Guest post by Audrey Ewell
Ted Hope invited me to do a guest column about attracting a younger audience to indie film, after I commented on a column by Robert McLellan at Globalshift.org. That column was a recap of the debate between Hope and Jeff Lipsky during a Cagematch at IFP Week. You can read it here: http://www.globalshift.org/2010/09/19/indie-film-can-art-house-theaters-attract-a-young-audience/.)
The column’s final statement, attributed to Hope was this: “It all comes back to having a relevant and compelling story and telling it well.” That is an oft-repeated statement, and I noted in the comments that what mattered more to this crowd was plot, subject and genre. So who am I, and why should my opinion matter?
I’m the director and producer (along with my partner, Aaron Aites) of the documentary film, Until The Light Takes Us. I am 34 years old, white, female, I love Antonioni, Fellini, Marker, and science fiction. I have Gizmodo, The Huffington Post and The Economist on my Twitter stream. I own three video games consoles and I’m currently on level 7 of Halo: Reach. I listen to indie rock, stoner/doom, experimental, dubstep; and I am often on my boyfriend’s and friends’ guest lists when their bands play shows. I am the audience you’re (they’re, we’re) trying to reach, + four years. But I’m immature enough to let those four years slide.
