Oxford Film Festival starts Thursday
Hot on the heels of Sundance, it’s the 7th Annual Oxford Film Festival, held in Oxford, Mississippi.
I’ll be in attendance Thursday through Saturday and participating on a panel on Friday afternoon at 2:15 p.m. at the Malco Studio theater. If you’re in driving distance of Oxford I encourage you to check it out. Two of my favorite films on the festival circuit, Stingray Sam and Happy Ending, are playing there.
Also check out the series of “Take 5″ interviews that the festival has been publishing with its filmmakers.
What to do while “everyone else” is at Sundance (2010 edition)
Feeling left behind because you’re not going to Park City this week? Here are a few ideas on how to keep yourself occupied — either by distracting yourself with other business or by taking part vicariously. In no particular order:
- Hold some test screenings for your own film. Chances are you haven’t held nearly enough test screenings to really know how an audience will react to your film, so why not have a little festival magic of your own? See chapter one of Film Festival Secrets for more on holding test screenings, but it’s pretty simple: Get a bunch of strangers together, show them your movie, and gather some opinions. It feels good and it’s good for you. Read more »
Programmer Profile: Jenn Murphy, New Orleans Film Festival
My name: Jenn Murphy
My current festival: New Orleans Film Festival
My title: Program Director
Movies that best represent my personal tastes: My top 3 would probably be: Requiem for a Dream, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and My Neighbor Totoro. The longer list would include: Rear Window, The Day The Earth Stood Still, The Princess and the Warrior, Wild at Heart, Children of Men, Pan’s Labyrinth, Control, Dancer in the Dark, Oldboy, Heavenly Creatures and The Muppets take Manhattan.
When I’m not watching movies I like to: Play roller derby with the Big Easy Rollergirls, make delicious vegan meals and cakes, hang out with my boyfriend and two cats, and reading film magazines and comics. Read more »
Sundance/Slamdance Film Promotion Tips from Chris Thilk at Movie Marketing Madness
With the Park City festivals (Sundance, Slamdance, and other ‘dances that come and go with the years) just a week away, I thought this was a good time to check in with Chris Thilk about some of the philosophies and techniques of promoting an indie film at a large festival.
Let’s say I’m a filmmaker with a feature film playing at Sundance or Slamdance. I’m aware that million-dollar advance checks are few and far between, but I’d like to give my film the best chance possible for finding a distributor and/or an audience. What are some realistic expectations to set for this experience?
The expectations you have going in should be in direct proportion to the leg work you’ve put in prior to the festival, whatever it is. If, in support of your movie, you’ve already done some outreach to movie blogs that might be interested in the film, have built up an audience on Facebook or Twitter and generally can go in to the festival with some wind at your sails already your chances are much better.
I don’t have a lot of money for a publicist. How can someone with a limited budget be heard over the hype?
First off, dissuade yourself of the notion that you’re going to be heard by a large audience. The best strategy for creators of niche products – whether we’re talking about small movies or small beers – is to be heard by the right audience. That takes a lot of work upfront as you do research into potential communities of fans and such but then participating in those conversations is exactly as hard as having a conversation over email or even real life. You’ll never break through the hype around something like Transformers, but that’s not where your goal line is. Your goal line is finding the audiences and communities who are interested in what you have to say. Again, that takes a lot of upfront work, but it’s every bit as essential to the movie’s success as finishing the script so don’t consider it an add-on effort.
How to tell if you’re a spammer
So here’s something that happens to me a lot.
- Filmmaker emails me with a question.
- I respond.
- Filmmaker takes my response as proof of fervent interest in his/her film and promptly adds me to an email list, pimping the film’s screenings in cities where I do not live.
Sound familiar? If you’re subscribing people to your mailing list without their permission, you fall on the Goofus side of the age-old Goofus/Gallant spectrum.
For me this happens just often enough to be annoying, but for a festival director who deals with thousands of films each year, it’s a real problem. It only takes a few seconds to unsubscribe (if such a link is provided), but wading through an inbox filled with unsolicited (and usually irrelevant) news from well-meaning filmmakers robs festival staffers of many, many hours. Adding a programmer to your mailing list without their permission will accomplish the opposite of what you want – your film will get noticed, all right, but cast in a negative light.
Don’t hurt your film’s chances by spamming – there are better ways of getting your film noticed.
For more on email marketing best practices, check out the MailChimp blog. MailChimp is a terrific service. I use it for the Film Festival Secrets newsletter, to which you may subscribe – but only if you want to do so.
Links blog roundup
I just added a feed to the sidebar where you can see the latest entries on the links blog, but I like doing the roundups too. Here’s what I’ve been reading and thinking about recently:
Astoria Indies screening series kicks off with “Visioneers”
Astoria Indies bills itself as the “new home of indie film in Queens,” which leads me to wonder where the old home of indie film in Queens was, but no matter.
This weekly screening series kicks off 2010 with B-Side fave Visioneers, the Zach Galifianakis flick that’s been described as “Office Space meets 1984.”
That screening is tonight! If you’re in or near Queens and want to go, you can get the details at the official Visioneers host-a-screening site. There you can also find out how to host your own screening of this film or several others in the B-Side stable, including Still Bill and Last Cup: The Road to the World Series of Beer Pong. (Why yes, I do work for the distributor.)
You can also take a gander at the official Astoria Indies site and learn about the other films they’ll be showing – oh hey, look at that. They’re showing yet another B-Side film: Trust Us, This Is All Made Up, which showcases two of the top improv comics in the U.S.
Am I done shilling for B-Side and Astoria Indies yet? I suppose. Now back to the regularly scheduled blog.
Film Fest Secrets Podcast #3
Podcasting cohort Jesse Trussell and I sit down to chat about the start of the festival year, including the inevitable mention of Sundance and some discussion of the new Filmmaker Summit at Slamdance. Also: announcements from SXSW and the 2010 hiatus of the Hollywood Black Film Fest.
Links mentioned in the podcast:
- Sundance schedule
- Sundance films in the NEXT program
- Slamdance schedule
- Slamdance Filmmaker Summit announcement
- SXSW opening slate announcement
- Hollywood Black Film Fest hiatus announcement
Download the MP3 now or subscribe in iTunes.
Film Festival Secrets: A Handbook for Independent Filmmakers