Reader Isabelle Vossart brings two new fee-free festivals to my attention:
The Blue November Micro Film Festival and the Flyway Film Festival. As with most such "no fee" festivals these look like small start-up fests, but if you're looking to rack up some additional festival screenings on the cheap this could be the way to go.
See the (always growing) list of no-fee festivals here.
On a brief hiatus
I'm still here but on a bit of a break as I move out of my old apartment and into a new place with my family. The book launch at the Austin Film Festival went well and I've been getting lots of good reactions from filmmakers and festival directors, but there's a lot of work to be done getting the word out. Once this move is over (the end of the week) I'll be working to get back on track with new blog entries and a write up of the press mentions the book has received so far.
Until then . . . .
Cinekink wants your sex-positive films.
Cinekink is precisely the kind of niche festival that can provide your film with much-needed exposure if you're having trouble getting traction on the mainstream festival circuit. (Of course, that's only if your film fits into its particular niche.) While niche festivals like Cinekink often find themselves curating their programs from other festivals, most of them would far prefer to discover new talent and to present content not yet seen elsewhere. If you have a sex-positive film that needs to be seen, submit to Cinekink.
SUBMIT TO CINEKINK!
Call for Entries - CineKink NYC/2009CineKink NYC - "the really alternative film festival" - is seeking films and videos, of any length and genre, that explore and celebrate the wide diversity of sexuality. Dedicated to the recognition and encouragement of sex-positive and kink-friendly depictions in film and television, we're looking to blur some boundaries and will be considering offerings drawn from both Hollywood and beyond, with works ranging from documentary to drama, camp comedy to hot porn, mildly spicy to quite explicit - and everything in between.
Cutting across orientations, topics covered at CineKink have included - but are by no means limited to - BDSM, leather and fetish, swinging, non-monogamy and polyamory, roleplay and gender bending. Or, frankly, given the current moral climate, as long as it involves consenting adults, just about anything celebrating sex as a right of self expression is fair game. (Far be it from us to define "kink" - if you think your work might make sense in this context, please send it along!)
Scheduled for its sixth annual appearance February 24-March 1, 2009, the specially-curated CineKink NYC will also feature a short film competition, audience choice awards, presentations, parties and a gala kick-off, with a national screening tour to follow.
The postmarked deadline for entries is November 15th.
For more information and to download an entry form, visit http://www.cinekink.com/entries
Embed "Film Festival Secrets" on your own site!
OK, this is nifty. Not only can you read the entire text of Film Festival Secrets online, but you can share it with your own readers by embedding the book on your own site or blog in this cool little flash reader from Issuu. The book is now available for sale at Createspace and Amazon (two faces of the same entity, but I get a better cut of the proceeds if you direct people to Createspace). On the other hand, you can earn a commission if you direct people to Amazon with your own affiliate code, so do whatever works best for you.
Austin Film Festival preview on Slackerwood podcast #4.
In Slackerwood podcast #4, Jette and yours truly spend a pastoral evening outdoors with Austin Film Festival programming director Kelly Williams, who shares news about some of the must-see events from the upcoming film festival and conference. We also reminisce about Fantastic Fest and talk about some upcoming events, like Home Movie Day. That's Kelly in the photo that accompanies the article below.
A coffee with ... Kelly Williams of the Austin Film Festival
The Austin Film Festival film programming team. From left to right: Jesse Trussell, Kelly Williams, John Merriman.
The Austin American-Statesman sits down with Kelly Williams, the film programming director for the upcoming Austin Film Festival. Apart from just being a nice profile of a friend (I used to work at AFF), the piece reveals the sorts of things programmers look for and the ways festivals might differ from one another.
"It's a long process. Thousands of entries come in, and it takes a good portion of the year to just get it down to a small group. I sort of look at it like a pyramid. You start at the bottom and figure out how to get to the top. Since the festival focuses on screenwriters, the main question we ask is how well is the story told. That's the No. 1 thing. The same goes for documentaries. We look for ones that are very narrative-driven."
Read A coffee with ... Kelly Williams of the Austin Film Festival.
Jackson Hole Institute, Film Festival shut down
The Jackson Hole Film Institute closed its doors Tuesday following the nation’s worst single-day points drop of the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday.
“Funding dried up pretty quickly because of what’s been going on with the financial markets,” said Todd Rankin, managing director of the Jackson Hole Film Festival, the primary program of the institute. “Even leading up to this summer’s festival, things were tight.”
The film festival had board and staff committed to raising a sizeable percentage of the full festival budget for 2009, estimated at $1.2 million to $1.5 million. To date, sponsors and support were in place for only about $300,000, and with the worsening national financial outlook, board members were not comfortable going forward, Rankin said. Even streamlining the festival to an $800,000 event didn’t seem feasible.
The sad state of the economy seems to be leaking into everything these days, including the film festival circuit. For those filmmakers suspicious of the way festivals seem to be "raking in" the submissions fees, this should be a bit of evidence to the contrary -- for a festival to survive, they need a few more revenue streams.
Read the full story in the Jackson Hole Daily. (Via indieWIRE.)
Film Festival Secrets: the book is finished.
Has it been quiet around here lately? That's because one cannot complete a book and blog at the same time. At least I can't.
I've been devoting all of my writing resources to completing Film Festival Secrets: A Handbook for Independent Filmmakers and I'm happy to say that it's finally finished. Since I don't want to spend months or years looking for a publisher I'm putting it out myself through Amazon's Createspace print-on-demand service. A downloadable PDF version will be available for free and the print edition will list at $24.95.
There's still the print proof left to approve but I'm confident that I will be able to make the PDF and print versions available simultaneously on October 16th with a launch at the Austin Film Festival.
So now you know what I've been up to and why it's been so quiet around here. I'll be doing more writing on the blog in coming months with excerpts from the book (annotated and expanded to include things that didn't make the print edition) as well as new material, interviews, etc.
More to come.
Catch me this weekend at the Sidewalk Moving Pictures Festival
I'm serving on the narrative shorts jury this weekend at the Sidewalk Moving Pictures Festival in Birmingham Alabama. You should be able to see me on a panel or two during the festival, in particular the "alternative distribution" panel at 4:00 p.m.
Niche Marketing Tools Panel - Independent Film Week
These are my notes on the Niche Marketing Tools panel, including some of my thoughts before the panel and some of the more interesting concepts that came up during the panel. I've listed them below in no particular order and attributed them to the panelists where I could remember where they came from -- apologies to those whom I misremember.
- To speak generally, niche marketing is about identifying special interests in your film, researching that special interest, and contacting those heavily engaged in that interest to spread the word within the existing community. Tapping into existing communities who can spread word of mouth for you is the goal.
- The basics of marketing a film still apply -- still photos, well-written supporting material, making a good first impression. (Jon Gerrans)
- Jason Cassidy - On marketing "Blindness" -- speaking to the built-in core audience of people who loved the book was hugely important in marketing that film.
- Larry Fessenden - On creating a film web site: Stills, etc are important but it's also important to use the ability to customize to help draw visitors into the story of your film and the story behind the film. A director's statement (while it may seem corny) can very much influence press and audience perception of the film. Web site preferable to facebook or myspace in this way because you can customize a web site in ways that one cannot with facebook.
- Larry Fessenden - On building community -- your community consists not just of your fans but also of other filmmakers, journalists who cover your genre (including bloggers, etc). Recruit them to your cause and be a partner to them as well. Larry has built a network of horror/genre filmmakers who have their own stories that feed into the larger story of this filmmaking community. Like a mini-studio or unofficial releasing "brand."
- Jason Cassidy - On Facebook: New media like facebook can make marketing more efficient but the social tools only work if people are drawn to them. That can actually take a media/advertising spend to gain critical mass and make maintaining Facebook presence worth it.
- Jon Garrans - On Facebook: Facebook is a great place to store data like trailers, etc, which might otherwise cost you money to store and transmit (outgoing bandwidth fees).
- Aaron Hillis - On bandwidth fees - Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) can also help with storage at low cost. http://amazon.com/s3
- Aaron Hillis - Facebook & MySpace can be oversaturated, difficult to attract an audience to any one thing -- get more creative, take steps beyond just setting up a social network page.
- Stephen Raphael, on communities - some communities are stronger than others and distributors make decisions based on that. For example Jewish community networks are very strong and can be relied upon to spread word of mouth but also have strong formal networks (community centers, email lists, etc).
- Stephen Raphael, in answer to question about tapping known niches - Don't self-distribute to a niche if you think you might want to beyond self-distribution. If you tap out a potential revenue source then you're reducing the value of your property to a distributor. Doing the research on that niche, however, is a selling point -- the more supporting evidence you have that there are people out there just waiting to buy your film, the stronger selling advantage you have.
Web sites for panelists:
Jason Cassidy, Miramax - http://www.miramax.com/
Larry Fessenden, "The Last Winter" - http://www.thelastwinter.net/
Jon Gerrans, Strand Releasing - http://www.strandreleasing.com/
Aaron Hillis, Benten Films - http://www.bentenfilms.com/
Stephen Raphael, Required Viewing - ???
Independent Film Week
For the next couple of days I'll be hanging out at Independent Film Week in NYC. Everyone still calls it IFP but they rebranded this year and moved to the Fashion Institute of Technology so I guess I'll do them the favor of using the proper name, but if you want to read about it on Twitter you'd better search for IFP.
Saw the talk on festivals yesterday which was pretty basic but it sounds like a lot of people need the basic info; it only reinforced my feelings that Film Festival Secrets (the upcoming book) is a book that needed to be written. Speaking of which, I'm making rapid progress and on track to release the download version by mid-October; the print version should either be available at the same time or shortly thereafter. If you haven't subscribed to the newsletter I suggest you do so, as I'll be releasing a sneak preview to newsletter members only.
I also stuck around for the Kevin Smith talk, which was a variant of the same Q&A Kevin Smith always gives -- there are only so many questions to ask the guy, and he has answers ready for all of 'em. This might be a bad thing but since he's such a born yarn-spinner it's usually entertaining even if you've heard the story before. When asked to compare his experiences between indie and studio filmmaking, he shot back:
I've made one independent film: Clerks. But I'm labeled as an independent filmmaker forever. I saw in indieWIRE the other day that I'm a "veteran independent filmmaker." That made me feel old. But I guess it's like being gay, right? You suck one cock and you're always gay.
Smith also encouraged filmmakers to make Clerks, as it's the only way he knows to break into the industry.
Nobody's made a convenience store movie in 15 years! You could be that guy.
When asked what the reaction might be if Clerks were released today:
"This guy rips off Judd Apatow!" . . . (smiles) You feel me?
I'll be in New York for the next couple of days and moderating the Tuesday afternoon panel on Niche Marketing Tools. Hope to see you there.
Independent Cinema - The Revolution Is Dead, Long Live the Revolution
Manohla Dargis in the New York Times:
INDEPENDENCE in the movies is a cri de coeur and an occasionally profitable branding ploy, but mostly it’s a seductive lie. For much of American movie history it has been shorthand for more aesthetically adventurous films, bolder in form, freer in spirit and at times more overtly political than those churned out by the Hollywood studios. Once we were one nation under the movie screen, indivisible, with liberty and Shirley Temple for all, but independent film gave us new ways of looking, or so the story goes.
Read The Revolution Is Dead, Long Live the Revolution.
(Via DIY Filmmaker Sujewa.)
indieWIRE: Eating, Drinking, and Shopping in Toronto
Tens of thousands of people are about to converge upon Canada's largest city for one of the world's largest film events, socializing and networking all over town. indieWIRE surveyed a group of Toronto locals and insiders about their favorites places to eat, drink, shop and chill, including some of our own tips from indieWIRE staffer (and former Torontonian) Peter Knegt.
Possibly the most useful thing indieWIRE has published all year. If you're headed to the Toronto International Film Festival, you must read indieWIRE: TORONTO '08 | Eating, Drinking, and Shopping in Toronto: An indieWIRE Insiders Guide.
Owens moves from Indianapolis to Nashville fest (and why you should care)
The Nashville Film Festival has named Brian Owens as its Artistic Director. Owens joins the Festival as it gears up for its 40th anniversary on April 16-23, 2009. Owens was previously the artistic director of the Indianapolis International Film Festival, which he founded in 2003.
When someone moves from one festival to another (particularly a programmer), it gives the alumni of the former festival an opportunity at the new festival. This is why it's important to include a cover letter with your submission -- if your film played at Indianapolis (and maybe you met Brian while you were there), you could submit that film or your next film to Nashville with a personal letter to Brian. In the letter, mention that your previous pic played Indianapolis. Whether Brian remembers your film or not, it provides a connecting point. Owens might at least look up your previous film and take your current movie somewhat more seriously than he would a random submission. It might seem a slim opportunity, but it's better than starting from scratch.
Cinevegas 2008 Video Wrap-Up
Episode 3 of The Show by B-Side highlights Cinevegas 2008, which took place in June. Most of the footage shot by yours truly, and it was a blast. You can watch it here or go to the YouTube page and watch it in high quality. (You have to click the "high quality" link beneath the video.)
iPhone Web Apps for FIlmmakers
Karina over at Spout pointed me to this great list of web apps for filmmakers with iPhones. (Note that these are web apps, not iPhone apps you download.) Paul Harrill at Self-Reliant Film put it together.
My favorite:
IMDb iPhone Client
Web interface with support for looking up actors, characters and movies. The client also helps you find trailers that are suitable for viewing on the iPhone and view additional information such as: Goofs, Soundtracks, Trivia, Quotes, and Crazy Credits.
Portland Women's Film Festival video wrap-up
Episode 2 of The Show by B-Side highlights the Portland Women's Film Festival (a.k.a. POWFest), which took place in May.
Couch Fest wants your butt to visit new, exotic sofas
In late September Craig Downing will unveil the inaugural Couch Fest Films, a "cozy shorts film fest" hosted by local homeowners in Seattle. Lucky attendees will be able to stroll from one house to the next, taking in a 30-minute program of shorts at each venue. If you visit every venue, by the end of the day you'll have seen about 200 films at 15 different houses.
I put a battery of questions to Mr. Downing, hoping to learn more about his inspiration and goals for Couch Fest, and I wasn't disappointed.
What's your background in film festivals?
I guess it all started when I pulled the trigger on a super 8 camera only to realize that I had accidently and instantly become a filmmaker. It was such a simple, powerful act and I was hooked. From here, I started working as a volunteer for a couple of super 8 film fests around Austin, Texas. One year, SXSW requested the public to make super 8 trailers for their film fest. Seeing my $15 super 8 SXSW trailer play on a 70 foot screen before films was quite a pivotal moment for me. The following year, I was a screener for SXSW. So, for a while there, I had Jenga stacks of VHS tapes in my living room to review. After I moved to Seattle, I resumed making films and connecting to the film community by teaching at the Northwest Film Forum and volunteering at the Seattle International Film Fest. I still go manic during the Seattle film fest trying to see too many Icelandic films all while surviving on Butterfinger candy bars and Capri-suns.
What was the inspiration for Couchfest?
Honestly, I don’t remember a specific epiphany that produced the idea for Couch Fest Films. Though, I am pretty sure I could have come up with the idea during a crappy job. I have discovered that the crappier the job is for me the harder I daydream. I suspect that the idea of Couch Fest Films came from some deep crappy-job daydreaming. I do know that I have been toying with the idea of actually following through with this film fest for a while. On a personal level, I’ve been thinking about going to graduate school again but, I kind of decided to just save the money and just produce what I wanted to be doing later--but now. I mean, I don’t think currently there is an available internship where a candidate can run a film fest. So, well, I kind of decided to just create that internship myself and then conveniently select me to fill that position. In the end, though, I really just like movies. I like sitting my rump on a good couch. I also like riding my bike to my friends’ houses. So, I figured this Couch Fest Films idea would be a good way to combine all of these elements.
How did you settle on the format? 200 films spread into themes across 15 houses seems awfully specific.
This is a good point. The reality is that the number of themes and number of houses will really be determined by the diversity of the films that smart-thinking filmmakers submit to Couch Fest Films. The goal is to have each house have its own theme for the program that is played at the house. But, if we receive, for example, an overwhelming amount of really great erotic sci-fi films, well, then we may decide to have two houses with this classic film theme.
Do you have your house venues locked down yet?
No, we don’t have all 15 houses yet. Do you have a couch, a TV and a DVD player, Chris? If so, I can sign you up. As of now, we have five houses that are signed up to host. We won’t be able to determine the overall map until we see what houses we have available. I really wanted to have houses spread over the city in all of the different neighborhoods. But, I also want the houses close enough that forward thinking film fest attendees wouldn’t feel rushed to make it to the next house on time.
I am asking residents to open their houses to other lovers of film who happen to also be strangers. This is kind of one of the goals of the fest. I want to see what happens in the community if people start opening up their living rooms in different parts of the city in order to come together to share the excitement of film. I’m aware that this idea is a little cheesy . . . but it would be too easy to just have my friends that live on my street open their houses for this film fest. The goal of Couch Fest Films is to have houses in neighborhoods that we wouldn’t normally think about going to visit. Let alone, walk into a stranger’s house and sit on their couch and watch a film. And, on the flip side, let’s not forget that houses in all different neighborhoods are opening their doors to their living room to complete strangers too. This will hopefully create new relationships, friendships and experiences. I don’t know…maybe I was getting a little a head of myself there. But, that’s the community goal and I am excited to put the pieces next to each other.
I will visit each location before signing them up to host. I will do this mainly to say hello to interested residents but to also confirm that they can accommodate 15 – 20 people in their house.
Why should a filmmaker submit to Couch Fest?
Who wouldn’t want to win the Golden Couch award? Actually, I have been thinking about this. I have obviously looked online and discovered there are so many film fests out there. This wasn’t really a surprise but, I was excited to read about all the different and unique themes. I am hoping that my idea is maybe clever, silly or different enough to draw filmmakers to be a part of this community film fest. Of course, having no submission fees for the chance at $1750 in prize money can’t hurt either.
Filmmakers with short films that are under 5 minutes can submit to Couch Fest Films by August 15th, 2008. There is no submission fee.
Cinevegas 2008 Opening Night
Let's open with a cornball line.
They say that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. For the sake of film festivals everywhere, I hope that's not true -- there's plenty to be learned from this smooth operation by fests both large and small. CVHQ, for example: the hub of activity where registration and happy hour is combined to form one big room that is a mixture of business and pleasure. In this corner, the info desk. In that corner, press credentials. Over there, the bar. And hey! Cinevegas merch right over here to be perused while live music plays at a volume moderate enough to allow natural conversation. Compared to the hograssle that is registration at many other fests, it's a delight.
The opening night film was "The Rocker," a musical crowd-pleaser starring Rainn Wilson (a personal hero of mine, and I'm not ashamed to say I gushed as I shook the hand of the man who plays Dwight Schrute and so many other great characters). "Rocker" is one of a line of smart-playing-dumb comedies that have come out recently. The cast of SNL gets in its licks (including Fred Armisen and particularly Jason Sudekis), but in a good way. Not an earth-shattering film by any means but consistently funny and highly appropriate for Wilson's first starring turn.
The after party at Moon, the Palms club with a moon roof that opens from time to time, proved that Cinevegas has the clout to take advantage of the choice venues that the city has to offer. A lesser organization might have to make do with the trashier side of Vegas, but this group has their act together. This is borne out in the fact that a large portion of the staff apparently went bowling the night before the festival began -- showing a confidence and a level of organization that I haven't seen at any other fest. The staff members I've met are all friendly and unfrazzled, but it's early yet.
If the rest of Cinevegas is this good, I'm really, really looking forward to the next five days.
Live From CineVegas 2008
I just arrived in Sin City and already the mishmash tones of slot
machines seem like natural background noise. CineVegas kicks off
tonight with "The Rocker" and continues with an awesome slate of films
like "South of Heaven" and "Last Cup." I will be posting in short
bursts from my phone with longer recaps from the laptop as time
affords. Check out my twitterstream on the right as well.
In the meantime check out the CineVegas web site at www.cinevegas.com
for more.
