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Truly Free Film

The Really Good Things In FilmBiz 2014

Let's look at the bright side!
Let’s look at the bright side!

Some rituals help keep us focused throughout the year. This marks the 4th time I have looked back at all the good things that occurred in the film biz and listed them out for all of us. Tracking them through year, keeps me from abandoning hope. Sometimes they may just be the silver lining in the storm cloud, but nonetheless they keep me going, keep me convinced that in fact we truly are: building it better together. I hope they do something close to that for you. It’s been a good year, and I have thirty two morsels to tempt you with. And of course the year’s not through yet, so perhaps you have some to add to this too. 

If you’ve encountered elements of this list earlier on my postings in Film Comment and on Keyframe, pay careful attention as I have weaved some new points into all for your reading pleasure. And if you like a little of the bitter to wash down the sweet, don’t forget the list of 30 Bad Things In 2014’s Film Biz here.

Categories
Truly Free Film

It Broke My Heart But The Mission Remained Intact

You’ve given me the support I needed to go forth and try to get this done. Granted, I had enough support from the beginning to actually believe there was a chance I could not just make movies, but make good movies. That is a real gift, an advantage few have. Courage, faith — those things were there, but so was doubt and fear. Love and hate. The wolves in battle.

What if it didn’t work? And then when that was true, when it did stop working, or at least start to stop working for most, what made me think I could help build something better?

What gives us the strength to make big decisions? To change our path? To take on new burdens?

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Truly Free Film

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Crowdfunding

IwPwsRINUK69LHo9OD9IEvvqKPlny9Qz0tAo_duI4g4Currently, I’m crowdfunding on Kickstarter for The Quantified Self, an experimental story about a family that records and analyzes everything about themselves. It’s my third science-fiction film mainly because where I grew up science fiction represented hope for something better. Just twenty years ago I was a humble physics student at Kharkov State Polytechnic University in the former Soviet Union. When I came to the US I had to start from scratch like every immigrant. My first job was $4.75 an hour working at a hardware store on Coney Island. It took me 15 years to get a stable job in IT on Wall Street. It also took me 15 years to realize that I was moving away from myself. I felt depressed and confused. Having a job I didn’t like eroded me from inside and made me rather passive and ignorant about the world around me. Something was missing.

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Truly Free Film

Film Festivals And Digital Platforms Need To Work Together

Fandor Festival PageFilm festivals have done an incredible job aggregating their local film loving communities.  They have invested years into becoming trusted curatorial brands to that local audience. Yet festivals have many challenges — and I witnessed this first hand last year when I ran the San Francisco Film Society.

Most festivals have very limited bandwidth. They are committed to running their successful legacy programs.  Even when they have experienced attendance drops or limited growth, they find it challenging to launch new programs and revenue streams for fear that their historic offerings might suffer.  They can barely do all that currently do, let alone increase their capacity. Every non-profit suffers from financial limits, often operating with next to no cash reserves. How can they change with the times or expand their offerings?

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These Are Those Things

Bring The Golden Age Of Trash Back!

Care for a little sexploitation anyone?

 

 

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Truly Free Film

Could These Be The Future Of FilmBiz?

Looking For The Future Of The Film Biz....We were promised jet packs.  Evolution is too damn slow. We keep telling ourselves a change is going to come, but maybe it is already here.  What have you already come across that the rest of us maybe need to climb aboard in a big way? Could any of these be tomorrow’s future today? 

Last year I wrote up a bit of future casting on film culture and business, but my predictions were more from the gut  and general observation than from what others were doing in the field.  Here are over ten additions based on things going on right now, or that those involved in the creations of the next next feel are inevitable.

Categories
Issues and Actions

Don’t Let Them Shut Down Your Independence!

Ted Hope Blasts FCC Proposal To End Net Neutrality” proclaimed Variety today.  Meanwhile…