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Blogging IDFA: Advice About Documentary Distribution
Experienced filmmakers share advice about distribution at IDFA's Docs for Sale.
December 15th, 2008 | Randi Cecchine
The Independent's blogger and filmmaker Randi Cecchine, director of The Missile Dick Chicks Take on America (see the trailer) shares her notes from the Independent Documentary Festival Amsterdam's Docs for Sale series with advice from Deborah Zimmerman of Women Make Movies, Diane Wireman of Participant Media (the organization behind An Inconvenient Truth) and filmmaker Franny Armstrong, whose most recent film, Billy the Kid, screened at IDFA. Speakers address how the market for documentaries is shifting and give advice on how to find a place for your documentary in a constantly morphing media.
In the true spirit of blogging, below are some notes I took during a presentation that was part of IDFAcademy and open to filmmakers whose work was presented in Docs for Sale. I hope this information is helpful to other filmmakers.
Blogging IDFA: Dinner with Filmmaker Velcrow Ripper
An inside look at the inspiration for the film Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action, which screened at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam.
December 8th, 2008 | Randi Cecchine
The Independent's blogger and filmmaker Randi Cecchine, director of The Missile Dick Chicks Take on America (see the trailer), sits down for a dinner table discussion with Fierce Light director, Velcrow Ripper and his business partner and producer, Cher Hawrysh, who reveal what inspired them to make a movie about change, and how filmmakers play an integral role in being a catalyst for that change.
I was delighted to discover an inspiring new film at International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) called Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action by filmmaker Velcrow Ripper and producer Cher Hawrysh.
Blogging IDFA: Discussing Distribution
Blogger Randi Cecchine gives us the inside scoop on the Docs For Sale series at IDFA.
November 25th, 2008 | Randi Cecchine
Independent blogger and filmmaker Randi Cecchine, director of The Missile Dick Chicks Take on America (see the trailer), takes on the International Documentary Film Festival and Amsterdam's Docs For Sale informational sessions and boils down the best advice for the distribution and representation of independent films.
At the International Documentary Film Festival (IDFA), my documentary Trail of Feathers: The Missile Dick Chicks Take on America is playing on little cubicles at Docs for Sale where distributors, sales agents, festivals and broadcasters come to find new films.
Blogging Dallas Video Festival: Night Two
A report from opening night and a preview of what's to come.
November 8th, 2008 | Derek Leverette
Derek Leverette blogs from the Dallas Video Festival with a report from the opening night films and a preview of the second-night lineup including feature A President to Remember: In the Company of John F. Kennedy, and The Wrecking Crew (see trailer, a documentary about backup musicians of the 60s, and festival-favorite The Pleasure of Being Robbed (see trailer).
The first night of the 21st Annual Dallas Video Festival was a great success! We're so excited to be in our third decade of programming innovative, though-provoking video art in north Texas.
Blogging Dallas Video Festival: Opening Night
The 21st Annual Dallas Video Festival opens with a screening of a painstakingly and unauthorized remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation.
November 7th, 2008 | Derek Leverette
The 21st Annual Dallas Video Festival opens with a screening of a painstakingly and unauthorized remake Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation (see trailer) at the Angelika Film Center Dallas at 7 PM. The festival runs from Thursday, November 6 through Sunday, November 9.
Have you ever loved a movie so much that you wanted to live it? This is just what Chris Strompolos, Eric Zala, and Jayson Lamb did when they were only 12 years old. Over the next seven summers, they painstakingly remade Raiders of the Lost Ark, shot for shot. The film opens this year's 21st Annual Dallas Video Festival .
Blogging Woodstock: Round-Up
A round-up of the stand-out films at the Woodstock Film Festival.
October 9th, 2008 | Sarah Coleman
Sarah Coleman sums up the highlights of the Woodstock Film Festival closing ceremonies with crude quips from this year's Maverick filmmaker, Kevin Smith (see the trailer for his latest film, Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which closed the festival), and wide-eyed acceptances from upcoming filmmakers such as Jeremiah Zagar (see the trailer for In a Dream), Sean Baker (see the trailer for Prince of Broadway), and Tom Quinn, among others.
Want to inject a bit of spark and a lot of profanity into your film festival award ceremony?
Blogging Woodstock: Talk, Talk, Talk
Blogger Sarah Coleman boils down the panel discussions at the Woodstock Film Festival.
October 7th, 2008 | Sarah Coleman
Sure, panel discussions are useful, but the information-gleaned-to-time-spent ratio doesn't always work out in your favor so we had blogger Sarah Coleman get the inside scoop from critics, actors, producers and filmmakers, like Jay Duplass (see the trailer for Baghead here), who were willing to share their filmmaking experiences, from post-production to distribution.
Saturday at the Woodstock Film Festival is a day filled with panel discussions. At best, panels can wonderfully stimulating, filled with useful information delivered by vibrant, inspiring people. At worst, they can be mind-numbingly dull.
Blogging Woodstock: Ready, Set, Activism!
Blogger Sarah Coleman takes a look at the themes of activism and genre bending at the Woodstock Film Festival.
October 6th, 2008 | Sarah Coleman
Not-your-everyday animation finds a home with the audience at Woodstock with Bill Plympton's Idiots and Angels (view trailer here) along with a passionate forum for environmental concerns following a screening of Dan Stone's documentary At the Edge of the World.
Nikki Goldbeck, the deputy director of the Woodstock Film Festival, is the point person for organizing filmmakers’ visits to the festival. This year, some 80 filmmakers are coming to discuss their movies, the highest number ever, which Goldbeck sees as a testament to the festival’s growing success. “It really makes a difference,” she says.
Blogging Woodstock: Politically Independent
With the 2008 presidential election quickly approaching, the 9th Annual Woodstock Film Festival brings political and social issues to the forefront.
October 4th, 2008 | Sarah Coleman
Independent blogger Sarah Coleman gives readers a peek into the politically-charged first day at the Woodstock Film Festival where films addressed issues such as the environment, broken families (see the trailer for "The New Year Parade"), world culture (see the trailer for "Throw Down Your Heart"), and religion (see "Religulous" trailer).
On the day before this year’s Woodstock Film Festival screenings are due to begin, festival director Meira Blaustein sits in her office, enjoying a moment of calm before the storm. As it’s grown in stature and reputation, this “fiercely independent” festival in the well-known Catskills town has been finding itself increasingly spoiled for choice.
Blogging TIFF: Pontypool Changes Everything
A review of "Pontypool", one of TIFF's "groundbreaking films", which screened at the Toronto International Film Festival this month.
September 30th, 2008 | Gillian Moody
Blogger Gillian Moody takes a look at the zombie-esque "Pontypool", a part of Toronto International Film Festival's Vanguard series, which imagines a world where a virus is spread through the English-language.
On Tuesday, Septemer 9, Canadian-made film Pontypool, a movie by director Bruce McDonald of The Tracey Fragments, (starring 2007 Oscar nominee Ellen Page from the movie Juno) screened at TIFF’s Vanguard, a program dedicated to groundbreaking films.
Blogging TIFF: Someone Who Is Nothing Has Everything to Lose
A review of "Slumdog Millionaire", a film by acclaimed director Danny Boyle of "Trainspotting" fame, that screened at Toronto International Film Festival this month.
September 29th, 2008 | Gillian Moody
Blogger Gillian Moody views "Slumdog Millionaire" (see trailer), a film that flirted with the idea of a straight-to-DVD release, becomes a popular favorite at Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and is picked up by Fox Searchlight for a happy ending to a long journey that parallels the film itself.
On Sunday, September 7, English-made film Slumdog Millionaire made its debut at TIFF, where it handily won the Cadillac People’s Choice Award. All of this considering that Slumdog Millionaire nearly went straight to DVD after Warners’ Independent Pictures closed its doors earlier this year.
Remake and clip licensing
Huge independent library
September 18th, 2008See www.filmsaroundtheworld.com for overview and links to related cites.
Films Around The World, Inc. has been around since 1930. We own what we believe to be the largest remaining good copyright library. It includes remake rights to hundreds of "B" movies which are ideal for low-budget remakes because they were originally structured for low budgets -- small casts, compelling stories, little in the way of special effects or elaborate scenery.
Blogging IFP: Let's Talk About It
As the Indepdendent Film Week winds down, festival-goers are eager to discuss filmmaking techniques at the conferences.
September 18th, 2008 | Kayla Soyer-Stein
Documentary filmmakers discuss the relationship with their subjects during one of the festival's most popular segments: the Independent Filmmaker Conference. SILVERDOCS director of programming, Sky Sitney, and other panelists try to define the ethical role of documentarians.
A crowd of filmmakers and other members of the film industry gathered outside the Haft Auditorium at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) at various times today, as they did every day this week, waiting to get into the Independent Filmmaker Conferences, in which filmmakers, producers, distributors, agents, and buyers discussed a variety of issues pertaining to independent filmmaking.
Blogging IFP: Short Shorts
A snapshot into the upcoming films from Canada.
September 17th, 2008 | Kayla Soyer-Stein
Blogging from Independent Film Week, Writer Kayla Soyer-Stein gets a sneak peak of upcoming Canadian films with excerpts and trailers (see The Baby Formula for example). Plus, she heads over to the Short Film Showcases to view documentaries of upcoming filmmakers from CUNY.
From 9:30 to 10:30 this morning, bits of new works from talent supported by the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund were presented at Chelsea Cinemas to members of the industry.
Blogging IFP: Death Becomes It
The first in a series of blog entries about the 30th anniversary of Independent Film Week (formerly the IFP Market) in New York City.
September 16th, 2008 | Kayla Soyer-Stein
Blogger Kayla Soyer-Stein takes a peek at Independent Film Week in New York City, with a first look at the slightly morbid side of IFP, along with a glimpse into exactly what it takes to make a documentary from start to finish.
Short narrative films by emerging filmmakers from the City University of New York schools were screened from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. today at Chelsea Cinemas, as part of the NextGenNYC Short Film Showcases, a new program initiated by IFP and the New York City Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting. Most of the filmmakers were in the audience, but the theater was nearly empty.
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