If your film is lucky enough to be invited to Sundance, what do you need to succeed? I reached out to past Sundance directors and industry veterans for their perspectives. While some of this advice is Sundance specific, much of it can be applied to doc makers headed to SXSW, Tribeca, Hot Docs, TIFF or other festivals.

Do you need a publicist?

Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me): The best decision I made going into my first Sundance in 2004 was hiring David Magdael as our publicist.  He’s been there before.  He knew the lay of the land, and he was a calming presence.  He really helped us craft a press strategy and he knew when to offer sound advice.  He’s still my publicist.  I’m never letting him go.
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I try to maintain a policy of not speaking publicly about films I don’t program. However, because Caveh Zahedi has accused me in a YouTube video of “blacklisting” his film The Sheik and I, I want to clarify certain facts before further misinformation gets out of hand.

Here is the background:

Prior to the SXSW film festival, Caveh Zahedi asked for my opinion of his film The Sheik & I. I wrote him a private letter detailing my grave reservations about the film and what I considered the disregard that he showed for the people filmed – in many cases without their consent – and the possible repercussions for their safety. I advised him not to show the film at SXSW in its current state. I shared that letter with SXSW programmer Janet Pierson, so that she wouldn’t be taken by surprise if Zahedi followed through on my advice; and because I thought the issues were serious enough to warrant further consideration on her part. That is the only occasion when I initiated any correspondence with a festival programmer about the film. As we know, that email didn’t change the course for SXSW. I also wrote to three journalists after they had written positively about the film to provide additional context. None of that correspondence resulted in any change of their positions.

Zahedi uses the term “blacklist” evoking the era of Joe McCarthy when filmmakers had their livelihoods threatened. That’s a far cry from this situation. On the contrary, it’s important to note that I curated his earlier film I Am a Sex Addict for SundanceNOW’s Doc Club for February 2013.

I’m hardly the only person who had problems with The Sheik and I. I’d point you to this substantial review out of SXSW in Collider.

Other critics have been more favorable and other festivals have embraced it. But Zahedi can’t seem to accept that he’s made a film with a mixed response.

This incident has been thoroughly raked over by other journalists including Violet Lucca of Film Comment who spent a lot of time looking into it in the spring before deciding it wasn’t really a story.

It’s ironic that Zahedi stands on the ground of free speech, yet wants to smear me for exercising mine.

– Thom Powers

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As the Toronto International Film Festival gets underway September 6-16, hundreds of representatives from theatrical distributors, broadcasters, digital platforms and other acquisition teams will be in town looking for new films to buy. Last week, we profiled some of the documentary sellers (and we continue to update that list). Now we present a list of prominent U.S. companies who took the time to answer our questions. Thanks to my SVA SocDoc student Erik Spink who helped me compile this information. If you’re an active buyer at TIFF who would like to be added, please email me.

A24

We are a New York-based Production and Distribution company.

Attending TIFF: Daniel Katz, David Fenkel, John Hodges, Matt Bires, Noah Sacco

TIFF history: A24 was recently formed and this is the company’s first trip to TIFF.  We are very excited.

Looking for: Cross over commercial films.

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ATO Pictures

We are a NYC-based theatrical distribution company releasing four to six films per year.

Attending TIFF: Johnathan Dorfman, Sarah Lash

TIFF history: We acquired Last Call at the Oasis at TIFF 2011.

Looking for: We are looking for films (primarily narrative) that serve an adult audience and have the potential for crossover success.

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Brainstorm Media, Something to Talk About

Brainstorm Media is acquiring feature length, social issue documentaries for a new series called “Something to Talk About” which will showcase one documentary a month on the Audience Network of DirecTV, with a simultaneous theatrical release and DVD and digital sales. Full details are here and at SomethingToTalkAbout.us

Attending TIFF: Meyer Shwarzstein, founder and Brian Newman, acquisitions

Docs at TIFF: Brainstorm Media is launching “Something to Talk About” at TIFF. Brainstorm Media and EPIX will also present the EPIX Original Movie and animated feature A Liar’s Autobiography – The Untrue Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman

Looking For: Social issue documentaries

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Cinedigm Entertainment Group (CEG)
@NewVideoDigital

CEG, the entertainment group of Cinedigm, is a state-of-the-art distributor of award-winning indie films and alternative content both theatrically and via all key digital, mobile and home media platforms. New releases include The Invisible War; Citadel; and In Our Nature.  CEG includes New Video, which Cinedigm acquired in April.

Attending TIFF: Susan Margolin, Vincent Scordino, Mark Kashden, Emily Rothschild
(acquisitions team only – we have other people attending)

TIFF history: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (nominated for 2012 Academy Award, Best Documentary); Last Call at the Oasis (distributing in partnership with ATO); Crazy Horse (VOD and digital distribution)

Other docs in our history: The Invisible War; Hell and Back Again; GasLand; Waste Land; Restrepo; Being Elmo

Looking for: 1) Docs with significant theatrical potential (mainstream subject, visually stunning, awards-worthy); 2) Docs with identifiable fan bases that respond to a targeted marketing approach; 3) Docs by the best filmmakers in the business as well as groundbreaking newcomers; 4) Docs that can change the world.

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Cinema Guild
@cinemaguild

A distributor of documentary, foreign and independent film.

Attending TIFF: Ryan Krivoshey

TIFF history: Seeing Agnes Varda’s The Beaches of Agnes for the first time at TIFF is something I’ll never forget. As soon as the credits began to roll, I ran out of the theater and placed a call to the film’s rep. We met later that afternoon and we closed on the film shortly after the festival.

Other docs in our history: The Interrupters, Planet of Snail, The Law In These Parts, Marwencol, Sweetgrass, Ne Change Rien, The Order of Myths

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The Toronto International Film Festival has always been an active marketplace for docs to be sold. Noteworthy acquisitions at the festival in recent years include First Position; Cave of Forgotten Dreams; Food, Inc; and Every Little Step. This year’s line-up features more commercially promising titles than ever before in my memory. I circulated a survey among the sales agents known to me and was assisted by my SVA SocDoc student Lauren Kraus. If you’re a seller at TIFF missing from this list, please email me to be added. Watch the STF blog next week for a Guide to Documentary Buyers at TIFF.

CINEPHIL

Cinephil is an international sales and advisory firm based in Tel Aviv specializing in documentaries, which has a strong reputation for securing international distribution deals and financing for documentaries from all over the world on behalf of film producers and directors. With a history of selling unique and award-winning films, Cinephil also acts as a strategic advisor and co-producer.

Attending TIFF: Philippa Kowarsky

Docs at TIFF: The Gatekeepers – Cinephil was one of the main producers of this film and we were attracted to the project immediately. The film gives incredible insight into a previously unseen world. For the very first time the heads of the Shin Bet, the Israeli Secret Service candidly share stories and insights. A shocking analysis of the current situation in the Middle East but also a mirror to the rest of the world, how do democracies protect themselves? How far can we go?

The Act of Killing is one of the best documentaries we have ever seen. This film offers a look into the psyches of mass murderers in a creative and innovative way. And it does so both in form and content. The killers’ cavalier attitude is a chilling portrait of how their own narratives are self-perpetuating; it is as they say a “…winner’s narrative, it is the winners who write history”. With extraordinary access and beautiful scenes, this film is both a macabre and breathtaking glimpse into not only a part of Indonesian history that most are unaware of, but the psychological landscape of a killer.

State 194 jointly repping with Submarine (North America). In frozen times such as these, this film and its main protagonist Palestinian Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad are a gust of optimism. His courage and determination are contagious. The fact that so much is going on in the West Bank and so little is known in the world, motivates us to get this story of a remarkable leader, successfully establishing the infrastructure of a state while advocating non violence as the way – out there worldwide.

TIFF history:  Precious Life sold to HBO, short-listed for the Academy Awards, HBO LA, theatrical in Canada Mongrel Media and worldwide

Other docs in our history: Recently, Sundance 2011 Love Free or Die directed by Macky Alston sold to Wolfe Releasing, Emmy nominated, Where Soldiers Come From by Heather Courtney, the critically praised A Film Unfinished by Yael Hersonski (also Emmy nominated), Oscar short-listed Precious Life by Shomi Eldar, Budrus directed by Julia Bacha, which premiered in Berlin and Defamation which premiered in Berlin, Special Mention Tribeca FF, Hot Docs and the Stanly Kubrick award at Traverse City FF, among others.

Looking for: Strong creative documentaries with international appeal. Documentaries with unique access and/or fresh perspectives covering both specific and universal subjects, topics that matter, films that just may make a difference, also arts and culture.

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In the lead-up to the Toronto International Film Festival, STF fall season and DOC NYC, I’ve frequently been guiding filmmakers on how to make the most of Twitter. It’s free and far-reaching. If you’re a newcomer, you won’t take long to get the hang of it and find your comfort level. Note the examples of @errolmorris or @gary_hustwit or @mmflint who each have different approaches. Read the charming NYRB blog by @MargaretAtwood about her early experiences on Twitter.

For more guidance, here are 10 Twitter TIps for filmmakers from @thompowers:

1) Refine your profile: Make your Twitter name short and easy to remember. Because Twitter traffics in 140 character messages, every letter counts when people re-Tweet you. Use the profile bio to steer readers to your web site or Facebook page. Get a catchy image for your icon. If you decide to change/shorten your Twitter handle, you can do it without losing your followers. A big decision is whether to create a handle for one specific film or you as a filmmaker. I think the latter strategy is longer-lasting. Also readers prefer to follow a person more than a promotional feed.

2) Communicate w/ popular users in the film world: See the STF list of Top 100 Twitter users in the documentary world; and Twitter’s list of documentary streams. You can catch the attention of other users by mentioning them in Tweets, like “Watch our new trailer… cc: @thompowers”

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