At Film Fest in N.Y., Local Indie Film Site Picks Flicks for Theatrical Release
By Leslie Brooks Suzukamo, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
Aug. 12–The envelope, please.
The favorite film screened at the inaugural Independent Features Film Festival in New York was a film called “The Danger of Dreaming,” a drama about a young man in Kentucky who receives the gift of clairvoyance from a mysterious bag woman.
The previously unknown movie won a theatrical release at some independent theaters this fall thanks to a distribution deal worked out by St. Paul-based Independent Features, the Internet-based brainchild of West Side natives Philip J. Nelson, 29, and Jose C. Ruiz Jr., 27.
Nelson and Ruiz started Independent Features this year as a Web business that allows independent filmmakers to post their work on the Internet.
To build buzz around the site and generate interest in the films on it from theater owners, Nelson and Ruiz held the first Independent Features Film Festival in the Big Apple’s Tribeca Cinemas on July 27-29. It drew about 2,300 people over the weekend, according to IndieWire, a news and social networking Web site for the independent filmmaker community.
“It went better than we could have ever expected!” Nelson e-mailed from his cell phone from New York on Wednesday. He said he flew back to meet with the Weinstein Co., an independent film studio founded by moguls Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who previously had co-founded Miramax Films.
“I will never forget leaving the Tribeca Cinemas late Sunday night (July 29) and turning around and looking at our billboard right next to the Holland Tunnel and thinking, ‘Wow, we did it.’ “
A Chicago comedy called “Alleyball” won the Web site’s online popularity contest before the festival. It will be shown in some independent theaters around the country, including the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis at 7 p.m. Sept. 5.
Independent Features wants indie filmmakers to use its site to attract attention for a theater distribution deal or individual DVD sales. Independent Features gets a percentage of the DVD sales.
The fledgling company faces an uphill battle, experts say. Other Web sites sell DVDs of better known independent films, but Nelson and Ruiz believe people will watch and buy movies that haven’t made it to the theater as long as they are good.
Nelson said his company is holding off on the DVD sales for now so it can focus its resources on promoting the screenings for the winning films. Good screenings will bring in more entries and sponsors for next year’s festival, he said.
To see all the movies submitted, including the winners, go to www.independentfeatures.com.
Leslie Brooks Suzukamo can be reached at lsuzukamo@pioneer press.com. or 651-228-5475.
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