For the past two years, my co-director Dan Nuxoll and I have been shooting a feature documentary called The Mystery of Marie Jocelyne about alleged con artist, convicted criminal and proprietor of allegedly fraudulent film festivals, Marie Castaldo.
HollyShorts Co-Founder Theo Dumont Talks Film Festival Strategy, Technology, & Hustle
I really thought I’d made it. It was 2006 and I was up there at the podium, giving that acceptant speech every screenwriter imagines. It had happened, I made it, this was it. Getting on the plane, leaving the California Independent Film Festival, I was sure that all that was in my way was a few meetings with some executives.
Long term storage of digital media is a complex problem that has not yet been resolved. At its core: “bit preservation” and the ability to monitor for “bit loss”. Currently, the most reliable digital archiving relies on a complex system of multiple back-ups on multiple systems which need to be repeated regularly to prevent bit loss and to keep adjusting for new digital storage media and formats.
I was excited, to say the least. But I was a little overwhelmed too. I was offered the project with only a couple weeks to prepare. Not to mention, it was my first documentary ever and I was completely on my own. I knew it was going to be difficult, both physically and emotionally, but I wasn’t expecting this experience to have the tremendous life changing effect that it did.
Mike Ott on Test Screenings, Film Festivals, and a Theatrical Run
In 1995 I moved to Hollywood with the intention of making movies. Despite the typical and endless obstacles I managed to make a low-budget feature, but it ended up being a disaster. I naively trusted a predatory distributor (unfortunately there are plenty of those in L. A.) and quickly lost everything. I wound up living on the street.
Being an independent filmmaker can be a terrifying business. It has its highs, its unrivalled sense of achievement, the recognition of your peers... and it has its lows. Whilst making THE HAIRY HANDS I simultaneously managed to animate my way out of a full time job and into hospital. There’s little comfort to be had from an award collecting dust on the mantel when you’re struggling to pay the rent. To believe in something from conception to delivery takes courage.
Independent filmmakers are at a cross-roads, they must determine the best way to evolve this promising “crowdfunding” model. Its survival depends on expanding “crowdfunding” to a definition beyond a convenient way to indirectly ask friends and family for money.
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