http://independent-magazine.org/2018/11/american-film-market-oct-31-nov-7-2018/
Obsessed with Independent Film Since 1976 
Obsessed with Independent Film Since 1976
The 2018 American Film Market just wrapped up in Santa Monica, California. This year saw comparably stronger sales for small, independent films. Courtney Sheehan was at the AFM, and writes about the importance of relationships and risk-taking, key themes that emerged in the conference sessions on production and distribution.
Sharon Lewis is the creator behind the indie sci-fi film Black Girl Begins. In her debut piece for The Independent, Lewis writes about how she drew on energies of the under-served community of Afropunk women to market and distribute her film. She offers valuable advice to filmmakers on how to use social media and crowd funding as marketing and research tools, how to choose festivals wisely, and how to “re-define” a theatrical release. Brown Girl Begins is based on the award-winning novel Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson.
The continued rise of streaming platforms has had reverberating effects in online film communities. Every company, regardless of size and scope, must complete to find, maintain, and build online audiences. Courtney Sheehan shares news of new streaming services after speaking with industry reps at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
After attending a recent DocDay, ITV Fest, and Salem Film Fest, filmmaker Michele Meek shares her insights into some best practices to pitch your film to funders, distributors, and new fans.
How did the buying and selling stack up at this year’s TIFF? Courtney Sheehan takes the temp of the ever-feverish world of independent film exhibition and distribution by talking with Adam Birnbaum (Avon Theatre), Julie Anderson Friesen (Cinema Falls), and Andrew Carlin (Oscilloscope Laboratories).
With more than 240 offerings, even seasoned SXSW attendees like Steven Abrams can feel overwhelmed. Abrams took a step back and gleaned the best nuggets from the film panels so that those of us who couldn’t attend can get a sense of what’s what.
Sprinkle a little adamant optimism over a new digital partnership with The Flaherty Film Seminar and a heaping embrace of the educational market, and you have a few of the most recent distribution strategies that The Cinema Guild’s Ryan Krivoshey discussed with The Independent’s Courtney Sheehan at TIFF.
Cinema Politica is the world’s largest campus and community-based documentary screening network, reaching a total audience of over one million across its network each year. Engaged, questioning, eager to take action: this is the type of audience filmmakers dream of.
From his purview at TIFF 2014, Drafthouse’s Tim League weighs what is and isn’t apocalyptic about the future of distribution in a season of down box offices and new acquisitions such as Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence.
Remember how kids started sharing their bullying stories after the doc Bully came out? The NYC-based firm Picture Motion creates social impact campaign strategies to help independent films find audiences and affect social change. The documentary Rich Hill is one of their upcoming projects, set for release on August 1st.