You made a great film. Now give it a great run.
The Ballad of Friday and June (2009) from Jollyville Pictures on Vimeo.
This was a big favorite of mine on the festival circuit last year. It’s short, funny, poignant, heartfelt, and other adjectives that mean “wonderful.”
Now you can watch it in its entirety online and see what I mean.
Jennifer Amman, Festival Production Manager for the Telluride Film Festival, leaves her position with this rather public message. I’ve never met Jennifer or been to Telluride, but the video provides a glimpse into the problems (and backstage tensions) that exist at many film festivals these days. Sponsors are harder to come by these days and money is tight all over. It’s tempting to side automatically with Jennifer, but as Sarasota Film Festival programming director Tom Hall rightfully points out:
. . . cutbacks to festival budgets are an absolute reality right now, and that one of the main issues facing any non-profit at this time is setting new, adjusted priorities and getting organizational buy-in for those changes. I don’t think there is anyone working at festival today, from a Board President to a volunteer, who has faced down a change to the landscape and hasn’t thought to themselves “This is the last straw.” I know I have, I know everyone has; it’s all part of being under-paid, over-worked and deeply passionate about the integrity of the event you’re putting on.
That said, finding savings in the morning meals of your volunteers (if true) makes you an easy target for ridicule.
This could easily be a film festival screening committee. Thank heaven this one’s a joke. Films like this film-within-a-film starring Cliff get submitted all the time without a hint of irony.
Breathe. Focus. Octopus. from Jon Gann on Vimeo.
If you ever wanted to see the kind of short film a festival programmer would make, here’s your chance. Jon Gann is the driving force behind the D.C. Shorts Film Festival. Jon and his team made this film as part of the Washington D.C. edition of the 48 Hour Film Project.
All of the bumps at Sundance this year were interesting, but as usual there was a clear favorite. This year it was “The Pitch,” which features all of our favorite film clichés. (You might recognize some of them from the list of clichés in chapter 1 of Film Festival Secrets.) This year’s bumps were produced by creative agency Buck – check out the Sundance mini-site where they document the process of creating these shorts.
Yet another in our series of South by Southwest 2010 videos, this time with Brian Chirls, creator of Crowd Controls. This venture is based on his work with Four-Eyed Monsters and is currently powering some of the fan engagement with Iron Sky.
Thanks to Mark Potts for shooting and editing this video.
The third in our series of South by Southwest 2010 videos features Managing Director of IFF Boston Brian Tamm. Brian talks about the reasons he and other IFF Boston staff members attend other festivals like SXSW.
The Independent Film Festival of Boston starts tonight with their opening night film, The Extra Man. Kevin Kline will be at the Somerville Theater after the screening to receive a career achievement award from the festival. If you live in the Boston area and you hadn’t made plans to attend, I highly recommend showing up.
Thanks to Mark Potts for shooting and editing this video.
The second in our series of South by Southwest 2010 videos, this time with journalist Jette Kernion (Cinematical, Slackerwood). See all of Slackerwood’s SXSW 2010 coverage here.
Thanks again to Mark Potts for shooting and editing.
Film Festival Secrets: A Handbook for Independent Filmmakers
Written especially for people trying to navigate the film festival circuit. Start reading now or buy a copy of your very own.
