Feb 2, 2022
Believe you me – I’m ready to move on from Sundance, but as a producer friend said to me this morning – Sundance is what sets the tone for the year in film. It’s where we (mainly US based, but many international folks) get a sense of where things are, where they’re going, what’s on people’s minds, and the trends we’ll see the rest of the year. And this year’s tone was one of instability or dissonance. A lot of good, but also a lot of shaky ground.
While I couldn’t watch every film, I did get to see 26 feature films, some shorts and New Frontier projects, and I think the line-up was pretty-much great. My own batting average was 14 out of 26, but that’s pretty good for a Sundance experience, and I know I missed many good ones, usually on purpose as I often skip films I know will be streaming soon (which make up too much of the program each year). If you just look at the films, the present looks good and the future looks bright.
But so much of Sundance is about the tone of the business, and of the filmmakers, and the field. That’s much harder to gauge when everyone was attending remotely – although I know at least 30 people who went to Park City to not waste a nonrefundable condo and/or flight. But one can suss out the tone of the field from just one video. When even the producers of some of the top films of this year’s Sundance are at wit’s end with the whole indie film experience, one takes notice. I refer to Rebecca Green/Dear Producer’s Producer’s Roundtable with six incredible producers, zoomed during the festival.
While the producers were all happy to premiere at Sundance, and were obviously trying not to complain too much about the festival’s unfortunate last minute switch to online only offerings, they were clearly at a point of collective awakening to the sheer insanity of what we call a film business today. Too much time was spent on complaints about money lost on condos and airfare, and the problems with getting cast/crew “virtual tickets” for their premieres, perhaps, but these are indie filmmakers with limited budgets. What was more striking was just how much time they also complained – in a tone of despair that poked through the smiles from selling their movies, even - over the state of the business. From the death of equity, to the need for festivals to (finally, completely) adapt to new realities, to the ongoing exasperation with covid interfering with the shoot, to the pros/cons of streamers taking over our world.
These are all problems I’ve covered extensively in this newsletter, but producers are a hopeful bunch by nature, and these folks seemed ground down – even though each of them had an amazing reception for their films at Sundance. What also stood out, was a comment by Keith Wilson at around the 42:00 mark, where he asks (paraphrasing) – does it make sense to even have a Sundance in Park City, in January, ever again? And suggests that the one place that might make sense is Los Angeles – where you aren’t going to fight a potentially lethal cold, and where most of the attendees are coming from anyway (and left unsaid, which doesn’t have a festival worth a damn right now, either). This led Rebecca Green to comment on the need for much more radical change from Sundance and the industry as a whole. And that pretty much sums up what I took away from the experience. Films are getting made, eve some good ones. But aside from watching these films at the festival – and being lucky enough to be able to do so – the entire edifice of what makes up indie/arthouse films right now seems built on very shaky ground. Everyone has spent two years trying to recreate a new normal in a covid-changed world – which, importantly, has mainly just exposed existing issues in the business; when we need to throw out the old normal and build something entirely new. Something not even remotely grounded in what came before. If we can do that, we might resolve some of this dissonance and just get on to the good stuff.
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Film
Joel Cohen's The Tragedy of Macbeth, Reviewed by Ethan Cohen: ICYMI, solid gold.
Islamophobia and the Tyranny of Empathy: The Case of Jihad Rehab; and Why Filmmakers Have Had a Problem with Jihad Rehab for Years: As I mentioned last week, there's been a lot of criticism of Sundance, mainly on Twitter, for their programming of the film Jihad Rehab. I haven't seen the film, so I can't comment on it, but this article in Documentary magazine by Assia Boundaoui breaks down the issues pretty damn well, and is a must read. In addition, Anthony Kaufman, also in Documentary, takes a look behind the scenes at how the controversy has played out for years. It's a bit disconcerting to know this was a known-problem in the film world, but the concerns were overlooked in its programming. I've seen many films "blocked" from festivals for less prominent or problematic concerns, and this will surely be an ongoing dialogue in the field. (BN)
Hollywood agencies are betting big on TikTok talent as they seek to woo Gen Z audiences: Gen Z-ers are consuming media in new ways, leading Hollywood agencies to behave differently, not only because Gen Z is the massive consumer base, but also because they’re trendsetters for media consumption across all generations. Sarah Whitten, CNBC contributor, writes “TikTok, in particular, has been a place for talent agencies to cull new talent because of its rapid rise to popularity and the viral nature of its content. In fact, TikTok was the most popular website in 2021, surpassing even Google, according to data from Cloudflare”. Whitten also points out that “not only can these agencies help build mini-media empires around these creators, they also can benefit from the strategies these digital influencers use, and apply it to bolster the careers of the agencies’ already established clients.” The takeaway: Brands, like Hollywood, need to meet Gen Z where they’re at, rather than pull them elsewhere (Brands screwed up with millennials by assuming they’d ditch their mobile phones in favor of returning to the traditions of older generations). (GSH)
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Branded Content
In the metaverse, brands’ FOMO is competing with consumers’ burnout: Brands are racing to be a part of the metaverse — they’re creating in-game avatars, NFTs, and claiming metaversal real estate (remember Nikeland?) — but the issue is that the metaverse is still just a vague concept at best. No one knows what it looks or feels like and it’s hard for brands and consumers (the future inhabitants of the metaverse) to define because the physical and virtual infrastructure just isn’t there yet, and if it is, we haven’t applied it yet. Digiday’s Alexander Lee makes the case that many brands are pumping money into this invisible, undefined metaverse for fear of falling behind the curve and/or for optics. At the same time, he attributes consumer skepticism/burnout surrounding the metaverse to (a) it being branded as a brainchild/product of Facebook (Meta), or worse, being colonized by Facebook, and (b) consumers being inundated with products that claim to be a part of the metaverse with no clear meaning behind the word. The takeaway: Citing a handful of case studies, Lee suggests that “instead of risking consumer burnout by leading with the metaverse concept, [brands should start] by giving their users clear reasons to spend time in virtual spaces — without stressing the metaversal connections in an overtly front-facing way.” (GSH)
The Rundown: Horizon Media’s latest report IDs trends brands need to embrace in 2022: Check out Digiday’s Michael Bürgi summary of WHY Group’s 2022 Trends report for the scoop on what Brands should be doing in this new year. The main points are as follows:
- Brands should embrace the untact through the use of Q R codes, avatars, VR/AR used in ad campaigns, facial recognition…etc.
- Attention to mental health and relaxation: In what’s being called “the era of the Great Resignation, people are putting their own mental health and relaxation needs and inching away from being workaholics, essentially refuting the “work hard, play hard” ethic of professional life.” A few brands have embraced these new expectations, including IKEA with their Siesta napping pods which are scattered across Paris.
- Empowered Privacy: Facebook removed face-recognition technology in their app and TV shows like You delve into the dark side of data tracking. The report recommends that brands “offer some return value to the customer when asking for their data and information.”
- Carbon Footprint and Civic Integrity: Brands need to reduce their emissions and environmental impact altogether and need to show consumers they contribute positively to society. These efforts should be clearly documented in annual reports…etc. (GSH)
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Miscellany:
Can VR art help us see the real world differently? Can it fill us with empathy and inspire action? In her piece for Vox, Alissa Wilkinson shares her VR encounter with two Indigenous poets who share “heart-wrenching stories about other Indigenous men.” As they told her these stories “The intimacy of their gaze was a little uncomfortable. It was nothing like watching a movie in which someone looks straight into the camera. I was aware of my eyes, my face, my expression, my impulse to look away, even though I knew they couldn’t see me.” Wilkisonson’s experience took place in This is Not A Ceremony, by Ahnahktsipiitaa, a native artist from Alberta’s Piikani Nation. Ahnahktsipiitaa’s VR piece, like all good art, has the power to “dislocate the audience…from their present context so that when they return to it, they see it differently… and more importantly, see what it could be.” Ahnahktsipiitaa said he “wanted to give audience members a real task or responsibility, a duty, something they can carry forward after the film is finished” though he is equally unsettled by the fact “that somebody can watch somebody’s life, take off the headset, and forget about the act of witnessing.” Let this thought linger with you. (GSH)
GSH = Articles written by Sub-Genre's Gabriel Schillinger-Hyman, not Brian Newman (BN)
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