It’s old news that people all over the world are suffering from the hard-hitting economic recession and constant layoffs. It is hard to spare money on extracurricular activities.
One of the sectors experiencing the monetary crunch is the film industry, especially during the start of the film festival season. For example, The Salt Lake Tribune has reported that the Sundance Film Festival, which is currently running through Sunday, is expecting a much less populated festival compared to the 45,056 in attendance last year, and corporations have rented out fewer spaces for special events, making for a smaller and more toned-down festival than has been seen in recent years.
However, the other film festival held in Park City at the same time ““ the rapidly growing Slamdance Film Festival ““ believes it has found a solution to getting more people to attend without having to force them to part with more of their hard-earned cash. In a partnership with IndieRoad.net, Slamdance has opted to stream films screening at the festival simultaneously online on a pay-per-movie basis, allowing viewers to watch films without having to fly to the festival.
“I think Peter (co-founder of Slamdance) was one of the first at film festivals to have the same vision that I have to help make this form of the film festival friendly to people who can’t afford to travel,” said Vince Di Pierro, the creative director of IndieRoad.net. “It gives the public another alternative way of seeing an independent film, and it gives the filmmakers an opportunity to have a much large audience.”
Films will stream two hours after their premiere in Park City and will be available for download until the end of the festival on Friday.
“We would never want to preempt the screening here because people are coming for the premiere, and we would never want them to miss the real thing,” Di Pierro said. “People come to the festival to see the premiere, so that’s why we’re delaying it for two hours.”
Each viewing of a film or block of shorts costs $9 ““ the approximate price of a ticket to the movies. Both IndieRoad.net and Slamdance organizers encourage people to watch the films with their friends to replicate the film festival-going experience at home.
“Having a festival online here throughout our festival here in Park City is great so we can increase our audience members and promote the values of the filmmakers,” said Peter Baxter, president and co-founder of Slamdance. “It was a great opportunity for the filmmakers from the start to earn money for the filmmaker. It’s great for Indie Road and for us and especially for the filmmaker.”
Besides being able to view the films from home, streaming online has proved beneficial for at least one reason. Many of the screenings at Slamdance have sold out, but instead of turning people away and making them wait until the film finds a distributor, which is more of a challenge today than ever before, festival organizers are encouraging people to go online.
“From last year, only half of the distributors are represented,” Baxter said. “I say only half because half of the distributors last year don’t exist anymore! I think its something we need to embrace and something the independent filmmaker can profit from.”
Although the official numbers are not in on how many people opted to watch online, Di Pierro stated that the site is receiving significantly more traffic than usual, especially from Europe. IndieRoad.net is also in talks to partner with other film festivals, including ones later this year in London.
“We’ve got a lot of great feedback from Europe,” Di Pierro said. “If they can make this happen ““ if they can make a small localized film festival into an international event, that is going to have a really positive effect.”
Some filmmakers still remain skeptical over the online medium of viewing films. Although more than half of the filmmakers agreed to put their films online, some have held off for personal reasons. Included in the films not available online is one of the biggest billed films of the festival, Glenn McQuaid’s “I Sell the Dead,” a comedy-horror film starring Dominic Monaghan (Lord of the Rings) and Ron Perlman (Hellboy 1 & 2). Di Pierro cites fear of video piracy as one of the main reasons why some people are not sold on online distribution. However, Baxter remains optimistic on this new method of hosting film festivals.
“I think the view of where film is at the moment is that new technology, whether it is online or in print, is going to play a critical part in the future of independent film,” Baxter said. “I believe that there is a short list of kinds of ways to get independent films out, and people aren’t always to see them. I also think in the long run online distribution will level the playing field for a lot of independent filmmakers.”