going to get to the next one. At parties, it seems as if everyone is not so much socializing as jockeying to find out from everyone else which films are on the edge of a sale. It’s the kind of festival where when my colleague and friend Nick Dawson woke up one morning in intense pain, and called a taxi to take him to the ER, the Park City dispatcher responded, “I’m not familiar with that venue.”

Indeed, there’s an urgency and an intensity to the festival that’s all too easy to get sucked into. So perhaps the most valuable thing I figured out early on was to savor the small moments, and to just kind of zen out. Once I adopted this philosophy, I was able to settle down and really enjoy myself. Here are just a few of my favorite moments from the festival:

Films Coming to Fruition

At IFP, we support hundreds of work-in-progress films and young filmmakers each year. At Sundance this year, we were lucky enough to have twelve alumni projects premiering. Professionally, it’s always invigorating to see so many works that you’ve supported start their journey on the festival circuit and beyond. And on a personal level, it’s sincerely moving to see filmmakers who I know have been toiling away on projects for years finally introducing them to the world.

My first film of the festival was Shaka King’s Newlyweeds, a comedy about an aimless young couple in love with each other and with marijuana, but not necessarily in that order. IFP first supported the project back in 2011 when King attended our annual Independent Film Week as one of our Emerging Narrative screenwriting fellows. Back then, the script was still an early draft, but King’s charming and unique voice was already shining through. During Film Week, IFP put together a reading of a section of the Newlyweeds script in partnership with SAG Indie and casting agent Paul Schnee. I still have a very vivid memory of seeing King’s words come to life in front of an audience for the first time. And now, two years later, it was great to see that happen again on the big screen, with much of the same cast as first appeared in that screenplay reading two years ago.

Amari Cheatom and Trae Harris as Lyle and Nina in Newlyweeds

Similarly moving was Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, the sophomore feature from David Lowery, a wonderful young filmmaker who has been a friend of the IFP family for some time now (his micro-budget debut St. Nick came through our Filmmaker Labs all the way back in 2008). The script for Ain’t Them Bodies Saints was a part of our No Borders International Co-Production Market two years ago, but the screenplay only hinted at the majestic, ambitious, and wonderfully visual work that Lowery has concocted. Working to great effect with established actors such as Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, and Keith Carradine, Lowery has put together a meditative, haunting, and beautiful ode to the dying myth of the American outlaw. It’s a film that pays off years of hard work on Lowery’s part, one that should skyrocket him towards the top of the list of crucial American auteurs.

Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck in Ain’t Them Bodies Saints

Beyond these two films, there were so many other projects that IFP has been working with for years that were the talk of the festival: Stacie Passon’s complex character study Concussion (Narrative Labs 2012), which sold to Weinstein’s Radius for seven figures, Alexandre Moors’ Blue Caprice (Narrative Labs 2012), a dark meditation on the DC Sniper attacks, which received nearly unanimous rave reviews, After Tiller (Documentary Labs 2012), a controversial documentary about third-trimester abortion doctors that seemed to be the talk of the festival everywhere I went, and many, many more.

Making Time for Slamdance

Up the hill from the frenzied party hopping of Main Street, Park City’s Treasure Mountain Inn plays host each year to Slamdance. An indisputably smaller operation compared to the festival that most people descend on Park City for, Slamdance is still a vital facet of the independent scene. Showcasing work from emerging filmmakers, the festival has a bootstrappy, DIY feel to it that’s quite charming indeed.

This year I served on the Slamdance Documentary Jury, an opportunity that not only helped me to familiarize myself with the workd of many talented emerging storytellers, but also helped me to escape the constant insanity that is the Sundance Film Festival. There’s a sincerity and integrity to Slamdance – whether illustrated by the daring and unorthodox programming choices, the awesome parties (the opening night event featured a pop-up barber shop smack in the middle of the party), or just the fact that everyone at the festival – filmmakers, programmers, press, industry – seemed to be on a first-name basis with one another.

Still from Nicole Teeny’s Bible Quiz

As my co-jurors and I deliberated in the Slamdance main office, I couldn’t help but notice a wall of cubbies stuffed with backpacks and coats, as if everyone at the festival was part of one big grade school class. I dare you to find anywhere else in Park City that replicates such a vibe.

Festival Forum Progress

The programming team at IFP spends much of its time supporting storytellers, but we feel that it’s equally important to help those people who are dedicating themselves to helping storytellers. That’s been the mission of the IFP Festival Forum, an association and alliance of festival professionals that launched three years back at Independent Film Week. Since then, I’ve watched the group grow in scope, membership, and mission, as our very dedicated Executive Committee has put a plan in place to transform the group into an independent 501c3 run by and advocating for festival professionals.

It’s a lofty goal, and one that will take a lot of work to put into effect, but at the group’s annual brunch for festival leadership at Sundance, a resounding majority officially ratified a proposed set of bylaws and strategic plan for this evolution. Not only that, but the group also announced a set of exciting new recruits to the Executive Committee – including the San Francisco Film Society’s Ted Hope, the Hampton Film Festival’s Anne Chaisson, and Sundance’s Sarah Pearce.

Following the brunch, we all set to work with four hours of subcommittee sessions, where members of the Festival Forum convened to continue brainstorming and implementing next steps for the organization. Over these sessions, I watched representatives from festivals all across the world take time off from their packed Sundance screening schedules to convene and work together on strengthening their industry. Time will tell exactly when the Festival Forum completes its transformation into the organization that the Executive Committee has envisioned it becoming, but it was inspiring to see progress being made.

In Praise of Doubt

Amy Dotson — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:00:28 +0000

It turned out to be incredibly prophetic that my first day in Venice, Italy as one of the leaders for the Biennale College-Cinema was spent at collector François Pinault‘s incredible Punta della Dogana. This beautiful museum opened in 2009, with its closest neighbor – the Santa Maria della Salute Church- constructed almost four hundred years prior. It was but the first example of old masters sitting side-by-side in conversation with the new I experienced during this magical and inspiring week.

Santa Maria Della Salute Church, Venice

Filmmaker and fellow IFP Lab leader Jon Reiss and I entered the exhibition. In Praise of Doubt was based upon the curatorial notion of “questioning the idea of uncertainty and our convictions about identity,” It too displayed modern art masters like Jeff Koons and Donald Judd alongside a wide-range of younger, lesser-known artists, many of whom have never been included in previous exhibitions of the Pinault Collection before. For many of them, like our filmmakers, this was their first time engaging audiences with their work on the international stage.

These themes and ideas closely mirrored what would soon be consuming the teams of emerging filmmakers on the island of San Servalo, where FILMMAKER Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Scott Macaulay & I were privileged to work with a group of five teams at the Biennale developing feature films in Egypt, Lebanon, The Philippines, Italy and England.

In concert with other experienced mentors and their fellow artists from around the world, they were pushed again and again for two weeks to communicate their vision: to fine tune their story worlds, enrich their characters and dig deep into their own personal narratives to create something totally fresh and engaging. Above all, they were forced to revel in and embrace the uncertainty of what was to come and what they might uncover.

I have to admit, I really felt for these artists. Although it seems like yesterday, I couldn’t help but remember my own transformation in Venice eighteen years prior when I arrived on the island with little more than a pair of unfashionable overalls and the pack on my back. As an art student from a small, southern university, I was certainly wasn’t equipped with the language needed to express myself. I too was there living amongst strangers. And I was terrified of how I would survive when seemingly my only skill-set was a proclivity for welding complex structures. It was a time in my life where there was a lot to doubt on a daily basis.

All to say, my world was small before Venice.

But the art, the people, and the copious espressos fueled me. I went out and explored. I tried new things, and sometimes failed spectacularly. For every night that I reveled in the experience and appreciated the opportunities given, there were plenty where I felt like this horse sculpture by Maurizio Cattelan which aptly confronts viewers at the entrance of the Dogana.

Untitled, Maurizio Cattelan

Luckily, the many teachers, artists and friends I met eventually got me talking about my work. It all became real – not just the art I was making and the stories I was telling, but the idea that this could be my life. And while I eventually exchanged my acetylene torch for a cheap digital camera, my experiences in Venice gave me above all the courage of conviction to keep pushing forward and become comfortable with the unknown.

Thus, the most emotional and meaningful part of the Biennale College- Film for me was watching these personal transformations unfold anew, some slowly and others adapting at a shockingly quick pace. Seeing these filmmakers find their own courage to change, – in this case, overcome fears of public speaking or letting go of cherished, deeply personal storylines – was a reminder that inspiration and collaboration in Venice can truly do wonders for the creative mind.

In particular, it was a beautiful sight indeed to watch Shireen Seno’s Nervous Translation and Vatche Boulghourjain’s Tramontane develop. Quiet and evocative directors whose projects told stories of self and country, they were adept at creating unbelievable story worlds with rich characters and detailed elements that left you slackjawed and wanting, These stories seem like a distant relative of Edward Kienholz, whose large-scale installation ROXY was appropriately tucked away in a secret corner the Dogana.

ROXY, Edward Kienholz

More still were the types of projects that took cues from old dramatic structures and spun them in fresh directions. Deeply personal narratives Roland Jobson’s Into the Light & Kasem Kharsa’s I Dream of Empire and their dark, nuanced visuals have scenes that continue to play out in my mind. They mingle in my memory along with Paul McCarthy’s mutilated mask series, She/Man, all playing with time, gender and form in a way that feel simultaneously original and ancient.

Paul McCarthy’s “She/Man”

The ultimate winners of the Biennale – the three projects which will receive $150,000 Euro prizes and the opportunity to premiere at the 2013 Venice Film Festival – were all shockingly strong, conceptual pieces. Each provoked an almost visceral audience response as their stories and visuals unfolded in their pitches. Thai artist Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit’s A Year of June and IFP Alum New York-based Tim Sutton’s Memphis both wowed, and I look forward to seeing them come to life in the coming months.

Memphis’ John Baker and Tim Sutton at the Biennale di Venezia Pitch

And then there was Alessio Fava’s Yuri Esposito, a meditative and beautiful project Scott & I worked with chronicling the slowest man in the world. The project won as well and will go into production this spring. The filmmakers assure me that their protagonist may be “lentamente,” but the project will be delivered on time!

Director Alessio Fava, Producer Max Chicco and Yuri Esposito

To see it all in motion was a true joy and there’s not enough gelato or Chinotto in the world to thank Gucci, the Biennale’s Paola Baratta, Venice Film Festival head Alberto Barbera, and the amazing team of Savina Neirotti, Jane Williams, and Michel Reilhac for all they’ve done for these filmmakers. And as their sole U.S. partner, it was an honor for all of us here at IFP to have worked with everyone on this program from idea to inception. To see it all become real right before our eyes, watching these young filmmakers make work amongst the backdrop of one of Italy’s most achingly beautiful and ancient cities, was truly a sight to behold. I have no doubt we’ll be hearing quite a lot from these artists in the coming years and encourage you to discover them for yourselves at http://www.labiennale.org/en/cinema/collegecinema/.

The College’s Jane Williams, Michel Reilhac, Amy Dotson and Savina Neirotti

IFP Distribution Lab Recap: The Final Frontier

Oakley Anderson Moore — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 18:00:38 +0000

It had been two days since the last day of the IFP Distribution Lab – ending the yearlong 2012 IFP fellowship for 10 documentaries and 10 narrative films from first-time directors. With two days left in New York, I found myself sitting in a small theater in Brooklyn looking nervously at the backs of heads. A small handful of people had cruised over on this rainy Sunday for a test screening of my first feature documentary, Brave New Wild. Every time a punchline went unheeded, I swigged a Dixie cup full of cheap red wine. It’s very scary to show the film you’ve worked on for years to a live audience, knowing that it’s both the ultimate expression of your individuality and something you desperately need others to like, laugh at, or approve.

Still from “Brave New Wild”

And no sooner do you get used to the fact that people will watch your private work and have their public opinions about it, good or bad, than you begin the proverbial dog-and-pony show: distribution. Despite all this internal dialogue, the IFP Distribution session left me hopeful about the process because it empowered us with smart, creative, satisfying options. If you are about to get to distribution on a film, here are a few things that I thought were worth thinking about:

No seriously, what is your film festival strategy?

Sure, it’s gotta be really useful if you can premiere your film at a top-tier festival because maybe this will put you on the radar of industry who might make your dreams come true. But the honest truth is that every year, really wonderful films don’t make it in to the top tier festivals. Some become wildly successful regardless. Some films premiere at a top tier festival and disappear without nary a buzz. So ‘get in to a top tier festival’ should not be the extent of your strategy. Start considering your film festival run as a bonafide theatrical run where you get to show your film in theaters to audiences across the country (or world). For many films, it will be the extent of your theatrical distribution, and you might want to harness the press and connections with audiences at festivals to launch your film. Are you going to sell festival DVDs? What’s going to be on your website during the fest that people can look at from their smartphones? Are you going to ask for screening fees? When and how and why?

You gotta fight for your (Split) Rights.

When you’re making your first film, the hazy distribution ‘plan’ sorta starts out as two imaginary steps: 1) get into the Film Festival of your dreams 2) next thing you know, a deus-ex-machina distributor swoops in and your film is screening nationwide at Big Shot Megaplex 2000. But in this [rare] traditional model, one distributor gets all your rights for a long, long time. And because it costs a lot of money for a theatrical run, cross-collateralization means unless you get money upfront, you’re not going to see any. Not to mention, you don’t have any say in how your film is put out there.

If there’s anything that Jon Reiss (Think Outside the Box Office) won me over on during the Labs, it’s that forgetting about the traditional model and splitting up rights may be the best thing for your film. When you split your rights up, for example, you can sell your broadcast rights to whatever TV channel you can book, sell your digital rights to a digital aggregator who can get you on iTunes, and then sell DVDs and merch off your website/ via a fulfillment company, etc. You can tailor strategies that you think will work for your particular film and audience. A few things to keep in mind when you actually get down to parceling these off: don’t give rights to an entity that doesn’t have a history of making money off those rights, don’t give exclusivity unless you’re getting paid extra for it, and think about a clawback clause – where you get your rights back if a certain amount of time (6 months, 1 year) has elapsed and a minimum amount hasn’t been earned on those rights. It sounds a little daunting as a filmmaker to go in and negotiate these things, so if you don’t know if you’ll have the chops, hire a lawyer to negotiate for you.

Consider your own damn theatrical run.�

Creating a month or two tour of one-off special event screenings can turn your film into an amazing theater-going experience. Use the network you’ve been growing while making your film to get a full house where the audience is engaged, excited, asks questions, talks to people in the film, maybe even dances and drinks a beer with you, and thinks about it all week afterwards. All the while, spread the word of your film, sell some DVDs, special merch, and promote for your digital release.

Map of future screenings

As Dylan Marchetti from Variance Films pointed out, if you call a theater and let them know that you sold out your last screening, and want to book their theater for a Tuesday night for your next one, odds are they will be interested. The world is your oyster, as long as you are willing to put in the time and effort. If you’re trying to move on to your next film as part of your goals or have a rigid work schedule, this probably won’t sound as desirable, but as for my Producer Alex and I, we’re looking forward to packing the ’76 VW van we filmed our doc in, and living the er, dream for a month with the film. Of course, you often barely break even on a theatrical run like this – but independent film has always been a pretty lousy get-rich-quick scheme to say the least. At least this way, you can make a film, build an audience, work on the ancillary market, and have some bargaining power when you start on your next film.

IFP Sends First Partner Project to DIFF

Peter Bussian — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 19:06:28 +0000

As the first IFP representative partner project to the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), SCARLET POPPY – a cross cultural love story set in Afghanistan between an American and a conservative Pashtun woman who is also being pursued by a local Talib – was in the company of other partner projects from the region as well as from Europe (and now the US) that were all part of their Partnership Program. Dubai is a very vibrant and ambitious city on the Persian Gulf that has transformed itself in the last ten years into one of the most important commercial and cultural centers in the Middle East – if not the world. It is an enclave of stability in a region that has been through – and continues to go through – massive war and political and social change. Like New York, its ambition can be seen by looking up at all of the magnificent skyscrapers, including the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, which I find to be one of the most beautiful buildings I have seen.

Some of the meetings for SCARLET POPPY were with the same individuals and companies I had met in previous co-production markets – Asian Project Market (Busan, Korea), Film Bazaar (Goa, India) and IFP “No Borders”. I have noticed that relationships are developing over time and people wanted to see what progress has been made since the last encounter. But there were also many meetings with new producers, sales agents, and film financing companies that were interested in the project. I learned a lot by talking to all of these people, who were very generous with their time, about where to direct our efforts in terms of attachments and where the market is for this film. Since this is my first feature as Writer/Director/Producer and none of the other members of our producing team (Executive Producer Siddiq Barmak, Producer Thomas D. Adelman) were able to join, I was on my own.

The best thing about the Partnership section of the Market as well as DIFF in general, were the compelling filmmakers and stories that are coming out of this tumultuous region at the moment – all with with strong Middle Eastern or South Asian elements. Ironically, DIFF, with many stories of war and political and social upheaval, took place in one of Dubai’s glitziest hotels (and there is no glitz like Dubai glitz) – the Mina-A -Salam Hotel. The realness of the stories could not have been in stronger contrast to the fantasyland setting. The best meetings I had were not on the schedule at all and happened by chance. Where else can you be wandering in the hotel garden, lost and looking for a restaurant and make a random acquaintance with a billionaire Emirati media mogul who is building an entire media city in Kurdistan and invites you to have a meeting about your project?

Evenings were spent having drinks and talking films at the Koubba bar in the Al Qasr hotel – the best networking place at DIFF. When I finally did meet my Emirati media mogul on the veranda of the Al Qasr, he showed up with his Iraqi Airlines pilot friend – a man in his sixties and for some reason dressed entirely in leather, including the pants – I should have gotten a picture but I was too busy telling him about my project.

Another random encounter at the Koubba bar led to my instant friendship with an Iranian filmmaker from Australia who runs a festival there and must be one of the few people to have seen Opium War, an Afghan movie I acted in a few years ago. He was quoting me lines from the movie all night – lines I didn’t necessarily want to remember.

As usual, I did not have time to go see most of the great movies at DIFF but hopefully I will see many of them soon. The ones I did see were largely in the screening room when I had a spare couple of hours.

I am now in Mumbai where I have come for some meetings. Reflecting on DIFF, this is the fourth co-production market I have participated in for SCARLET POPPY and I feel people had more substantive interest in my project there – and this probably comes down to the organic connection the project has to the region. In some of the other markets, people said they were interested in the project – and I am sure they were, but it was a bit off their radar screen. I had to do a lot of talking to explain the context of the film. Not so here. Some People were looking for exactly this type of film. Some projects fit more naturally in certain festivals and mine fit here. What this results in – who knows? But it was certainly a worthwhile experience and a place not to be missed for stories such as mine with Middle Eastern and to a lesser extent South Asian stories – whether from the region or involving the diaspora around the world.

I am very grateful to IFP NY for selecting our project to go to DIFF as well as to Jane Williams and her team at DIFF, who did such a great job in making the experience a rewarding one.

Highlights from the Film Bazaar

Priyanka Kumar — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 19:25:50 +0000

This year, my feature script INCOGNITO was an IFP partnership project at the Film Bazaar in Goa, India. INCOGNITO is the story of a seventeen-year-old girl who teams up with her father to help the Pakistani Prime Minister—on a secret pilgrimage to India—dodge an assassination attempt.

November 18, 6:40 am. At the Dabolim airport in Goa,a Film Bazaar driver greeted me. He began driving me and a Mumbai Film Fest programmer to the Grand Hyatt. For a second, I thought he was driving the car on the wrong side of the road. Then I realized I was in India! Experiencing the flow of traffic was as exciting as being inside a video game, and, eventually, the Mumbai Fest programmer requested our driver to slow down.

The Grand Hyatt, spread out over 28 acres, looks as though it’s been around forever. The concierge, who walked me to my guesthouse, told me, however, that the hotel was built a year-and-a-half ago and mimics a Portuguese architectural style (Goa is a former Portuguese colony). There is an ancient church on the property. I could hear the sounds of tropical birds from my hotel room.

Every day, the filmmakers at the Grand Hyatt took a half-hour shuttle to the Marriott where all the Film Bazaar meetings took place. There was never a dull moment at the INCOGNITO table—my producer Cher Hawrysh and I met French, German, Indian, Australian, and even Polish producers! (Also attached to INCOGNITO are the producing team of Matt Parker and Carly Hugo).

Co-Production Market or Dessert Bar? Meeting French producer Guillaume Benski

An Australian producer Robyn Kershaw (SAVE YOUR LEGS) warned us that she had difficulty figuring out why there was a separate line item in her Indian budget for “spotboys.” A spotboy in the Indian film industry is a person who serves tea and food to the crew. Indeed, heroic spotboys kept the co-production attendees adequately caffeinated during the four-day event.

You need a “spotboy” for your film.

One of the highlights of Film Bazaar was meeting festival programmers like Charles Tesson from Semaine De La Critique/Cannes and Cameron Bailey from the Toronto International Film Fest. Mr. Bailey also gave an excellent presentation on TIFF during the Film Bazaar’s Knowledge Series panels.

Priyanka and Cher and Cameron (TIFF)

Fast forward past a whizzing round of lunches, cocktails, and a Polish dinner, and by Nov 24^th, it was already time to pack my bags and brace myself for the 35-hour trip back to the U.S. Thanksgiving doesn’t get any more productive than this!

Case Study: The Non-Traditional Festival Run of Social Justice Doc “Brothers on The Line”

Sasha Reuther — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 15:31:27 +0000

When I set out to produce my first feature-length documentary, Brothers On The Line, I knew that a tricky funding and distribution road lay ahead. Narrated by Martin Sheen, the film explores the lives of my grandfather and great-uncles, Victor, Roy, and Walter Reuther, firebrand labor organizers and social justice statesman for the once-powerful United Auto Workers union. Before presenting a frame of footage, the subject matter was enough to draw a line in the sand in regard to who would be willing to provide support and dissemination (even though the finished piece is much more of an American history perspective than anything close to a Michael Moore exposé.) According to top TV broadcasters, we could not hang our hat on a large amount of financial support from unions, as that would be perceived as a “conflict of interest” when it came to distribution. So, stripped of our largest potential source, the dilemma pushed us into a cautious dance of how and where we could raise the necessary production monies. The alliances established along that journey, with historical societies and advocacy groups, would open unexpected doors when it came time for our non-traditional film festival run.

Uptown/Detroit Independent Film Festival — Winner, Best Michigan Documentary

Detroit was undoubtedly ground-zero for the film, as the story focused on the auto industry and its workforce. My team and I spent countless hours at the Wayne State University labor library and other historical archives around the state of Michigan. Relationships with local researchers led to an introduction to one of the directors of the MotorCities National Heritage Area, an affiliate of the National Park Service dedicated to preserving the automotive and labor heritage of the state. The mutual benefits were obvious, as the film was unearthing a vast amount of Michigan history keen to MotorCities and we were certainly excited to link up with any statewide network. But, I’d never heard of a “national heritage area” before so, it warranted further investigating. A National Heritage Area is “a region that has been recognized by the U.S. Congress for its combination of natural, cultural, historic, and recreational resources that have shaped a cohesive, nationally distinctive landscape.”

There are 49 such areas across the country and many have established grant programs to support local interpretive projects (including films!) Outside of my Detroit legacy, the family has roots in West Virginia, leading me to approach the Wheeling National Heritage Area as well. Since the documentary at least briefly covers those early years, we were at first eligible for a modest Mini-Grant ($1K), which soon grew to a larger Partnership Grant ($6K) after the Board screened our rough cut. For those producing a film on any aspect of American history or culture, I highly recommend exploring an applicable Heritage Area. There’s no guarantee of funding availability but, making contact could lead to benefits in other areas. When we reached completion of Brothers On The Line and the film was accepted into the Uptown/Detroit Independent Film Festival as our World Premiere, The MotorCities National Heritage Area launched a campaign of blogs and Facebook messages in advance of our screening dates. TV and radio interviews followed, boosting attendance at this up-and-coming festival and prompting organizers to add a second showing of the film. The free and far-reaching promotion proved to be just as valuable as the earlier grant awards.

Tales From Planet Earth Film Festival – Madison, WI

Aside from historical societies, a number of advocacy groups also played a role in my film’s progression. The Reuther brothers were not just workers’ rights activists; their commitment spanned a broad range of social movements: civil rights, community organizing, voter registration, national healthcare, anti-war, the environment, etc. Unable to cover all of these issues in the eventual 80-minute film, I nonetheless made the effort to reach out to any group who might have a special connection to the material, no matter how slim. During the process, I began an email exchange with The Nelson Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I was researching the UAW’s environmental activism and The Nelson Institute has one of the leading programs in that field, named after the late Senator Gaylord Nelson, founder of Earth Day. (The UAW was a financial contributor to the first Earth Day in 1970.) While my communication did not result in funding, the staff at the institute were particularly intrigued by my film for its progressive message and offered to consider it for their annual Tales From Planet Earth Film Festival. Acceptance into that festival was providential, not just because they provide a screening fee AND honorarium (very rare these days) but, primarily for its location. If Detroit is the root of our story, then Madison, WI represents the current heartbeat of labor activism. It was the home of last year’s Madison Uprising in which embattled public sector union members took to the streets after Governor Scott Walker slashed their pensions and benefits. I couldn’t have asked for a better stage from which to link current affairs to our historical documentary. Brothers On The Line drew a full-house crowd at the festival and was immediately embraced by the South Central Federation of Labor, which set-up their own special screening the following night. In stretching the boundaries of my “cause” film and throwing the fundraising net a little wider, I was fortunate to catch an ally that paid off with patience. What at first appeared to be a disappointing dead-end in regard to financial support, transformed into the ultimate contact list for today’s frontline activists, all eagerly anticipating our home video release.

Washington DC International Film Festival – Nominee, Justice Matters Award

The final resource worth mentioning here did not come from earlier legwork but, actually arose directly from a festival acceptance. If given the opportunity, I knew the documentary would play well in the DC area, as there are a plethora of activist groups to attract and it happens to be my hometown. American Rights at Work and The International Labor Rights Forum, two Capitol Hill based advocacy organizations whose missions support workers’ rights, were great partners in our completion efforts. However, upon selection into the Washington DC International Film Festival (a.k.a. FilmFestDC), one of the most promising associations was with Teaching For Change, a non-profit organization promoting social and economic justice in the classroom. In coordination with FilmFestDC programmers, Teaching For Change selects one documentary from the annual festival slate that has potential in the educational market and invites the filmmaker to participate in preview screenings at area high-schools.� Brothers On The Line was chosen and two classroom visits scheduled. The junior and senior-year students watched the full film prior to my arrival and I came in for a follow-up discussion. We had an in-depth chat on U.S. history and film technique in both settings; each class with their own unique commentary. One of my goals for the film is that it would have a long educational shelf-life and this “test-screening” was priceless. The students’ honest observations caused me to view the film in a new light and will aide in the preparation to promote to a younger audience. In discussing their favorite scenes, we also touched on what they might cut out, which could be helpful if I ever need to bring the film under an hour for TV. (Note: be prepared when asking that, as the answers could be brutal!) Even if not initiated by FilmFestDC, introducing yourself to Teaching for Change is a must when it comes to social justice meets educational filmmaking.

Brothers On The Line was produced before crowd-sourcing really took off so, we relied heavily on nurturing personal relationships. Some offered a modest yet immediate boost; while others revealed their worth in the final hour. But, what I didn’t realize at the time is that all alliances made during production were actually shaping our film festival run. From New York (Workers Unite Film Festival – Best Documentary Feature) to California (Mendocino Film Festival – Audience Choice Award), our non-traditional circuit has been deeply gratifying as the enthusiasm of our supporters is the driving force behind our success.

A Call to Producers: Innovate or Die

Mynette Louie — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 19:00:41 +0000

Summit of independent creative producers hosted by MoMA, Indiewire, and Zipline Entertainment in December 2009.

I’m very fortunate to be friends with many accomplished independent film producers–people whose films have screened at the best festivals, won significant awards, gotten picked up by major distributors, earned healthy gross receipts, and received accolades in the mainstream press. We hang out sometimes, one-on-one or in groups, to catch each other up on our projects, share recent experiences, exchange opinions on companies and people we’ve worked with, etc. But essentially, we get together for emotional support against an industry and an economy hostile to our work. At any given time, half of us will have one foot out the door, ready to escape an occupation in which the appreciation and financial rewards we get have zero correlation with the insanely hard work we do and intense emotional stress we endure.

I was recently struck by three things I read that echoed some of these sentiments: Ted Hope’s forlorn blog post in which he catches up an old friend to where he is now, Brian Newman’s post about how YouTube stars are disrupting the old indie film model, and the Huffington Post article on Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen. I deduced a common theme running through all three: innovate or die.

Ted’s post lamented, “It is very frustrating watching what I love crumble away. I see many people with their fingers in the leaks, but few that want to build a new city higher up on the hill.” Brian said that filmmakers need to find innovative ways to connect to their audiences before the latter start to liken Sundance to the Metropolitan Opera, “a place you go to see a wonderful artform that you know you should respect, but that no one cares about anymore and which very few can afford to make or attend.” And the HuffPo article quoted Jay and Lars saying that too many indie producers “are too busy adapting when we should be innovating.” Film may be the new theater (or Metropolitan Opera), TV the new film, online streaming the new TV, but any way you frame it, the world of content creation, distribution, and consumption is changing–dramatically.

Independent producers are entrepreneurial by nature. Each feature film we undertake is a distinct startup, with rounds of financing to raise, a team to build, development and production phases, a launch (premiere), and an exit strategy (sale). We are, essentially, serial entrepreneurs, except–as a matter of survival–we have to run multiple businesses simultaneously, being in some combination of development, production, post, and distribution on different films, all at once. So why don’t we take our creativity, penchant for hard work, and entrepreneurial chutzpah, and put it all toward innovation?

Let’s figure out how to reconcile the artfully crafted 100-minute narrative with the public’s growing appetite for cheap and quick content. Let’s make sense of the confusing array of social media and alternative distribution tools out there. Let’s build on the examples set by folks like Louis C.K. and Ed Burns (except let’s try to remove the “be famous already” prerequisite to their success). Let’s see if we can’t operate outside Hollywood’s lottery system, outside its control, and sustain ourselves as “middle-class filmmakers” who continue to make films that speak to people.

If we don’t innovate the way we make and sell our movies, the independent film space will become further dominated by two groups: young first-time filmmakers who are willing and able to work for free (and who haven’t yet maxed out the favors they can call in), and filmmakers who are already rich and don’t need a paycheck or a return. Writers, directors, and producers who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, those who are older, those from immigrant and minority groups, and those who are trying to make their second, third, fourth features (to which they could apply the expertise gained from making their previous ones) will leave the business–and the scope of stories being told will become severely limited.

Fellow producers, I know you’re busy. I know it’s hard to tread water in a vast sea of emails, calls, contracts, scripts, screeners, budgets, schedules, financing plans, accounting statements, tax filings. I know you’re juggling so many projects, you sometimes confuse the names of your protagonists. I know you wish you were doing a better job of absorbing the continuous stream of industry news. I know there are a ton of writers, directors, composers, actors, cinematographers knocking at your door, hoping to introduce you to their work and pick your brain (and I know you’d love to meet with many of them). I know you waste a lot of time talking to “potential financiers.” I know dealing with agents, managers, and lawyers exhausts you. I know it’s maddening to hustle for paid short-term gigs in the midst of prepping, posting, or delivering your feature, or traveling to festivals and markets. I know you never get enough sleep or have enough time with your loved ones.

But, my dear producer pals, the next time we meet up to kvetch about work and life, let’s put our heads together and figure out how to sustain not only ourselves, but ultimately, the art that we love so dearly, and the diversity of artistic voices that make it. There is a better way, and we’ve got to find it soon.

David Dinerstein on Social Networking

Cait Carvalho — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:00:39 +0000

[See post to watch Flash video]

David Dinerstein discusses how social networking can prove to be a tremendous tool.

From the 2011 Independent Filmmaker Conference.

Deirdre Haj on Working With Festival Programmers

Cait Carvalho — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:00:15 +0000

[See post to watch Flash video]

Deirdre Haj discusses how filmmakers should take advantage and reach out to the press.

From the 2011 Independent Filmmaker Conference.