OpenIndie – Hope For Film

I love that the Tribeca Film Festival has facilitated an immediate VOD launch for some of the films premiering there this year. This is a key step in freeing festivals from their geographic limitations. With the collapse of print and the firing of local film critics, festivals have become our most vital curatorial voice. Whether we like this or not, it is the time we are living in, and it requires festivals to aggregate their audiences and expand their base; that is if they really want to help film culture grow and deepen, which I thought was their mandate (maybe that no longer is what it about; maybe it is now, like everything else, primarily financially motivated).

Unfortunately though the VOD experiment as currently structured (or at least as I understand it) is not the distribution or marketing solution for filmmakers that is necessary. I worry that the lack of prior promotion,non-existant window, and filmmaker-led marketing will lead Tribeca’s bold step forward to mirror the popular (and negative) wisdom that came from the Sundance YouTube experiment (i.e. Fail!). This is totally avoidable. We already have better answers.

Support Your Family! Give To Indie/Art Film Infrastructure

I have always supported the idea that you need to vote for the world you want with your dollars. I am the odd bird that believes in both optional and mandatory contributions to a better world; what’s all the beef about taxes? If our tax dollars really went to things I cared about, I would be all for more of them (as long as there was REALLY HEAVY penalties for corruption too that is). Hey, I’d even vote for mandatory conscription if it had more options than just military and if they provided some real training to the participants. But that’s a different subject, better suited for rants elsewhere. Let’s get back to the world of cinema…

Here on TrulyFreeFilm the goal is to find a way to build an infrastructure that can support diverse work (and promote it — the work, the participants, & the infrastucture). To that end, I think everybody that partakes in and benefits from the infrastructure, should give back to it. Sometimes this giveback comes in the form of labor and participation, and sometimes it depends on $$money$$. It costs to build the world that we want and being responsible means accepting that fact, and recognizing that it is our place to contribute.

By that standard, how much show one give to build the infrastructure for the culture we want? Should it be 5% of your income like they encourage in some churches? Perhaps even more is mandated when it also is your livelihood that needs support, right? If we don’t support our industry’s infrastructure, how can we expect it to be around to support us?

Beyond money though, we must fight for what we want with our actions. The phrase “stand up for what you believe” always felt off to me. Shouldn’t it be more “Step forward for what you believe“. Even if you are broke (it is indie film afterall) then hopefully you still have some time you could you give weekly to move the culture a bit closer to the one you want. Why don’t more people use their labor in this way?

So… what should we all be doing? Well, I have made that list before.

Maybe it’s time to air our laundry. Show our true colors. Perhaps we should discuss what we each really do, and figure out what more we can do. I am pretty public with my thoughts already, and with most of my actions too. But is it enough?

So… this is that list of mine as to what I have done this year to support indie film in terms of donations. I am showing you mine, not so much in hoping you show yours too, but to motivate you & others to do likewise). I recognize this list is just a start. I want to get more on the ball. I hope this list doubles next year — particularly in the artist support category (this is the dawn of crowdfunding). We all have to do a whole lot more. I know I have to give more money for a more diverse and vibrant cinema. I need to do more to support the existing apparatus. So this is that list in hopes that maybe you will be motivated to give a little more.

$ MEMBERSHIP TO SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS

Adrienne Shelly Foundation

$ DONATIONS FOR A NEW MODEL:

OpenIndie.com

$ DONATIONS FOR ARTISTS I SUPPORT:

The Yes Men

Bass Ackwards

$ TO SUPPORT EXHIBITION & CURATION:

Museum Membership: MOMA, Museum Of Moving Image, Guggenheim, Whitney

Exhibition Membership: Film Forum

NY International Childrens’ Film Festival

Rooftop Films

Film Society Of Lincoln Center

Woodstock Film Festival

TIME DONATION: MENTORSHIP:

Sundance Creative Producer Lab Mentor

Made In NY Mentor

This is that Internship Program

WHAT I AM NOT YET DOING:

Active Membership In Organizations

The thing that I have been wrestling with is that I do not participate in any organization. I have previously been on the board of the IFP and have been on various advisory boards, but as of now I am not on any other than the Adrienne Shelly Foundation. I have thought hard about becoming more involved in the PGA, the IFP, & FIlm Independent but for various reasons of my own, haven’t thought my time is best spent there, as much as I admire each organization. I think this is a failing on my part but am not sure how to best to resolve it. I like to work where I am most needed and those organizations have a lot going for them already — although personally speaking I still think it is a lame excuse.

Supporting More Artists
Hopefully this will become easier to both identify and give in the new year with the rise of crowdfunding models.

Supporting More New Model Exploration
Hopefully this too will become more widespread and easier with crowdfunding in the new year.

Note to self: resolve to do better in 2010.

Change The "Indie" Model — OpenIndie Launches

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