The small film festivals and the good vs bad of the democratization of filmmaking.

[Ed_David]

from http://www.eddavid.tumblr.com

There is some kind of loneliness about super small film festivals - so many of them now because now there are so many films made.  No one really shows up to them besides the filmmaker and maybe a few friends, and no one really leaves loving the films they saw.

Same can be said of course with writing - anyone can quickly write something and upload it or self-publish.  My wife’s dad calls them “vanity presses.”  Everyone is a published author! And now everyone is a filmmaker with film festival laurels!

Last night at a small short film event, a person had a film - where he had a big crew, and it was about a high school professor who has sex with a student, then later the principal gets involved and then the principal seems to try to have sex with her, and then later it is inferred in the film that the student is “asking for it.”  It was like a porn without the sex scenes.  Actually the main actor, with his chin strap beard and bald head looked like he may have just come off the set of one of these films.

At the Q&A my friend said something and then left in disgust.  “This is the most misogynistic film I ever saw” - and the filmmaker responded, “a lot of women say that but this is the first time a man said that” - and as my friend later said while we were getting pizza nearby, “even saying that was misogynistic.”

Anyway this man had a pretty large crew - about 5 principle actors and 9 background talent (mostly young pretty women who probably signed up for the gig on mandy.com, just trying to get their name out there), and a crew of about 10 people - and it’s kind of fascinating that this person was able to get this film made and shown at a festival. 

And I had a nightmare about the film, in which I was in it  - so in essence, his film hurt my sleep pattern and was a negative experience for me and maybe questioned my only little short film I just made - and my own ego and arrogance to make it - (was what I made good - or was I just wasting people’s time and cosmic energy?).

Should everyone be allowed to make their films?  Of course they should - I am not Stalin - I have no ability to say to anyone “hey man, no don’t do that” even if it does offend me and my friends.  It’s definitely interesting how anyone on a pretty large scale now can do something like this - there are less failsafes in place to prevent crap from entering the film world.

But then the reverse of this argument is simple.  Sony Pictures, and a whole team of middlemen and “Hollywood” still allowed “the Interview” to happen.  No one stood up and said, “hey maybe this film where we kill a living world leader isn’t the best idea”   - and look how much pain that caused the company and its employees. 

But still, now new beautiful things and movements can rise organically.  I am personally so thankful for the vimeo “filmschool in a box” series such as Tony Zhou’s work and Jacob T. Swinney’s work, that I will decide in the future to be more selective when I go to an event where you can’t just click off a video - where you do have to sit thru it, like that scene in a Clockwork Orange where Alex has his eyes forced open as he watches government propaganda.  

[Liszon]

"I will decide in the future to be more selective when I go to an event where you can’t just click off"

You could have just walked out once you had enough. It's a polite sign of disapproval and if the makers are in the audience, they will take notice.

Also as you said, everyone has the right to publish anything, so if you want to go further, write an honest review about the movie, perhaps on imdb.

[lafilm]

I will never understand how any human being can be offended by anything...especially art.

In the last 10 -20 years, I've heard so many stories like this about a movie, or a song, or what a celebrity says (like latest Charlie Sheen incident when he called out Obama for being a douschebag).

Dont let other people sway your emotions in such a drastic way/ in any way. It's human nature that were all different and like different types of entertainment.

If someone like porn, or death metal, or rap music about killing cops, so be it.

Until someone does it for real (rape, murder, cop killer, etc...) it's all FAKE.

I don't subscribe to the theory that Entertainment:  Movies, Video Games, Pornography makes someone in real life go out and kill someone.

Kids today that respond violently in real life and blame entertainment for their actions are very weak-minded followers..and frankly already had a few screws loose before they watched "that movie".

People that are easily offended should ask themselves why?

I believe its a generational concept.

10, 20, 30 years ago when me and my buddies went to see violent movies at the drive-ins, we never heard the words "offensive". Never.

This new "politically correct" generation (I like the term "brainwashed generation") is becoming a (what this Obama government wants) sheepish, follow the leader Socialist society. 

Which in the long term will be far more dangerous to kids than violent video games, movies, and hard core rap music.

Use the brain you were born with people. Don't let other people have the power to "offend" you with their art.

We're all different.

If someone wants to shoot a film about guys raping "whores", or a movie about neo-Nazis torturing and murdering "Niggers" and "Kikes"...or if Ice Cube wants to shoot a movie about his song of "Killing LA Pigs " (cops)  let these artists create without getting your panties in an uproar.

Grow a pair and accept it. 

Like filmmaker Spike Lee says: "I'm a black man, not an african-american, and I don't think brothers should be fucking white girls. Let whitey fuck his own and lets keep our black people whole".

You think that comment is going to stop me from enjoying a Spike Lee film like "Do The Right Thing"?

Hell no.

Dude has a right to say or do whatever he damn well pleases...without being called out in this ridiculous PC society as a racist.

Wer're all different and we say and shoot and enjoy different things in life.

Accept it and don't let some strange filmmaker get a rise out of you.

Man, bring back the 1970's.

 

 

[Liszon]

Just a sidenote, if Spike Lee has the right to say all kinds of things then it should be natural to accept anyone's right to call him racist. That's the beauty of the equation.

[fuzzynormal]

I will never understand how any human being can be offended by anything...especially art.​

To be fair, some art strives to offend.  And why should't it if that's the intent?

On the other hand, some people make things from a perspective where a lot of ideological ignorance is presented --where the creator doesn't have the insight or self awareness to comprehend other opinions.

In one case let's say you have an artist that understands the various nuances yet strives to say something from her/his POV in a focused way.  In another you have someone that does not comprehend the other's views yet presents his/her POV with that empathetic blind spot.

So as a person that has to reckon with those two pieces of work, which one deserves the be held in more value?  If either?  That sort of thing is in a way intangible and it all depends on the art and the artist, but personally I'd hold in higher esteem someone with the intelligence to understand what they're creating and appreciating the context of it.

So if you make an expletive movie because you're just not smart or wise enough to NOT make an exploitive movie, I think I'd approach that material with a healthy dose of skepticism.  That doesn't mean I'm getting my panties bunched because I'm offended by a certain ideology.  It means I think something is shit because there's not much intelligence on display.

Art is meant to be poked and prodded from all directions.  If it can't withstand that scrutiny then maybe it deserves to be ridiculed.  Some things are good, some aren't.

[Damphousse]

Just a sidenote, if Spike Lee has the right to say all kinds of things then it should be natural to accept anyone's right to call him racist. That's the beauty of the equation.

​In all fairness I wouldn't trust what lafilm has to say about any black person unless he has a direct quote and a link to an unbiased source.  His comments about the "Obama government" pretty much tell you what you need to know about his agenda.  And the Ice Cube thing is just weird.  Last time I checked Ice Cube was spending his time making comedies and family movies.

 

This forum is going downhill fast.  I miss the old arguments about pixel peeping versus content.  This racial stuff is terrible.

[fuzzynormal]

There is some kind of loneliness about super small film festivals - so many of them now because now there are so many films made.  No one really shows up to them besides the filmmaker and maybe a few friends, and no one really leaves loving the films they saw.

​Been through this ringer from both sides of the projector.  

A film festival that I helped get going 14 years ago would have qualified then as one of these "lonely" fests.  But we had resources and ambition to make it somewhat special and now it's one of the most regionally acclaimed festivals with A-listers attending.  Who knew?  We didn't back then, we just had hope because we felt the attitude we had and the community it was in might work in a good way.

Now I'm also working on another film fest (two years old now) and, indeed, it's the sort of thing where no one really likes the submissions.  A lot of "not bad" sort of stuff, nothing exceptional.  But, like before, we have a few good things to our advantage.  Our screening are, and always will be, well attended.  100+ without fail.  The community support is the best thing going for it.  So, a decade down the road, who knows?

[jcs]

We must consider the result of the Influence of our Voice: do we ultimately want to heal or to harm? A story which debuts in a lonely place which heals can go viral, connecting many lonely people and bringing much needed fellowship and healing.

[fuzzynormal]

We must consider the result of the Influence of our Voice: do we ultimately want to heal or to harm? A story which debuts in a lonely place which heals can go viral, connecting many lonely people and bringing much needed fellowship and healing.

Unfortunately, some people really don't consider their voice, for whatever reasons.  Immaturity, vice, avarice?  Mindfulness can be difficult to attain.

[Zak Forsman]

You've got to research your festivals. And then have the willpower NOT to submit to the shitty ones just because it looks like an easy in. There are 100% legit regional festivals that have huge sponsors and attract audiences to the festival. They don't simply rely on who the filmmakers can bring.

I'm leaving in a few days for the Phoenix Film Festival. This is a regional fest in a largely conservative state that attracts more than 23,000 ticket buyers of independent cinema every year. I had a feature-length movie world premiere there in 2013 and we sold out 2 of our 3 screenings without lifting a finger. There are many more like this... deadCENTER in Oklahoma City, Dances With Films in LA, Cinequest, Austin, Sidewalk in Alabama. 

It takes work but there are ways to learn which festivals to submit to. Moviemaker magazine puts out yearly lists of great festivals worth the submission fee. This makes it easy to avoid festivals like the Buffalo-Niagara Fest that pressures filmmakers to buy advertising in their program and whose screenings are routinely attended only by other filmmakers who happened to travel in for the festival.

All in all, there are too many festivals, I agree. Most suck. But there are a select number that do a great job and serve a large audience that's hungry for independent movies. They might be harder to get into, but that's the point right? They have to be more discerning because they've built a reputation based on the movies they program each year. Which points to the real difference i see between successful fests and unsuccessful ones. Successful festivals make the experience of the festival AND the films they screen into the main attraction, unsuccessful ones rely only on who the films attract, which as we know, often doesn't amount to jack shit.

I've learned to navigate through the garbage and thankfully, it's been more years than i can count where i had the misfortune to attend a festival I'd describe as "lonely".

[Ed_David]

yes unfortuately one has to spend money to submit to meaningful festivals - most are pretty lackluster and I think a lot of people now more than ever can claim they have a festival - but it's all just a grab for publicity.  one has to be more selective with them.

 

with that said, watching bad films is useful - you can learn a lot from a bad film, probably as much as a good film.

film that killed me was called "Rumi's Rumba"

[mtheory]

I post this about once a year once the whole "the state of film" discussion comes up.