Re: festival responses

From: Roger Beebe (email suppressed)
Date: Thu Jun 04 2009 - 18:31:38 PDT


Allen,

A bunch of filmmaker--Bill Daniel, Vanessa Renwick, Thomas Comerford,
Matt McCormick, Bill Brown, me, and many others--have been doing this
kind of thing for a decade or more. Of course, we're hardly the
first--Dziga Vertov and other Soviet filmmakers were doing tours on
"film trains" as early as the 20s. And there's H. Lee Waters who
roamed the American South, shooting films of the locals and screening
them at night. (Tom Whiteside is a specialist on his stuff.) So,
yeah, it is a great way to show films but it's hardly new.

Of course, you need enough films to fill a program, which, if you're
showing only your own work, could take a while.

...
Roger

On Jun 4, 2009, at 9:05 PM, Allen Riley wrote:

> I don't know what Joel had in mind when he suggested this route, but
> I have found it to be a fun and rewarding practice to take my films
> on short venue tours in different parts of the country. I have
> screened my work to unsuspecting audiences in cafes, book stores,
> theaters, after punk shows, in private living rooms of people I
> don't know, and so on.
>
> I know that there are Christian and other "special interest" films
> that are shown in this manner. I don't know of any "arty"
> filmmakers besides myself who do this. I have taken this approach
> because I don't understand film festivals or how to present my work
> to them.
>
> One problem with this method is that you are not assured an
> audience. Another is that this method lacks the credibility of
> festival screenings and will probably not advance your career in
> film circles no matter how many people show up. Any work you screen
> in this way will also be disqualified from festivals that require a
> premiere. It is, however, a fun way to travel and to introduce your
> work to new people.
>
> Allen Riley
>
> On Thu, Jun 4, 2009 at 9:41 AM, Caryn Cline <email suppressed>
> wrote:
>
> (My former teacher and friend Joel Schlemowitz says that venues are
> sometimes a better path for filmmakers than festivals. Maybe that
> is a big city perspective, I don't know. I'd like to hear others'
> thoughts about that.)
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
>

__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.