O Cinema's Blog
- Posted by opinionatedfatguy
- January 26th, 2012
- 0 notes
Hunting at Sundance
One of the questions we’re most often asked is ‘Where do you get your films’. While the answer is rather simple - we work with distributors, filmmakers, and producers - it seems there is more than a passing interest in the process or criteria in what we decide to show. At the core of our mission is to bring films to Miami that are otherwise not seen here. While occasionally we may share in screening the same film as some of our local art cinema brethren, the grand majority of the time we’re showing films that aren’t being seen in Miami or South Florida for that matter. So how do we choose?
When we look at films we keep three principal things in mind:
- Does our audience want to see it?
- Does our audience need to see it?
- Will this be successful?
Ideally, every film should hit all three marks, though that’s not always the case. It’s a delicate balance that must be achieved and it starts with seeing what’s out there.
Our hunt (if you will) starts with the Sundance Film Festival where each January we gather to see what are the newest movies the indie film world is churning out. Located in the mountains of Utah, the Sundance Film Festival takes over charming Park City for 11 days, bringing a diverse and fresh crop of films from all over the globe. Our fest experience can be summed up as follows: cram as many films during the days as possible, carve out enough time to meet distributors and colleagues, and try your best to stay warm. By the time our eight-day trip has come to a close, we’d have seen over 50 films - that’s an average of six films daily!
Seeing the films is just half the battle: as now we must track what company has bought the US theatrical distribution rights, learn what the release schedule for the film will be, and start working to insure we get to bring it to Miami. This isn’t always simple, as many films won’t secure distribution for some time, some won’t be released till a great deal later, and others will never see a US release. Yet none of those stop us.
When we see something we think is a good fit, we’re determined to bring it to Miami. Two films from last years festival come to mind immediately: Being Elmo: A Puppetteer’s Journey and The Bengali Detective. Both took a great deal of work to secure; Being Elmo, while a darling of last years fest wasn’t released till the late fall of 2011 and didn’t get shown in Miami at O Cinema till mid-December, nearly a year after we first saw it. Meanwhile, The Bengali Detective which was an instant fave, garnering a broadcast deal with HBO and selling its remake rights to Fox Searchlight never locked in a theatrical distributor in the US. However, by working directly with the director, we were able to lock in a short run of the film at O, making us one of the few theaters in the country to host a theatrical run of the film.
As we wrap our eight days in Sundance and get ready to trade in our heavy coats for flip flops and shorts we leave Park City for Miami excited at what 2012 will bring for indie cinema and enthusiastic at all the wonderful films we’ll be bringing you.
