Hof Film Festival, Germany Wrap Up -- Old & New

In the final analysis the 43rd edition of Hof is an important part of international film geography. It offers an intimate relaxed setting where recent German film school graduates can showcase their debut features and German film business vets can see who and what is coming up and can discuss their own issues among themselves. From the retrospective of Lou Castelwho was honored in person to the film which we honor here for its exemplary production value, casting choices and thoughtfulness depicting a beautiful young woman's possibilities for love and her simultaneous loneliness and to the final soccer match between the townies and the film folks, this festival was a great pleasure to attend.

A bit more on the 43 minute film we are discussing here. Streiflichter or Sidelights was financed by the Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR). It was scored by Moritz Schmittat, a Berlinale talent written about in my blog about music in September, another evidence of the talented choices of the director-writer Lena Knauss, a graduate of Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. The star, Sandra Borgmann, is someone we would like to see more of and in a larger part than her last part as Ruth in The Baader Meinhof Complex. We would especially like to follow Lena on her journey into features because we see her on a heretofore little traveled road expressing deeply held and seldom expressed sentiments of a thoughtful woman with visual, story and dramatic talents. She seems to be pointing the way to a new thematic approach to female subject matter and internal struggles of female characters. At least we hope so.

Hofer Filmtage 2009 Day 2 Women Filmmakers

More of the trade came in Thursday night including Rainer Kölmel who sold Kinowelt to Pathe just before the latest market crash and who has produced The Two Lives of Daniel Shore, playing here. Daniel Gluckau is still acquiring films for Kinowelt and has just had a son born. Former Kinowelt sales man Stlios Ziannis has created his own international sales agency Aktis Film whose film 13 Semester is premiering here and was produced by 20th Century Fox Germany signaling their possibly renewed interest in German production. This film, depicting life in college is a new subject for German film. Aktis also intends to enter coproductions as well. Also attending are Rudy Tjio of Universum UFA who will also be attending AFM, Antonio Exacoustos of ARRI Media Worldsales, Wigbert Moschall of mdc int., Prokino's Ira von Gienanth, MFA's Christian Meinke

Women in film are receiving some press these days, from an article discussing possible Oscar Best Director award to women, IndieWire's Celluloid Ceiling article at the London Film Festival, an earlier blog of mine, Toronto notes I made about the notable number of films made by women (around 51). And now, reviewing the Hof roster, of 39 shorts, 13 are by women and of 56 features, 14 are by women:


Nothing Personal, Urszula Antoniak, Polish born, German educated. Film is in English.
Porgy & Me, Susanna Boehm, German. Film is in English
Urville, Angela Christlieb, (Cinemania). German. Film is in French
The Song of Two Horses, Byambasuren Davaa. Mongolian.
One out of Eight, Sabine Derflinger. German
Queen of Hearts, Valerie Donzelli. French
Lourdes, Jessica Hausner. French
Wenn Die Welt Uns Gehoert, Judith Keil, Antje Kruska. German
Men on the Bridge, Asli Ozge, Turkish (The Turkish-German films are creating the most buzz among Germans these days)
Mazel Tov, Mischka Popp, German (There is usually 1 but this year are 2 Jewish films (also Such a Schlmazzel which was sold out)
Der innere Krieg , Astrid Schult, German
Hughezovka, Viola Stephan, German
Geburt, Silvia Haselbeck
Schwarz auf Weis, Susanne Jaeger

Hof Film Festival, Germany

The 43rd HOF Film Festival is in a tiny town in Franken, Bavaria. It's the hometown of festival founder Heinz Badewitz who entered the film world in the 60s side by side with Fassbinder, Herzog, Wenders and other new wave German filmmakers. The traditional soccer game between the filmmakers and the townies in the beautiful fall setting is one of the high points of the festival. Other notable reasons for coming to this festival is that every German film industryite including bankers and other festival progammers, distributors, sales agents and the press is here schmoozing, drinking beer, eating the best sausages in the world and watching films up the youngest up-and-comingest German filmmakers in a totally relaxed atmosphere.

Opening night film was Parkour, the debut drama by Marc Rensing about a young man and his group of friends in an unnamed industrial town in Germany. Sundance's Sin Nombre produce by Mexico's Canana Films will have its German premiere here, hosted by its distributor Prokino Filmverleih who is also premiering Keep Surfing by producer Tobias N. Siebert who was nominated for an Oscar for The Story of the Weeping Camel.

Heinz felt the docs were especially good this year and a large number have been programmed. The one I have been waiting to see since this summer when I was speaking to the producer Uwe Dierks (Rhythm IsIt!) about its US potential is Porgy & Me by Susanna Boehm. The African American singers of the New York Harlem Theatre have been touring Gershwin's Porgy and Bess for decades all over the world. I would guess this is on the road to Sundance. On another African diaspora subject is the doc Gunter Wallraff: Schwarz Auf Weiss in which a black immigrant travels through Germany testing the friendlines of the locals who never know that he is Gunther Wallraff, the famous under cover journalist.

This film, like many others this year, is directed by a woman, Susanne Jaeger. More on that subject in the coming days.

Upcoming blogs

Here is my tentative travel schedule, starting today!

Oct 25-Nov 4 Germany (HOF Film Festival)
Nov 4 – 11 AFM (Santa Monica)
Nov 11 -14 little trip to Big Sur
Nov 16 -22 Thessaloniki Film Festival
Nov. 26 – Dec. 3 Ventana Sur/ Buenos Aires
Dec. 3 – 13 Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano


Jan 21 - 31 Sundance Jan 21 - 31
Jan 31 – Feb 7 Rotterdam Cinemart
Feb 11 – 21 Berlin Film Festival
Mar 12 -20 Guadalajara Film Festival
May 13 – 24 Cannes Film Festival

UK Distribution

Momentum, PPI strike up UK distribution alliance on six-film slate

A Model to Emulate for Regional Film Markets

When I first read of TIFFCON's (Tokyo International Film Festival) efforts to increase international sales and coproductions (Sales and co-production under the spotlight at TIFFCON News Screen), what caught my attention first was reading, "Taiwan, which was colonised by Japan for 50 years until the 1940s" and I thought, How about a film about that little known fact for the rest of us...including -- was it called, Chang Kai Chek's "liberation"?

On thinking further of how much well-thought-out care was taken to address the issue of our international film crisis from the Japanese point of view, I realized that TIFFCON was presenting a model to emulate for regional film markets and that this applied particularly to the new upcoming Ventana Sur, hosted by the Argentina Government organization INCAA and Jerome Paillard of the Cannes Market. Might the Tokyo International Film Festival with its intense focus on the Japanese film industry investigating ways to sell films internationally and to coproduce with Asian neighbors be emulated by Ventana Sur in its second edition? This edition is strictly sales oriented film screenings, but beyond traditional sales, a united effort to create a larger cooperative sales, distribution and coproduction entity would create an environment more conducive to a steady flow of product of a certain commercial level of product that buyers could rely on. I will be in Buenos Aires blogging on this issue and other newsworthy issues November 26 – 30.

The panel at LALIFF (Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival) with Jim McNamara of CineLatino and Panamax, Ignacio Darnaude, EVP International Creative Advertising of Sony Pictures Releasing International and Santiago Pozo, founder and CEO of Arenas, US’s premiere Latino film marketing and sometime distribution company concluded that the product flow of Latino films -- whether in English or Spanish -- needs to be stepped up to a constant flow in order to cultivate a stateside audience, and relying on the already established studios and independent sales agents and distributors will not suffice. It will only be accomplished with the backing of a pan Latin American independent production/ distribution company made of cooperating Latin American and US based Latino entities.

TIFFCON had 209 exhibitors from 14 countries and was attended by buyers from Japan, Korea, China and Singapore. Here are events set up for its constituency, events designed to address the issues of pan Asian collaboration.

Japan has historically represented 10% of the market making it the second largest world market after US and was able to be more or less self sufficient. But with its declining DVD market and its own economic downturn it needs to increase exports and co-productions. Still and all, its own box office is booming.

UniJapan and J-Pitch organized a panel of five leading international sales agents to advise local producers on how to expand the market for their films.

• Gabor Greiner, acquisitions executive for Germany’s The Match Factory, explained how tough the international market has become for foreign-language product, despite the fact that Japanese films such as Departures and Tokyo Sonata have been winning accolades and distribution overseas. “Distributors these days are taking less and less risks and it is easier to pick up films than it is to sell them,” Greiner said. “In the coming year we will be looking for films that are a bit more commercial or not so local.” However he said he was in Tokyo specifically to look for Japanese films: “We are looking for novelty, freshness, new ways of filmmaking and storytelling and other points of international appeal.”


• Youngjoo Suh of Korean sales agent Fine Cut , which is handling Kanikôsen from Japan’s Sabu, outlined the strengths and weaknesses of Japanese cinema that she considers when deciding whether to pick up a project or invest. “The strength of the Japanese industry is that it has so many original contents, like manga and novels. But the arthouse films tend to be a little bit repetitive. Of course it’s nice to have a message, but I like films to have a bit of an edge."

Panels about collaboration between Japan and three Chinese-speaking territories who are all interested in working with Japan.

• China, soon to become the box office giant still has unresolved tensions with Japan dating back to WWII, though filmmakers are attempting to bridge the political gap.


• Hong Kong’s Trade Development Council (TDC) hosted coproduction partners stepping up to collaboration with Japan.
  § Irresistible Films’ Lorna Tee discussed its cooperation between Japan’s Avex Inc. Entertainment and Hong Kong’s Bill Kong and Hugh Simon which aims to support new talent and is currently on its sixth production, an untitled project co-directed by Derek Tsang and Jimmy Wan.
  § Hong Kong-based Salon Films and Japan’s Casio Entertainment talked about their co-production, Fly Baby Fly, an animated multi-platform project set for release in 2011. Japan’s Yoshimoto Kogyo is also co-producing the film, a fantasy about the annual migration of butterflies from Taiwan to Japan, which has an environmental message for kids.


• Taiwan, a colony of Japan for 50 years until the 1940s still has strong cultural links to the country, especially in the areas of youth and pop culture. One panel explored how this was exploited by the producers of Taiwanese mega-hit Cape No. 7 which featured Japanese actors and music from J-pop star Kousuke Atari. My question: Why not make a film about the colonization, a little known part of history in the west.

Rentrak Corporation - July is the Hottest Month to Date for Video-On-Demand

Is business really as bad as everyone fears or is it actually getting better? Looking at Rentrak's report, I'd say help is on the way.

Rentrak Corporation - July is the Hottest Month to Date for Video-On-Demand: "Rentrak Corporation (Nasdaq: RENT), a leader in multi-screen media measurement serving the entertainment and advertising industries, reported today that July eclipsed the previous video-on-demand (VOD) viewing record set last month, delivering a 19% year-to-year increase in overall VOD transactions and a 15% increase in the number of unique set-top-boxes (STB) accessing OnDemand.** The average minutes per day spent watching VOD increased and the percent of VOD enabled STBs accessing OnDemand content increased to 47% in July."

Discussion: GLITNER | LinkedIn

Glitner is a European based and a European funded digital rights management platform. An interesting discussion takes place on GLITNER via LinkedIn: What would facilitate the emergence of business models not based on territorial copyrights?

In the digital environment it is essential to remove artificial barriers to the circulation of creative content and to competitive market, while promoting and protecting cultural diversity.

One of the models discussed was one brought up last year at AFM by Brent V. Friedman in the panel "Web Entrepreneurs: Imagination Meets Commerce" Let us see what a difference a year has made: You can watch the video of the conference here: http://bit.ly/2p6JPx where a producer managed to get some product placement built-in the production, and actually managed to do some profit-sharing both ways in VoD (from the platform back to him as a rights holder, and from him to the platform as an in-build advertisement revenue stream on a per click model). The net net effect was in fact to the profit of the rights holder (the platform would give more than it received), and it allowed him to be more competitive that other rights holders in terms of visibility by giving an incentive to the platform to put his content upfront...

Another model has been proposed by WeVision.

Onlinefilm AG

Cay Wesnigk CEO of Onlinefilm AG is running the portal www.onlinefilm.org.

Onlinefilm.org is a multilingual European VOD platform for producers and filmmakers, offering them the possibility to easily upload their films and set them free for download against micro payment by using the internet as a direct sale channel. The price that has to be paid is choosen by the uploader himself and the regular share is 51% for the rights owner and 49% for the platform. www.onlinefilm.org is the only platform that allows the uploader total control over the distribution process and can be used to host trailers for all as well as raw cuts which can then be distributed to closed circles only. Once a film is uploaded the first three minutes are converted into a flash file automaticaly and if set free by the uploader, can be embedded on any webside or blog as a viral marketing tool. >From there to a purchase as VOD download to own it is always only just one click. Unlike other VOD platforms www.onlinefilm.org lets filmmakers know who their customers are. The platform is in collective possession by over 120 filmmakers already and is offering other filmmakers to become part of the collective that owns and controls the filmmaker owned marketplace on the Internet as well. Onlinefilm has partners that run regional portals, based on the onlinefilm.org distribution technology in Austria, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia and is looking for more partners in other countries."

Picture This!

Picture This!: "So sad and sorry to say that as of September 29, 2009, we have closed our doors after a wonderful, 13-year run as Picture This! Over the years we have globe-trotted to bring you quality gay, lesbian and coming-of-age features and shorts, but increasingly undeniable economic realities have sadly put an abrupt end to our mission."

Truly Free Film: One Day Crash Course In The New Distribution & Marketing

Announcing a chance to see Peter Broderick in person and hear about Hybrid DIY distribution. Don't miss this, even if it is in the middle of AFM. You'll learn things the Paramount marketing team of Paranormal Activity picked up from the source of the innovations in internet movie marketing itself. Truly Free Film: One Day Crash Course In The New Distribution & Marketing

Rena Ronson to UTA | The Wrap

I once planned to write a book entitled Ronna, Rena, Gina and Me. It would have been about the first women in the business of film (vs. the creative side of filmmaking). Ronna Wallace began as the first in acquisitions and opened up her jobs to me as she left them, most notably leaving Arthur Morowitz to head up MGM Home Video. Rena, met first behind the desk at Fox Lorber (with David Linde!) and then entering international sales -- and not just buying and selling features but companies themselves -- while not the first women in independent international sales, she was the first to be so versatile crossing into the agency world, producer repping and financing as well. Gina Resnick, an attorney moving up the corporate ladder to head acquisitions at RCA Columbia Home Video, and me, quiet but the first woman in corporate international distribution (20th Century Fox International, Amsterdam). The problem with the book was that while we all said yes, we were all too busy working to sit down and recall the struggles and compromises and decisions we had to take to keep progressing upward. And today, while we're all still going strong, it is Rena who has sprinted ahead once again and is still going upwards (while we are maintaining our pace and feeling strong about that). Here is the latest, straight from the official press release as broken on The Wrap. Congratulatons!

Rena Ronson to UTA The Wrap: "United Talent Agency today announced that top film finance and packaging executive Rena Ronson has joined the agency as Co-Head of the Independent Film Group. She will join UTA motion picture literary partner Rich Klubeck in overseeing the group, where she will focus on film finance and film packaging for independent and co-financed studio features as well as foreign sales and distribution strategies. Ronson was most recently co-head of William Morris Independent.

“UTA continues to recruit professionals who can bring experience and relationships that will serve our colleagues and our clients,” said UTA Board member Jeremy Zimmer. “Rena’s professionalism and reputation as one of the most passionate and widely-admired players in independent film certainly fit that criteria.

“Rena’s addition speaks directly to the vision we have for expanding our finance and packaging operations,” said UTA motion picture lit partner Rich Klubeck who has headed the group since 2004. “Her extensive experience here and abroad and her insight into the changing economics of the film industry will greatly add to our reach in the global film market. I am thrilled that she is joining the agency.

“This is a terrific opportunity and one I couldn’t pass up,” said Rena Ronson. “I have long admired the way in which UTA has grown and positioned itself in the industry, and I am excited to join Rich and the team in being part of the agency’s future. Together, Rich and I aim to make UTA a market leader in developing the new strategies and solutions that filmmakers, producers and financiers need in these challenging times.”

LATINO FILM RELEASE BY ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS TODAY

Roadside Attractions is releasing both Good Hair and From Mexico with Love today. We all know about Good Hair, the Toronto premiering doc by Chris Rock inspired by his daughter’s hair styling concerns. Check out Roadside Attraction’s Facebook Page and you’ll see more on this hands-down, well-loved film.

It’s From Mexico with Love which offers the challenge and possible new insights into distribution to the niche Mexican audience. Starring Kuno Becker a big star in Mexico and known here for the Goal Films and costarring Danay Garcia, a well loved Mexican telenovela star who also has a regular role in Fox's upcoming series Prison Break, it will be released on 281 screens in California, New Mexico and Arizona. (Good Hair will go out on 185 screens.)

The film is a Rocky-esque inspirational story in which a washed-up trainer takes a self-destructive young boxer under his wing. It is receiving important radio notice on Latino stations. While A Day without a Mexican played in Sundance, this film played in the San Diego Latino Film Festival. Whether that impacts the film is interesting to speculate upon, though I don’t think Sundance is a relevant factor, and San Diego’s impact is uncertain. The film did quite well in Mexico which could mean it’s been seen already in US illegally or that its reputation will create interest here.

Most interesting is the chance to compare and perhaps replicate the success of A Day Without a Mexican whose opening weekend was $620,000. It played theatrically from May to November 2004 finally grossing $4.18 million in US. Very little has hit the Latino (primarily Mexican) market to that tune since -- with the exception of Fox Searchlight's 2007 Sundance pickup Under The Same Moon in 2008 which grossed $12,589,108 -- but the majors and their P&A budgets essentially take their films out of the league we are discussing here.

***Late posting: Opening weekend From Mexico with Love was $334,340 (#26 rank, 279 theaters, $1,198 average) % of Total Gross: 66.1%
Widest Release: 279 theaters In Release: 10 days / 1.4 weeks. Now at $505,606.

It doesn't compare with A Day Without a Mexican whose Opening Weekend:
$628,807 was in 56 theaters averaging$11,228 and ranking #15. % of Total Gross:
15.0% View All 31 Weekends

Latino programming has been out of the spotlight lately after its 2004 to 2007 whirlwind of activities by companies looking to cash in on the elusive Latino market and riding in on the wave of ADWOM. We haven’t heard much news of Lionsgate Latino programming section who in 2006 hired Arturo Chavez to head up its Latino video division. Jim McNamara was named non executive chairman in August 2008 of Cine Latino and in principle is continuing to run production company Panamax Films which has a distribution deal with Lionsgate. Its last credits were 2007's Ladron que roba el ladron (Robber of Robbers) released by Lionsgate and Univision and grossing $4m and Sangre de mi sangre, (Blood of My Blood), which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007, was released by IFC and grossed $54,000 and 2006's La mujer de mi hermano (My Brother's Wife) from Colombia which grossed $2.8m. The only news of other Latino oriented distributors was last summer's Latino showcase tour starting at the Aero and initiated by Maya's Moctezuma Esparza. Maya's 2009 releases, Casi divas, Máncora and Sleep Dealer grossed $46,200, $29,700 and $75,700 respectively.

LA Latino Film Festival (LALIFF) is featuring a panel discussion on distribution in these markets October 15 at 4pm at the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood, 3rd floor. I’ll be moderating it and panelists will include

• Ignacio Darnaude who is credited in IMDb for the idea and as exec producer of Casi Divas and whose day job is with Sony Pictures Releasing International as EVP International Creative Adverstising where he is responsible for the creation of international print and audiovisual marketing materials of all major Sony Pictures releases. He developed the international campaigns for some of the highest grossing pictures in Sony’s history, including “The Da Vinci Code”, “Spider Man 3” and “Casino Royale”. In addition to his marketing responsibilities, Mr. Darnaude initiated and executive produced two of the highest grossing films in Mexican history: “Ladies’ Night” and “Ninas Mal” (“Charm School”); “Ladies’ Night” was the first film produced in Spanish by the Walt Disney Company.
• Jim McNamara – CineLatino, discussed above as Founder and Chairman of Panamax Films, Chairman of Cine Latino, the leading premium Spanish-language movie channel in the U.S. McNamara was most recently President and Chief Executive Officer of Telemundo Communications Group, Inc., headquartered in Hialeah, Florida.
• Santiago Pozo, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of ARENAS.
  Santiago is considered one of the foremost authorities on entertainment and film marketing to U.S. Latino audiences. Over the past 20 years, Pozo and the ARENAS team have worked on marketing over 300 films, including Transformers, Star Trek, Madagascar, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Chronicles of Narnia, Apocalypto, Shrek, Empire, Selena, and Like Water for Chocolate.

We will be discussing reaching the elusive Latino market which is by no means monolithic and whose members want to see mainstream films as much as the next guy. But the niche has recognized spending power. The big question is, what films will tap into that cash flow? For that reason we will be watching From Mexico With Love.

Festivals and Digitalization

Digital technology is forever changing and new opportunities are emerging all the time. How can film festivals get to grips with this rapidly changing scene and find what works for them? Virtually a Reality: Digitising Your Festival, supported by Film London at this year's LFF, is an opportunity for you to hear, think about and share how new technology can complement – or even transform – your festival.

Redbox Chief: 'We Are an Engine for Industry Growth' | The Wrap

By Mitch Lowe
Published: October 02, 2009 in The Wrap

The article and all its references speak for themselves. Increased rentals are good and do not impact on the decrease of sales of DVDs. All this is a stopgap anyway until downloading and streaming take place from computers and go directly onto whatever large TV screens consumers install in their homes. Even TV seems more and more like a stopgap when you can get all news (real news, in depth news) from your computer and all movies from online as well.

In recent weeks, there’s been chatter attempting to explain the decline in DVD sales, linking this trend to a multitude of factors: consumer preferences, changing physical media, the economy and shrinking retail footprints.

For the first half of the year, DVD sales were down 13.5 percent from the same time period last year, according to industry tracker Digital Entertainment Group.

Meanwhile, rentals have risen 8.3 percent.

Some have even promoted the idea that popular movie rental services like Redbox cannibalize the market for DVD sales. Others suggest that big studios are clinging to unsustainable business models. (For background, see Flurry of Lawsuits Puts Redbox in Spotlight)"

Finding Jobs to Score Music for Film

Occasionally I want to go off the beaten track on this blog. So today I’m going to show the correspondence between two composers looking for music gigs on films and me.

From: Moritz Schmittat [mailto:moritz@scoringforfilm.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2009
To: Sydney J. Levine
Subject: Berlinale Talent Campus

Dear Sydney!

My name is Moritz Schmittat - composer for film and TV. We met at the 'Dine&Shine' dinner at the Berlinale Talent Campus. I believe our round was the main course. I had a fabulous evening and I still have your card here.

I just wanted to re-connect and say hello. I recently scored my first feature film which is now playing in over 50 UK cinemas. It's called '31 North 62 East' - a political thriller directed by Tristan Loraine featuring John Rhys-Davies and Marina Sirits. I conducted the orchestral recording sessions myself. Now I am working on my next feature which is called 'Banquet of the Damned' - a horror film.I have a brand new website. It's: http://www.scoringforfilm.com/ - check it out when you have a free moment. You can watch my portfolio online if you want. If you are interested I could also send you my showreel on DVD/CD? Just email me your address. For me at this stage it is still very important to 'get my stuff out there' - would you maybe know some film makers who I could introduce myself to? That would be great help!Best wishes and greetings from London,Moritz


On 26 Sep 2009, at 06:25, Sydney J. Levine wrote:
Thanks Moritz for your email.

It seems like the film music people are the most active seekers of jobs except for producers who are always looking for money.

Your website is beautiful! I’m afraid I won’t do much with your show reel as I am not really into production and I have boxes of unseen DVDs!

Maybe I can put together something on filmmakers for you but for now, I suggest you contact www.volume57.com if you think their style fits yours (they are art films!). Gene Lechner is a friend of mine in Berlin and she started the site for performers and composers.

Are you a member of IMDbPro? They show films titles and contact info for films in pre-production which might give you some leads.

I hope we shall meet again…I will be in Berlin for the Berlinale and am going to Hof in November.

All my best,
Sydney

From: Moritz Schmittat [mailto:moritz@scoringforfilm.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Hi Sydney,

Thanks so much for getting back. Yes, I know the composers competition is huge - but I'll fight my way through it....

Volume57 seems to be promising. I applied already - Geno got back to me. They will listen to my work as soon as they are back from their travels. So, thanks for the link. Much appreciated.

I am a Pro member and I am using it almost every day. Not all users have their contact details online unfortunately. The other thing is that it is difficult to get 'around' the agents -- especially agents of young directors. There are many guys that have made their first feature or won some awards with shorts and who now have an agent who, understandably, want to keep their clients 'unspamed'. The funny thing is that quite a few of them do NOT have any composer credited in their films. Do you maybe have any good suggestions of how to approach those 'targets'.

Well, thanks again for your email. Let's keep in touch. I will definitely be in Berlin next year again!
Moritz

September 28, 2009
Moritz,

Try looking in advance at the films in upcoming festivals…the director is often invited…you can contact the festival and see if you can get an industry list or the producer of the film…perhaps he’s listed on IMDbPro if not on the industry lists of the fests. If you’ve been to Cannes officially, you have their www.cinando.com website as well. IMDbPro/FilmFinders has free festival reports with contact info for film posted before the festival actually begins.

Really, you need films in pre-production…Variety and Hollywood Reporter also list them on line. Cold call, send reel or refer to website, follow up call or email until you reach someone: That is the way to do it…repeat, repeat, repeat. Really even the agents do that to book their clients’ if they’re on the ball.

Agents are very protective of their directors but they don’t rep or protect producers…so meet producers with upcoming films and get info on directors from them to get yourself attached…e.g., in Berlin, find out about the Producer’s Co-production Market, in Cannes check out participants of the Producers Network and Cinefondation, or Rotterdam Cinemart and other premarkets in Mannheim, Pusan, New York's IFP, Guadalajara Film Festival.

Also, look for trade music events. Of course lots of competition is there too.

Does this help?
Sydney

September 29, 2009 Here’s a testimony to a close friend (composer) of mine about following the directions I just gave to you:

Almost everything you wrote, I've been doing. It's gotten to the point that the production companies think I am an agent or music supervisor. I've contacted directors way before any cast is attached or production has started. One instance was a film directed by a woman. I saw her credits on IMDb and noticed that she went to the AFI Women's Director's Program. So I contacted the AFI and they took down my info and passed it on. The next day I got a call from the director and she was excited that someone tracked her down re: her film. To make a long story short, my agent at the time did not want to have anything to do with it because she had never heard of the director. Well the film was "Monster" with Charlize Theron later attached and you know the rest...
Karen Martin [soundsculpture@sbcglobal.net]

Toronto Rights RoundUp and Other Fall Festivals

The Toronto and Other Fall Festivals Rights RoundUp list looks quite sizeable for what is claimed to have been a quiet festival season. Though it's true business down, the large number of acquisitions has not been viewed as such and yet is the result of a new trend which has been sneaking up over the past few years and has now taken hold. Distributors and sales agents now acquire BEFORE the festivals rather than during. It developed out of Cannes' prescreenings which have mostly been discontinued, and it could go so far as to change the pre-Sundance adage NOT to show the film to anyone before Sundance.

This Rights RoundUp for acquisitions executives, distributors, international sales agents, investors and producers is different from my previous RR Reports. It is no longer a report based on data and FilmFinders is out of the equation. This listing of rights acquired BEFORE the actual festival, DURING the festival and for a couple of months AFTER can also be found on MDbPro who acquired FilmFinders in 2008 and where SydneysBuzz resides on the landing page and on IMDbPro's News Desk. Whenever possible, the list is alphabetical by international sales agent (linked to IMDbPro), and the ISA's titles are also linked to IMDbPro.

If you do not yet subscribe to IMDbPro, I would advise plunking down $100 for a year's subscription. You'll get more than your money's worth I promise. By going into Pro, you will be able to see all the territorial distributors for a particular title, and if you care to, you can see their entire lineups. You can do the same with the sales agents and the producers attached to the titles in IMDbPro.

Here is a link to IndieWire's list of 147 Films For Sale at Toronto. It is interesting and fun to see which of these get picked up, by whom, for where and when. -- Sydney

The recent post Toronto pickups are included below (Creation, Get Low, I Am Love, Lebanon, The Art of the Steal) Here are the Toronto , Venice and San Sebastian pick-ups:

Alain Vannier and Orly Films licensed Alain Resnais' Wild Grass (Les Herbes folles) to Sony Pictures Classics for U.S., Australian and New Zealand (Pre-Toronto pick-up).

Autlook licensed Nobody's Perfect to Lorber for North America. Ventura Film has German rights.

Bavaria International licensed The Anarchist's Wife to Alexander Film for Canada.

Beta Cinema licensed John Rabe to Strand for US 10 months after its premiere in Berlin. Other distributors include Majestic-Filmverleih for Germany, 01 Rai Cinema for Italy, DeA Planeta Home Entertainment and Antena 3 Televisión for Spain, Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) for Austrian TV, Cinemien and Homescreen for Benelux.

Bleiberg Entertainment's $3 million thriller Kirot directed by Danny Lerner and starring Bond girl Olga Kurylenko opening Toronto's City to City program, was sold to 14 territories before shooting began, in partnership with Israeli broadcaster Keshet Broadcasting and United King (the country's biggest distributor and French producer Edouard Douek (who controls all rights in France).

Celluloid Dreams (Pre-Toronto pick-ups) licensed Vincere to IFC for North America. Lebanon went to Metrodome Distribution for the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. Metrodome partnered with Rialto Distribution for its release in Australia and New Zealand. Bim acquired Italian rights to Lebanon in Venice. Sony Pictures Classics picked up Lebanon for US after Toronto.

CJ Entertainment has licensed in a Pre-Toronto pick-up Bong Joon-Ho’s Cannes Un Certain Regard hit Mother as well as the director’s 2000 film Barking Dogs Never Bite to Magnolia for North America. Mother will screen in official selection at Toronto and the New York Film festival before Magnolia releases it in theatres in early 2010. The film is South Korea’s foreign language Oscar submission and stars Kim Hye-ja as a woman who dedicates her life to proving the innocence of her son whom she believes has been wrongly accused of murder. Magnolia’s senior vice-president Tom Quinn and head of business affairs Chris Matson brokered the deal with CJ Entertainment’s senior vice-president Kini S Kim and director of international sales Eric Kim. Magnolia and Bong previously collaborated on the 2007 release of The Host. Magnolia executives said they were “excited to be the American home for the film-maker, one of the most dynamic and exciting on the world stage today.” In November 2008 Mother went to Bitters End for Japan whose release was the biggest opening of the year, as it was in Korea. It s also Japan's submission for the Academy's Best Foreign Language Film Nomination for 2009.

ContentFilm licensed Fish Tank to IFC for North America (Pre-Toronto pick-up). ContentFilm International has acquired worldwide sales rights to Jason Lehel’s Gaia, which will have its world premiere in Toronto’s Visions section. CoProduction Office licensed Police, Adjective to IFC for No. America and A Town Called Panic to Zeitgeist Films for US(Pre-Toronto pick-ups). Lourdes, a critic and crowd pleasing Venice premiere has been picked up by Palisades Tartan for US, NFP Distribution in Germany, Alta Films in Spain, Gussi Films in Mexico and Greek distributor Nutopia . The film won the FIPRESCI international critics prize in Venice, two religious awards -- the Signis and the La Navicella -- and the Brian Award, given by the union of atheists and agnostics. It screens at the Toronto International Film Festival on Monday, and has now sold to 16 territories worldwide including Cinecittà (Italy), Filmmuseum Distributie (Netherlands), Lumière Productie (Belgium), MTU Otaku (Estonia), NetXenix(Switzerland), TFM Distribution (France). Shirin Neshat’s Venice Silver Lion winner Women Without Men, sold to 10 territories in Venice including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela (Gussi Films), Belgium (Lumiere), Brazil, Italy (BIM Distribuzione), Colombia, The Netherlands (Filmmuseum), Russia and Ukraine (Sota Cinema), Germany ( TV- ZDF/Arte ).

Glen Basner’s FilmNation sold out international territories on The Joneses that world premiered in Toronto. Rights have gone to Entertainment One in the UK, UGC Distribution in France, Wild Bunch in Germany, Svensk Filmindustri (SF) in Scandinavia, Luxor Entertainment in CIS, Sun Distribution in Latin America, Italia Films for the Middle East, Shani Films for Israel, Shark Specialist Group (SSG) for Taiwan, Multivision Multimedia India for Indonesia and Singapore, and Sahamongkol for Thailand and TVA in Canada. Further deals to conclude in the next few days are for Italy and Eastern Europe. There is strong interest from buyers in Spain, Australia and New Zealand. International Creative Management (ICM) is holding talks with several US buyers and has arranged screenings in Los Angeles. November 5, 2009 deal closedwit Roadside Attractions for US!

Fine Cut licensed Chaw to Optimum Releasing for the UK. It has already sold to Ascot Elite Home Entertainment for Austria, German speaking Switzerland and Germany, IOF Ent for India, J-Bics for Thailand, Visicom Surya for Singapore, to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Released in South Korea on July 15 by Lotte Entertainment, it grossed $9.3 million from 1.8 million admissions nationwide.

Fortissimo licensed Life During Wartime to Archibald Enterprise Film for Italy just a day before the film it won the Golden Osella for best screenplay at the Venice Film Festival. The film has previously sold to A-Film Distribution (Benelux), Lusomundo (Portugal), Tuck (former Yugoslavia), Monolith (Poland), Imagem Filmes (Brazil), HBO Latin America, Shani Films (Israel), D Productions (Turkey) and Budapest Film (Hungary). The film has its North American premiere Monday at the Toronto International Film Festival. Just before Toronto, Fortssimo acquired worldwide rights, excluding Japan, to live-action 3D thriller The Shock Labyrinth, international rights to Yonfan's Prince of Tears, Demme’s Neil Young Trunk Show, Road, Movie .

GK Films (Graham King) licensed Young Victoria to Apparition for North America (Pre-Toronto pick-up). Alliance will take Canada as a part of its new output deal with Apparition. Apparition also has an output relationship with Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group (SPWAG) for all domestic ancillary rights. Other distributors include Audio Visual Enterprises (Greece), Metropolitan Filmexport (France), Nordisk Film (Norway), Paradiso Entertainment (Benelux), Shaw Organisation (Singapore), Aurum Producciones (Spain), Momentum Pictures (UK), Nordisk Film Theatrical Distribution (Scandinavia), Pinema (Turkey).

Hanway has licensed Creation to Newmarket Films for US, D Films for Canada. Canadian film distribution veterans Jim Sherry and Tony Cianciotta just launched their new boutique outfit, D Films. Sherry is president of the company and Cianciotta is the director of acquisitions. Triage has already been licensed to 01 Rai Cinema (Italy), Canal+ (France), Alta Films (Spain), FS Film Oy (Finland), Odeon (Greece), Odeon (Romania) (Pre-Toronto pick-ups).

IDG Media International of China's Ted Perkins licensed City of Life and Death to National Geographic for North America (Pre-Toronto pick-up).

IM Global has licensed A Single Man to The Weinstein Company for North America and Germany reportedly for an amount estimated between $1 million and $2 million. North American rights were repped by CAA and IM Global internationally. The pic will be released in the fall for an awards run. Focus and Miramax were bidding against Weinstein. Further deals are with Icon in the UK and Australia, Mars in France, Aurum Films in Spain, Scanbox Entertainment in Scandinavia, Alliance in Canada, Village Roadshow Greece S.A. in Greece, Multivision in Singapore, and Studio Solutions in Taiwan, Prisvídeo in Portugal, Nu Metro for South Africa, Forum Film for Israel, Gulf Film for the Middle East, and PVR Pictures for India. Further deals are expected to close deals with Japan, Italy and remaining territories after the second screening on Tuesday afternoon.

K5 International's Get Low went to SPC in a deal brokered by CAA.

Latido licensed The Secret of Her Eyes to Mexico (Gussi Films), Scandinavia (Sandrew Metronome), UK (Metrodome Distribution) , Australia (Rialto Entertainment)France (Pretty Pictures). As coproducers Distribution Company has Argentina rights and Alta Classics has Spain.

Les Films du Losange licensed Le Pere de mes enfants (The Father of My Children) to IFC for US (Pre-Toronto pick-up). In Venice New Wave Films, the company run by Robert Beeson and Pam Engel, picked up UK rights to 36 vues Du Pic Saint Loup (Around A Small Mountain). New Wave’s recent cinema releases have included Sleep Furiously, 35 Shots of Rum and Tricks. Beeson and Engel were among the very few British buyers in attendance at Venice last week.

Mandate Pictures licensed The Good Guy, the Tribeca premiering film to Roadside Attractions for US and will be released the theatrically in March 2010. Mandate will do international sales and Lionsgate will take North American rights to the Relativity Managment financed including P&A and produced feature Knockout, Steven Soderbergh's next film.

Media Asia Group has licensed Accident to ARP for France, Palisades Tartan for US, Dream Movies took Australian theatrical rights and Sky City Cinema took theatrical for New Zealand, and Rialto Entertainment for video and TV for both Australia and New Zealand. City of Life and Death (aka Nanking Nanking) went to Spain’s Karma Films and to Russia’s Carmen Films, and UK’s High Fliers Distribution during Cannes. Rialto also acquired Australia and New Zealand rights to Fire Of Conscience, while Dream Movies took Australia and New Zealand rights to Once A Gangster.

Menemsha Films will also handle worldwide representation and has picked up North American rights for Shameless from Czech producer Rudolf Biermann.

MK2 is selling To the Sea which will have its world premiere screening in Toronto's Visions sidebar on Wednesday, Sept. 16. Dogtooth went to Kino International for US. MK2 Diffusion has French rights.

Myriad Pictures and Cinetic Media have licensed Hampton's premiering film Uncertaintyto IFC for US. Maximum Film Distribution has Canadian rights. Myriad Pictures has acquired worldwide rights to SXSW film Women in Trouble.

Nu Image licensed Bad Lieutenant to First Look for North America (Pre-Toronto pick-up), to Latinameican Theatrical Group for Latin American TV, 01 Distribution (Italy), Distribution Company (Argentina), CatchPlay (Taiwan), IPA Asia Pacific (Thailand), Imagem Filmes (Brazil), Metropolitan Filmexport (France), Odeon (Greece), Prorom Media-Trade (Romania), VVS Films (Canada), Wide Pictures (Spain).

Odd Lot International has sold North American rights to B-Girl to Screen Media Films as well as to Anchor Bay Entertainment for the UK, Universum Film (UFA) for Germany, Icon Film Distribution for Australia, Coral Pictures for South Korea, Spentzos Films for Greece, and VC Multimedia for Portugal, Gulf Film for Middle East, Nu Metro Productions for South Africa, Mars Production for Turkey, Ad Matalon & Co. for Israel, Kino Swiat for Poland, AQS for the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and Prorom Media Trade for Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and former Yugoslavia. Cinesky took airline rights.

Paramount Vantage has licensed Ondine to Latinamerican Theatrical Group for Latin America, holding North American rights for itself, RCV Film Distribution for Benelux, and Wide Pictures for Spain. Park licensed Dead Man Running to Revolver for UK and Ireland. It will be released in late October and was originally picked up for UK distribution by Pathé but following its decision to scale back its theatrical arm, Revolver has taken over the project.

Point Media Group has acquired worldwide rights to The Be All and End All, scheduled to premiere at the Chicago International Film Festival and was one of the buzz titles in the London UK Film Focus Breakthrough section.

Pyramide International sold New Wave Films UK rights to Hadewijch in Venice. North American rights were picked up by IFC Films ahead of its US debut at the New York Film Festival, and after its screening at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Blue Beard went to Strand for US ahead of its NY Film Festival premiere.

RAI International licensed I Am Love to Magnolia Pictures for North America and the 2007 tv movie Caravaggio to Alexander Film for Canada.

SND has taken world sales on Giuseppe Capotondi’s La Doppia Ora (Pre-Toronto pick-up).

StudioCanal licensed Chloe for Canada to E1 Entertainment in a pre-Toronto pick-up. Canada. E1 plans to release the film at Christmas. US went to Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group (SPWAG). StudioCanal will distribute the film directly in France, and in the UK and Germany, through its wholly owned affiliates Optimum Releasing and Kinowelt Filmverleih. Additionally, StudioCanal secured distributors in other territories around the world both prior to, during and after the film’s Toronto premiere. These include E1 in Canada, Eagle Pictures in Italy, Pony Canyon in Japan, Nordisk in Scandinavia, Mars Entertainment in Korea, SPI International in Eastern Europe, Gussi Films in Mexico, PlayArte Filmes in Brazil, NuMetro Distribution in South Africa, Odeon in Greece, Gulf Film in The Middle East, and
Filmes Lusomundo in Portugal. A distribution deal in Spain is also imminent.

Summit licensed Tree of Life to Apparition for North America. It also went to 01 Distribuzione for Italy, Belga Films for Benelux, EuropaCorp for France, Icon Film Distribution for Australia, NZ and UK, Odeon for Greece, Tripictures for Spain and Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) Worldwide Acquisitions Group for USA video (Pre-Toronto pick-ups).

TF1 licensed The Micmacs to Sony Pictures Classics for US, Canada and Latin America (Pre-Toronto pick-up). They will also be offering Jud Süß (The Jew Suss) about the rise and fall of actor Ferdinand Marian who takes the chance and stars in the anti-Semitic movie "Jud Süß" and Father's Guests in Toronto.

The Film Sales Company acquired worldwide rights to Cole (Pre-Toronto pick-up).

Little Film Company licensed The Last Station to Sony Pictures Classics for North and South America. Other distributors include Optimum Releasing for UK and Warner Bros. for Germany.

The Match Factory licensed Soul Kitchen to BIM Distribuzione [it] for Italy in Venice. Rights also belong to Monopole-Pathé (Switzerland), Cinéart(Benelux), Pyramide Distribution (France).

The Works International acquired I Am Love, one of the most talked about films at the Venice Film Festival, from James Atherton’s Quickfire Films. International Creative Management (ICM)’s Jeff Berg negotiated North American pickup with Magnolia for North America after its premiere at Toronto. Other distributors included Mikado Film and Rai Cinema for Italy,
Ad Vitam Distribution for France, Alta Classics for Spain, Rialto Distribution for New Zealand and Australia, Metrodome Distribution for UK and Ireland.

Trust Nordisk sold the Eva Green - Ewan McGregor project The Last Word (working title) to South Korea (Entermode), Benelux (Wild Bunch Benelux) and Greece (Seven Films). UK rights to Mammoth went to Soda Pictures and a pan-Latin American pay-TV deal on the film with CDC. Soda has also taken UK rights to Storm. Family film Timetrip: The Curse of the Viking Witch has gone to MFA Filmdistribution for Germany and Videx International for Latin America. Max Manus: Man of War has sold to Showgate for Japan and CTV for France. Max Manus scriptwriter Thomas Nordseth-Tiller dies aged 28 13-May-2009. UGC International licensed La fille du RER (Girl on the Train), based on a true story, the film recounts a 2004 incident in which a troubled young woman falsely claimed to have been the victim of an anti-Semitic attack on an urban Parisian train (or RER) to Strand Releasing for US (Pre-Toronto pick-up).

Visit Films has acquired international sales rights to Shirley Adams and Dear Lemon Lima. Suzi Yoonessi’s Dear Lemon Lima will premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Visit will also screen Carcasses in Toronto and introduce buyers to the fashion world documentary Picture Me: A Model's Diary.

Voltage Pictures licensed Survival of the Dead to Optimum Releasing (UK), Paradiso Entertainment (Benelux), Splendid Film (Germany), Presidio (Japan), Gulf Film (Middle East), Imagem Filmes (Brazil) and M Pictures (Thailand). Negotiations for France and Italy are ongoing, while Spanish and Australian rights are still up for grabs. E1 Entertainment has rights for Canada, a co-producing country on the picture. Cinetic Media will handle US sales. Cinetic also handled the domestic deal for Diary Of The Dead, which was picked up by The Weinstein Company.

Wild Bunch licensed Spring Fever to Strand Releasing for US (Pre-Toronto pick-up). IFC Films has acquired the U.S. distribution rights to Valhalla Rising, marking the first pick-up by a major U.S. specialty distributor during the Toronto Film Festival. IFC Films won distribution rights following a bidding war. They plan to release Valhalla Rising in 2010 via its IFC In Theaters program. It is also licensed to Le Pacte for France), Scanbox Entertainment for Scandinvia. Cooking With Stella went to The Film Sales Company for North American representation. Mongrel Media has Canada.

WME assigned US rights to Sony Pictures Classics for Mother and Child in November 2009. Other sales made in Toronto by Endeavor's Graham Taylor include Smile Entertainment for Scandinavia, Seven Films for Greece, Hopscotch Entertainment for Australia/ NZ, Haut et Court for France, Front Row Distributors for the Middle East, Cinéart for Benelux, Bir Film for Turkey.

Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre has been picked up for UK by E1 Films from Film and Music Entertainment (Pre-Toronto pick-up) and may acquire other territories. Film And Music Entertainment is seeking to close a world sales deal at Toronto as well. Paramount Pictures has picked up Spanish theatrical and DVD rights to Basque painter drama La maquina de pintar nubes (The Cloud-Painting Machine).

Collapse will go out in theaters and VoD simultaneously two months after debuting at the Toronto International Film Festival. Cinetic has brokered a deal with Vitagraph Films to launch the film in theaters next month, putting the doc on Cinetic’s new FilmBuff cable VOD channel at the same time.

Defendor has picked up by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group for US and most international rights. Cinetic Media repped the U.S. rights to the film.

The Art of the Steal was picked up for North America by Rainbow Media (which owns IFC Films) for its new theatrical and video-on-demand label Sundance Selects.

The Good Soldier was picked up by Artistic License before its premiere at the Hamptons Film Festival.

Toxic Baby was picked up by Women Make Movies for US.

Wonderful World was picked up for North America by Magnolia. CAA negotiated the deal for the producers.

One year after its launch at TIFF, Me And Orson Welles has found US distribution through Freestyle Releasing with a campaign by Russell Schwartz’ Pandemic Marketing and to open November 25. Hart-Lunsford Pictures of Louisville is funding the P&A costs and Warner Bros Home Video (WBHV) will handle the DVD release. Cinetic Media, who repped the film at TIFF 2008 brokered the deal with WBHV. An alliance assembled by UK finance and production company Cinemanx (NX), whose chairman is Steve Christian, set up the theatrical deal. NX recently formed a relationship with Vue Entertainment in the UK to produce and directly distribute titles including Me And Orson Welles.

Distributors Weigh In

OK, we all know
1) we're in the midst of an economic crisis,
2) digitilization is changing the world in a shift only comparable (maybe) to that of the industrial revolution,
3) movie distribution patterns for the new generation of filmmakers are shifting to hybrid DIY with professional backup of the mature generation of former indie specialty distribution pioneers.

Before moving on, here are the words of one of these star veterans:
"Social networking is absolutely more and more influential. I personally think that retaking the indie film label from the usurpers and reeducating both the media and public about what independent film really is is our most critical challenge right now. Just confirmed that I’m going to be on a Digital Hollywood panel mid to late October..."
Mark Lipsky [mark@giganticdigital.com], President, Gigantic Digital 212-219-3039.

One recent filmmaker comment to the constantly repeated litany of "the other veterans", that is, those who are still drawing corporate paychecks from such companies as IFC, Sony Pictures Classics or Focus (strike out TWC who just let go 30 more employees) who keep crying out "There are too many films!" was to question why this refrain is so acceptable. If the films are "art", who in the art world complains there is too much art, or in music why do we never hear there is too much music? Let's accept the state of the world today: There are 500,000 filmmakers worldwide and 10,000 films are made a year.

There are too many blogs blogging about the business of film, and mine is one of them. I do not intend to keep blogging about new modes of distribution and digital exhibition which, in effect, wipes out the oft bewailed "broken distribution system" because I see what is being offered by Peter Broderick (see below) and Ted Hope whose fabulous blog lists everything but fails to list poor little me. And TOH does its part as well. There are too many blogs blogging about DIY. We at SydneysBuzz will continue in other directions and will continue strategizing distribution routes with our clients, but this subject is being posted in all the right places already.

However, before singing my swan song, I want to bring to the forefront how the major studios always ride the tails of the indies when needing to find inspiration. Remember when they all had to have specialty divisions which drove up the acquisitions costs of films to the point of the market's collapse (here now) and yet did nothing to nurture new talent, which never stops?

A few days ago (September 20, 2009) L.A. Times ran a fascinating article on how Dreamworks took rights to a little unheard of gem and now Paramount will release Paranormal Activity. The ambivalence of the studio stands out but they are actually taking out all stops to see if they can create a The Blair Witch Project Redux release using ALL the latest online techniques which were so primitive at the time of Blair Witch's unprecedented and unmatched success. I am very impressed. Some notable actions in their campaign to make this Jason Blum (a name we all know) produced film, one of the annual harvest of 15,000 low budget horror films, stand out are:

- It was passed over by Sundance but played in Slamdance

- The second feature director Oren Peli Area 51 is about to start

- Older teens and young adults were invited to the IM Global's AFM screening

- It played midnight in the rain in Telluride and again outside the festival program in Toronto

Even better than these events which shall be a future subject of SydneysBuzz:

- Paramount is installing webcams in theaters so fans can record their impressions

- People who haven't seen the film will use the Demand website (eventful.com/demand) to request Paramount book the film in their town (a first for this music/ band request site)

Blum will be teaching the old dogs new tricks he says, demonstrating how to do more with less. I think Blum may be providing more than a demonstration. I think (and HOPE) that he will be opening the door of employment for young internet savvy executives at the studios. So all you young and older filmmakers, keep honing your internet skills with DIY and plan your CV to enter the studio system. If the studios think you can make a $50,000 production gross $250 million worldwide, you'll be employable.

To get back to the subject of this very long dissertation:

Peter Broderick, on the one year anniversary of his definitive WELCOME TO THE NEW WORLD OF DISTRIBUTION published on IndieWire has now published the follow up Declaration of Independence: The Ten Principles of Hybrid Distribution\FEEDBACK WELCOME: outlining principles of hybrid distribution which emerged from the experiences of hundreds of filmmakers. They will continue to evolve as more and more independents use these strategies. (peter@peterbroderick.com). He says,"My goal is to create a living document that evolves with the latest hybrid experiences and empowers filmmakers to realize their full potential. Visit http://www.peterbroderick.com/ to sign up for the 'Distribution Bulletin', featuring the latest in independent film distribution and marketing." Bravo!

Toronto Wrap: Indie Bloodbath - Thompson on Hollywood quotes Fox Searchlight acquisitions exec Tony Safford responding to the Big Question: But who will figure out how to market it? “You have to create a lot of noise, with a lot of arrows in your quiver...The film, marketing, critics are all important. It’s hard to rely on just one. Some of these films would have been released in another era.”

Now for a rundown of who are the current U.S. distributors of indie films which in being named makes the playing field seem pretty crowded:

Of course there are the veterans which, aside from Sony Pictures Classics, Miramax Films, IFC, Magnolia Pictures, Fox Searchlight, and perhaps Focus Features if it is still acquiring specialty films, have mostly retained their micro size, from Zeitgeist Films, Kino International, The Samuel Goldwyn Company, Roadside Attractions, Strand Releasing, Regent Releasing, Here Films, Indican Pictures, Film Forum, First Run Features, Women Make Movies, Roxie Releasing, Panorama Entertainment, Vitagraph Films .

Then there are the new interesting labels being led by Marc Urman's Palladium Entertainment, Bob Berney's Apparition, Summit and Overture Films whose path seems to be diverging from specialty films.

Next come those other distributors still needing to prove their longevity like The Weinstein Company, Palisades Tartan who just picked up Lourdes in Venice, Music Box Films , National Geographic , Indiepix , Film Movement, B-Side Entertainment, Oscilloscope Pictures, FiGa Films, Gigantic Releasing and Cinema Tropical who are also looking to make a profitable deal. There's also 24 Frames.

And now in great demand are the For-Rent-DIY distributors like Susan Jackson's Freestyle Releasing, Richard Abramowitz' Abramorama, Wendy Lidell's International Film Circuit and MJ Pekos' Mitropoulos Films, all run by truly professional vets able to think and act creatively on a case by case basis and to turn on a dime.

For the record of the past year's box office performance, I am citing IndieWire's Summer Hot, Summer Cool: A Specialty Box Office Recap - indieWIRE: "Back in July, indieWIRE ran an article examining the first half of this year’s specialty box office. The general consensus was that while Hollywood was doing just fine (at the time tracking 10% above last year - now that number is a little under 7%), Indiewood was having a tougher go at it. Only two limited releases - Sunshine Cleaning and Away We Go had grossed over $5 million. The top five had a combined gross of $26.5 million, while at the same point in 2008, the top five had grossed nearly twice that. Two months later, things have seen a notable turnaround...With 2009’s unusually late Labor Day weekend about to commence, it’s safe to call this summer movie season a wrap. Reports have already found their way through the trades, proclaiming this Hollywood’s highest-grossing summer ever...“Not only will 2009 finish ahead of 2008 - which was our record year - but we continue to expand our audience. Because of the diversity of product we are attracting all ages to our theatres. And thankfully, they seem to be coming back for more.” claims Landmark Theater chain's Mundorff...Looking down the list of the summer’s top twenty-five limited releases (which you can find on page 2 of this story), nine of the top ten grossing films came from either Summit or one of four studio specialty divisions - Fox Searchlight, Focus Features, Sony Pictures Classics (which had an impressive 4 in the top 10), and Miramax...this isn’t new news...the idea of what makes a film “successful” varies greatly between the vast scope of what people generally consider an “indie film” (the mildly disappointing $3.5 million Summit got out of “The Brothers Bloom” would have been a massive success for, say, Music Box Films’ “Seraphine”).

In one final attempt to quantify and qualify the distributors today, I cite The Hollywood Reporter's Distributor Report Cards: "Distributor Report Cards Written and compiled by THR Staff Aug 30, 2009 Updated: Sept 2, 2009"