I wish I had published this earlier. It comes from Michael Tully, our editor over at HammerToNail. It was originally published on his blog, Boredom At It’s Boredest, on Indiewire. It takes a much different tact than most of what we’ve been discussing here. I totally get it; discussion and strategy about reaching audiences, is exhausting. For some, it will never create better films, or even bring them to audiences. Yet, courtesy of HTN, I have come in contact with a plethora of good films that are not being seen by audiences. I love the spirit of this manifesto, but….
The Take-Back Maifesto
By signing the following petition, we film lovers of all types—critics, reviewers, screenwriters, directors, producers, production assistants, grandparents, art history snobs, coach potatoes, Multiplex squatters, etc.—believe the following to be true:
— We realize that bringing any film into fruition, however great or small the budget, is an outrageously difficult task. We realize this, and yet we don’t care. The final product is all that matters.
— A production’s back-story only becomes relevant after—not before—one has watched the film on a screen. Once we see your film and like (or dislike) it, that is when we will decide if we want to learn more about how it came to be. Not everyone can be Werner Herzog.
— We know that making thought provoking, ambitious, challenging, adventurous films is complicated by the fact that cinema is such an expensive art form. We know this, and yet we say so what. Everyone is a martyr for their art.
