Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Hot Docs Revisited on VOD

As a reality check to past proclamations, I look back at the statements of Geoffrey Gilmore during the Hot Docs Festival in Toronto as reported by Hollywood Reporter on May 8, 2009...Sydney:

With arthouse cinema going away, film festivals may soon be in the business of helping launch movies direct-to-vod, rather than towards a theatrical release.

That vision emerged Friday as major festival leaders gathered at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto to debate what's next for them in an evolving digital media landscape.

Geoffrey Gilmore, the newly installed chief creative officer at Tribeca Enterprises, said festivals have to evolve as indie films are increasingly financed and distributed differently than in the past.

Gilmore added the festival of the future will still be a ground event to engage and educate local audiences, but also likely exist in cyberspace and as a market.

“Rather than have the theatrical drive digital, it’s digital that drives theatrical,” Gilmore said of the growing importance of iTunes and the digital cable set-top box in increasingly driving audiences to indie film.

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