Admit it: these are overwhelming times we live in. Supposedly over 50,000 feature films are generated on a global basis each year. In America we manage to consume about 1% of the year’s supply — and that makes up the top consumption market for films worldwide. Good movies just don’t get seen. People find it hard to connect with the films that may suit them best. So what can we do about it? Well…
Film festivals have historically been one of the prime curators to connect audiences with the films they will love best. But there are so many film festivals these days. And when you attend there are so many film to see. On one hand that’s great, because there are certainly films for everyone’s taste, regardless of what it is. But it still makes discovery hard.
Fortunately, I have been granted a front row seat this year to see how hard the festival community works to both discover the best films of the year and to connect their audiences with them. It ain’t easy. Even without a 100 slots you can’t take all the great films available. And with over 100 slots, some audiences get overwhelmed. So what’s a festival going to do?
Like anything else, discovery takes a village. At the San Francisco Film Society, we are very fortunate to have a great community of supporters. We are also super fortunate to be at the nexus of culture and technology, of innovation and curation, of appreciation and monetization. Sometimes, the best things occur when a stranger walks into the room and says they have a good idea. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t. Maybe their good idea is crafted for something else but still applicable to what you do. Maybe it is a daunting task that needs another good idea to layer on top of it. And that was what the story was when John Root Stone of Epoch walked into my office some months ago.
The result is something clean, beautiful, and useful. And did I say fun too? It is fun too. So like many other things that need a solution, when it comes to discovery and film festivals, there is now an app for that.
Imagine if the people you admired not only told you what films out of the 100s available for you that they most wanted to see and why. Imagine if those films were available in a sit back sort of way for you to watch the trailers. No more searching! Imagine if you could click anywhere on the app and be able to be taken where you could purchase tickets immediately. Simple! Imagine if the app allowed you to instantly tweet or post or email the trailer to anyone you wanted to. Dinner and a movie date night has never been easier! Imagine if the experience was pleasurable unto itself.
And now imagine if John Waters, The SF Giants, Delroy Lindo, Maria Kochetkova, Lars Ulrich, Willie Brown, and Alice Waters curated these films for you. Whether you are a film fan, sports fan, headbanger, ballet lover, politician or a foodie, we have someone to curate for you. That’s what we got. Sweet indeed.
Wanna know more of what I am talking about? Just download the app right here. And when you are done watching the trailers add them to your FlickList to track and be notified when they are in your city or on your favorite platform (or once we launch that is…).
Sure, it is only one day before our fest kicks off, so it is not a moment too soon, but with seats still left to many good films, now is the time to order your tickets to some great films if you don’t want to risk being shut out on the rush line. And if you are not in the Bay Area, just fire up that app, sit back and let the tastemakers show you what they most want to see and why!
