Well, the film is almost finished - and to be honest, it hasn't gone as well as I thought it would. At the early test screenings, the audience loved the film - but maybe they were just trying to make me feel good.
In any case, the four big film festivals - Venice, Toronto, Telluride and the New York Film Festival all turned it down. Very disappointing! We had high hopes for Toronto and Telluride - I found out that the new Miyazaki film got into those festivals, and perhaps they felt that one animated feature was enough?
In any case, we're trying for a couple more big fall festivals - we really need a premiere at a big festival to attract all the distributors. If we can't get into the remaining fall festivals, we'll wait until the big winter festivals, like Sundance, Berlin, etc. This may be a blessing in disguise, because it gives us a chance to really finish the film and perfect the sound and editing.
If, for some ungodly reason, the film doesn't get picked up by a major distributor, we do have a number of smaller players willing to distribute the film. And if their deals aren't really exciting to us, we could even self-distribute. I've done that in the past and it's certainly a more viable option now that digital media and the internet are becoming greater sources of income.
However, we do have one international festival that will host the foreign premiere, and that will be the wonderful Sitges Festival, near Barcelona. It's one of my favorite festivals, taking place from October 11 to 20. Keep watching this space for updates on the festival news for CHEATIN'.
Bill
It's their loss. All of these festival seems to have lost their way.
ReplyDeleteI have no doubt that Cheatin' will get a distributor, but I think self-distribution would be the way to go. You're already in touch with your fan base, and all those who gave money to your campaign would no doubt support it.
Keep on keeping on, Bill.
James Madison