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What Happens After Sundance?
Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s film American Promise screened at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Below is part 3 of 3 of an interview with them discussing what it was like to attend Sundance. Prior sections included what it was like to get the confirmation call and preparing the film for Sundance.
Joe: This has certainly been a roller-coaster ride for us. We were accepted into our dream festival and left Park CIty, Utah with an amazing outcome. We were honored with a special Jury Prize for achievement in documentary filmmaking and we received amazing reviews from the critics. Yet, there is a cloud of worry looming over my head and I cannot pinpoint why. It is not the 12 inches of snow outside my Brooklyn doorstep nor the cough I acquired from our nightly Sundance celebrating. My concern is that our Sundance storybook beginning was just that – a beginning. What happens next?
Michèle: I guess the concern (or fear) is that this
What would Variety, Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire, The Wrap, MovieCityNews, Filmmaker Magazine & Deadline report if a single film company took the following awards at Sundance this year?
- Narrative Grand Jury Prize
- Audience Award For Narrative Film
- Best Directing of a Narrative Film
- Best Directing of a Documentary Film
- Special Jury Award For Documentary Film #1
- Special Jury Award For Documentary Film #2
I can’t help but think they would announce the arrival of a powerhouse.
Well, allow me the pleasure of breaking such an announcement.
Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s film American Promise is set to screen at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Below is part 1 of 3 of an interview with them discussing what it was like to get the confirmation call and their next steps in preparing the film for Sundance, among other things. Stay tuned for the following parts in the days to come.
Joe: When we received the phone call from Sundance, we were in the editing room agonizing over how we should end our film. When the phone rang and we noticed the call was from the Sundance institute, I couldn’t bring myself to pick it up so I handed the phone over to Michèle. For a moment, it was as if time stood still. I could hear Michèle say “Hey Shari,” after that, even the sound in my head had been drowned down. I had anticipated this moment for years and the thought of hearing no was now impossible for me to come to terms with, only because of my temporary brain fix. Suddenly, Michèle went airborne, jumping up and down, pumping her fist in the air. Then the sound in my mind came back on. She was screaming the word, “YES!”
Michèle: Perhaps there was some fist pumping and jumping up and down, I don’t know, I think I was numb with elation.
Sundance Institute Artist Services Program Expands Self-Distribution Opportunities
to Filmmakers Supported by Six Additional Organizations
The Bertha Foundation │ BRITDOC │ Cinereach │ Film Independent Independent Filmmaker Project │ San Francisco Film Society
Artist Services Announces Collaboration with REELHOUSE, VHX, VIMEO and TUGG, Offering Filmmakers Additional Platforms and Tools
Los Angeles, CA — Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, today announced that the Institute’s Artist Services program – which provides Institute artists with exclusive opportunities for creative self-distribution, marketing and financing solutions for their work – has expanded to include selected films supported by one foundation and five nonprofit organizations. Additionally, these organizations will join with Sundance Institute in continuing to shape the program and the services it offers.
By Reid Rosefelt
Many of you are at Sundance now with a new movie. Congratulations and I wish you the best of luck. I know you’re overwhelmed with the experience and it might seem a ridiculous time to ask: “Will your film still be watched in 2043?”
With the advent of digital streaming, movies available for round-the-clock viewing have already become needles in haystacks as high as Everest. Netflix claims to have 90,000 DVD titles and 12,000 streaming ones. Add to that, movies from other streaming sites like iTunes, Hulu, Amazon, CinemaNow, Mubi, Fandor, Snagfilms, Crackle, YouTube, Indiepix, Crunchyroll, and apps like HBO to Go, that even allowing for overlaps, it becomes numbing for most people to pick a particular movie out of the pile. In 2043 there will undoubtedly be hundreds of thousands of films and TV show episodes available instantly, but all current indications suggest it won’t be a comprehensive list or include the best films. The lack of selection isn’t an issue today, but I believe that future cultural and technological trends will lead the mass public to select among what is most convenient and instant, and only the most discerning viewers will seek the best of cinema history on plastic discs.
By Kellie Ann Benz
Okay, I’ll admit it. I think ‘Jersey Shore’ offered some of the best life lessons. I’m not too cool to reveal that I gleaned much from the leg-humping silverbacks who F-bombed their way into obscurity on that cautionary tale of a show.
Replace, if you will, their onenightstandpad with a film festival party, and you can see how they offered all of us a first rate how-NOT-to for which should be grateful.
I cite their example as a sobering reminder for everyone packing for their first film festival.
First, the good news. Film festivals are wicked wild fun. Truly.
Festival attendees are some of the most electric creatives you’ll ever meet – and when actors or actresses are in attendance, some of the most beautiful humans you’ll ever see with your own eyeballs – film festivals offer a throwback to Dominick Dunne-esque invitation only cocktail parties. At the best international festivals, the ribald wits congregate as safe harbour from a cruel, cruel world that only understands their stories when told in a linear three act structure. At the discovery-zone of regional indie festivals, you can feel welcomed into an exclusive club where only the cinematic smarty-pants go.
For the chosen ones with films competing, a film festival is
