January 26, 2021
For many US film folks, and a smattering of international ones, this past week has been the “virtual” version of the Sundance Film Festival, and we’re now just past the mid-point, which is traditionally the end of the industry’s participation, but perhaps we’ll see more attention as people view films, meet and make deals from home. I’ve watched 21 films thus far, and while my success rate for finding the good ones is less than 50% right now, it’s been great. The movies are alive! When I step back and think of the bigger picture, however, I’m a bit less sanguine about their future.
Last night, my double feature line-up was TikTok Boom and Navalny. Both were decent primers on the subjects – the app eating the world, and the Putin-antagonist – but mainly for the uninitiated. If you’ve never used TikTok, you might be excited to learn how it can help change a young Afghan American’s life as she goes from just meeting friends who appreciate her for who she is (her high school is not welcoming to immigrants) to becoming a successful activist with millions of followers and a penchant for pissing off the Chinese government, and getting banned from the app, for her activism around Uyghur Muslims in China. Or you might love the story of how it helped a beat-boxing nerd become so famous he is swarmed by fans on Hollywood Boulevard. The film does an able job of explaining the rise of the creator economy, the issues for privacy, and so on, but what becomes most telling – given that this is in the context of Sundance – is how little movies matter to anyone’s lives in the TikTok world.
Sure, there’s a strong corner of TikTok dedicated to movies, but as the film makes clear – for the most part, people are perfectly happy creating content for and with one-another, and it’s consuming most of their waking moments and attention. Not movies. And they aren’t waiting around for the word of mouth about a new posting to spread and somehow magically appear for them some 90 days to years later, and definitely aren’t trying to figure out which platform to find it on like one must for a movie – it’s not just all on TikTok, but as the film shows well, it’s also being spread multi-platform simultaneously.
The contrast with the film world is pretty dramatic, and shows our folly. For the past week, those lucky enough to work somewhere that will shell out the big bucks for them to attend the “virtual” Sundance, or who are just rich or obsessed with movies, have been watching the hottest new film titles, and discussing them like mad over social media. As Ted Hope tweeted – see the photo above - if an experience like this was available as a streaming service, he’d drop his other subscriptions for the Sundance service, and all of us have done this for the past week as we have too many great films to watch to bother watching some show on Netflix. If only the world could do the same.
When my social media feed started going crazy for Fire of Love, a film I knew I should see before Sundance but wanted to see on the big screen, I could quickly decide to go ahead and watch it, to be part of the conversation. When my (mainly) Muslim friends on (mainly) Twitter started lambasting the Sundance programmers for their tone-deaf programming of Jihad Rehab, I could decide it wasn’t worth my time now – though I was certainly tempted to watch it just so I could be part of that conversation. And it appears most of my (mainly) White friends missed all the problems, blinded by their US-centric viewpoints and (probably) their lack of following any Muslims on Twitter, as they gave it near-universal praise (I’ll spare us/them their links). This only served to reinforce how social media allows us to become ever more comfortable in our niches and miss other voices. But this promises to get interesting.
It also served to show how we’ve built a system where the select few get to experience their movies the way they should be seen – simultaneously and together, wherever we happen to be at the moment. Right now, that’s just in our homes, but there’s no reason this couldn’t be taking place simultaneously across the US if not the world, in both theaters and at home, with everyone experiencing the new, now, as we do everything else in our lives. (Yes, Sundance is showing a few films this way in select cities, but it’s not the same). And anyone who likes movies would gladly subscribe to that one Sundance streamer/hybrid and drop their Netflix subscription. But instead, another very select few will remember any of these titles later this year… or next… after they’ve been picked up, packaged, re-promoted, have spent some time in front of a few hundred to thousands of people in arthouse cinemas in a handful of towns, and then made their way to some streaming service, and we’ll have to figure out which service and dig through their algorithmic systems (decidedly not tailored like the FYP on TikTok to know what you want before you do) to find that film we read a tweet about a year ago. Great system we’ve built to keep movies relevant, no?
Anyway, back to Navalny – it’s a fast paced, thriller of a film. Even if you already read the news and the substantial social media discussion around his activism and campaign. But the film felt completely out of touch with the now – I watched the film not to re-learn how Navalny got poisoned by Putin’s minions, survived, and went back to Russia only to be quickly imprisoned again (and for this, it is a great watch). I watched it to get some more context on that, but hopefully to also learn more about what’s been going on since that time. But the movie ends where it probably should have begun. It also ends with a “perfect” Hollywood ending, as the director interviews Navalny on the eve of his return to Russia, in super serious tones, to answer his last question in Russian – what would you want to tell the Russian people if you end up getting imprisoned or killed?
The obvious point here being – let my film serve as an important message from you to the people when this inevitably happens to you tomorrow, and my important film comes to the masses to spread your word. But slow down, director-man, as your film has already shown, the people of Russia have a direct connection to Navalny via his social media feeds. It is unlikely that anyone other than a non-Russian audience member will ever hear this Russian-language message from your film, or need to, when they’ve already gotten it from the source. It’s an ending that tries to give power to the documentary film form, but actually proves how useless documentary film probably has become to anyone who isn’t so cinema-obsessed as to miss all of the news and their social media feeds while watching old movies. Or who isn’t an outsider looking in (which I am as well, I know).
The film is also filled with screens – tons of them, as everyone is on their social media feeds, YouTube, or using their laptops to get shit done. None of them are watching any movies, but they are playing games – Call of Duty for Navalny and online Chess for his wife Yulia – until they get stuck on a plane with no internet and have no other choice. It’s also telling that while it isn’t shown (weird!), the film references the famous Putin’s Palace “film” Navalny’s team made about Putin’s $1.35B “palace of corruption” in the end cards. Of course, that film was released on YouTube, not in theaters, so it could get seen over 100MM times, and you know, have an impact.
At the same time I was watching all of this, and in spite of my critiques above, loving every minute of my Sundance fest experience, I read the news that France was finally making historic moves to shorten its cinematic “window,” allowing films to premiere on streaming services just 15 months after their theatrical release, down from the 36 months previously required by an actual law. Netflix was ecstatic, knowing it might soon slip down to just 12 months (!). Over here in the US, we’re lucky to only wait somewhere around 1.5-3 months, depending on the distributor. But if there’s one thing Sundance made clear, even that is too long. I love me some movie theaters, but what I love even more are the movies. And if we want anyone to care about them, they need to be available to everyone, now, not just those of us attending “virtual” Sundance. Or pretty soon, movie-going itself will be virtual. And not in the way Sam Green’s 32 Sounds was at Sundance (an experience that would have been better in person, or just on the big screen, but was lessened by its virtual-theater presentation, but that’s another post). But virtual as in – an alternate reality that only a few people bother to experience anymore.
If we want to save the movies, we need to start replicating the Sundance experience and making it an event for the masses. It would require a wholesale reorganization of how the business operates, but at least we’d still have a business. And movies. I left Sundance loving movies more than ever, but much less sure of their future.
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Film
Investing in and Valuing Producers: Karin Chien gave this year's Sundance Producer's Keynote speech, and Indiewire has the written version, which I highly recommend reading. Karin is a friend, and one of the smartest thinkers in the indie film space, so we're lucky to have her as a producer, a distributor and as an agitator for change. In her speech, she pushes for the field to recognize the value of producers, for producers to value themselves, for more collaboration and conversation, and for more investment in producers. She pushes for all of this more eloquently than I can do here, so go read her speech. (BN)
Agency + Disability in Documentary Film: FWD-Doc is hosting a panel as part of the Sundance Film Festival on Agency + Disability in Documentary Film with I Didn't See You There (Sundance 2022) film team (Reid Davenport and Keith Wilson) and moderators Day Al-Mohamed and Jim LeBrecht. The panel is this Friday, Jan 28 at 11am MST. All sign up info here.
It Started with a Kiss. Then Film Scholars Found More: MoMA has embarked on a film restoration project that highlights Black cinema within their ongoing series, To Save and Project. MoMA’s opening night features, Wilmington 10 — Usa 10,000, is a documentary centered around the 1898 massacre of Black residents of Wilmington, N.C — Black residents were killed and thrown into Cape Fear River by whites “in an insurrection against Black leaders in local government.” The film uses the tragic event as a launching-off point to discuss the ways in which violence against Black Americans is recorded (or omitted) in our telling of history. Another one of the restored titles, Something Good, captures what “may be the earliest example of African American intimacy onscreen”, explains The New York Times’ Ben Kenigsberg. Give Kenigsberg’s piece a read for info on MoMA’s series and learn about some key works that Black-American cinema has given us. (GSH)
SubStack is Adding Video Capabilities - This could be big news in the film/video world, depending on how people use it. Check out the Axios piece for more about it, in their weird, but convenient and of the times, outline format. (BN)
DuArt's (and Indie Film's) Irwin Young Passes - Read the Ira Deutchman Tribute - Irwin Young, a legend in the film world, who ran DuArt recently passed away, and Ira Deutchman has written a great tribute piece in IndieWire that is worth your time. I met Irwin long after I had learned of him - you couldn't work in indie film back when it was mainly on film and not know DuArt, which processed most indie films, and therefore, you always knew of Irwin Young. I met him when I worked at the IFP, where at the time he was on the board. Nearly every filmmaker I know above the age of 30 has a story of Irwin saving the day on their movie. I could go on, but Ira has done this so well in his IndieWire piece linked above - and even if you don't know who he is, read it as a model for how you'd like to be remembered. (BN)
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Branded Content
State Farm Picks TikTok Over TV in Super Bowl Ad Shuffle: State Farm is scrapping the traditional TV commercial for a TikTok ad this Super Bowl “in favor of the #TeamStateFarm TikTok challenge… The campaign uses the Jake From State Farm character as a talent scout evaluating video submissions on the platform… the three best videos will be pinned to the top of Jake’s TikTok page. Users will then pick the winning video by liking their favorite” (Jason Notte, Adweek). The takeaway here is that 2022 will be a year where brands find new ways of reaching the next generation of consumers in new (tradition-defying) ways. State Farm’s move also makes one wonder if/when the traditional commercial format will become obsolete. (GSH)
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Miscellany:
3 Reasons Why Apple's Upcoming VR Headset Could Be the End of Facebook's Metaverse Strategy: Meta (Facebook) is leading the race to produce the best VR experience with their Oculus Quest headset, though “once Apple enters the game, it could be the end of Facebook — or at least its metaverse ambitions”, according to Inc’s Jason Aten. Apple, which has been awfully quiet about VR tech these days, is likely working on a pair of AR and/or VR glasses or goggles that, like the iPhone, might just squash all competition, including Meta’s, and become a household commodity. Why? Aten explains it’s because (a) you can’t really beat Apple’s design (hardware) and technology (software). Facebook, on the other hand, doesn't have a great track record (remember when they had to recall millions of VR headsets because they were giving people hives?). (B) Trust, or lack thereof. Aten points to a huge trust gap between Apple and Facebook/Meta, citing a survey by the Verge which found that 56% of consumers don’t trust Facebook with their personal information. On the other hand, well over half (61%) of respondents believed Apple was positively impacting society. Aten’s big takeaways on the VR/AR wars is that “If [AR headsets one day replace the iPhone] Apple's plan is to be the one selling it to you. If it's successful, it doesn't seem likely that there will be room for Facebook's version at all.” (GSH)
How the metaverse is blurring the lines between TV, theater and gaming: The boundaries that separate TV, Theater, and Gaming are beginning to erode, thanks to innovations in metaverse technology. And from this, arise new forms of storytelling. The Drum’s Hanna Bowler cites experts in the industries to drive this point home: __ Coffey, leader of the Immersive Storytelling Studios at the National Theater thinks it’s entirely possible that one day, theater might exist in the metaverse: “People from the theater just naturally step into the immersive world and don’t necessarily find these new methods [i.e. engaging with VR tech as storytelling devices] as an obstacle but a huge opportunity.” Pathman Ruthirapathy for UK broadcaster ITV explains that “the metaverse isn’t a vanity project for ITV, it’s… a calculated and thoughtful look into what the future might be for our audiences” and is “something we think is right from a commercial perspective.” Nick Pringle, executive creative director at R/GA London explains that film franchises are already harnessing metaverse elements (i.e. NFTs) through partnerships with gaming platforms like Roblox to create “deeper franchise immersion.” Check out Bowler’s piece for the details. (GSH)
GSH = Articles written by Sub-Genre's Gabriel Schillinger-Hyman, not Brian Newman (BN)
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