As our expanding digital landscape continues to transform our relationship to media, how will documentary evolve in the new decade? How does the uncertain distribution climate affect the production and reception of new docs? Things will never be the same. Joining us in discussion are some key figures from all corners of the documentary world.
Dennis Lim is the founding editor of Moving Image Source, the online publication of the Museum of the Moving Image, and a regular contributor to The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times. He was previously a film critic at The Village Voice as well as its film editor for seven years. A member of the National Society of Film Critics, he is currently a member of the New York Film Festival selection committee and the programmer of the 2010 Robert Flaherty Film Seminar: Work.
Richard Abramowitz is President of Abramorama, consulting on the production, marketing, and distribution of independent films. A veteran of 30 years, he’s worked with filmmakers such as Jonathan Demme, John Turturro, Morgan Spurlock, James Ivory and Neil Young. He’s also an Adjunct at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Recently Abramorama distributed the critically acclaimed docs Anvil! The Story of Anvil from Sacha Gervasi and Ondi Timoner’s We Live in Public.
Jim Browne has been programming and producing film and video projects in New York City for the past 18 years He’s worked with venues such as the IFC Center, Film Forum, Cinema Village, The Quad, The Two Boots Pioneer Theater, Symphony Space, Ocularis, The JCC, Makor, Galapagos Art & Performance Space, Cinema Warsaw Exit Art, Performance Space 122, and Anthology Film Archives. He has been a Programmer for the Tribeca Film Festival since 2006l. He is a graduate of Bard College. In 2004, he produced and programmed the film component of the Imagine Festival of Arts, Issues & Ideas, a city wide cultural festival in 9 locations around NYC. He conceived and produced the Films To See Before You Vote Tour, a “film festival in a box” that traveled to 14 states before the 2004 presidential election. He is the former Director of Theatrical Distribution for Plexifilm.
Caitlin Boyle is the founder of Film Sprout and the architect of grassroots and community screening campaigns for numerous independent documentaries, including the award-winning features King Corn, The End of the Line, and Pray The Devil Back To Hell. Previously on staff at the Emmy-winning PBS series WIDE ANGLE, Caitlin holds a bachelor of arts from Columbia University and a master’s in journalism from Indiana University. She lives in Brooklyn.
Nicholas Jayanty cofounded Reversal Films with his partners in 2007 and as CMO of Reversal Films focuses on development meetings, structuring strategic b2b partnerships, publicity, marketing planning and execution, and sales for Reversal Films’ properties. Nicholas’s broad knowledge of the industry stems from his work as a producer, director, producer’s representative, editorial, and post-production supervision. A native Texan, Jayanty is a bit of a human ping pong ball as of late, with crash pads on all coasts, he pays rent and taxes to the City of New York. His alter ego ideahed directs music videos, maintains a blog entitled Mic Control, and can be found across the blog-o-tweet-o-book-of-face-o-sphere.
Ashley Sabin began her filmmaking career by producing the documentary Mardi Gras: Made in China. It is during the production of MGMIC that Sabin and David Redmon (Director Mardi Gras: Made in China) met and continued collaborating on Kamp Katrina, Intimidad and Invisible Girlfriend. All of their films have screened Both Redmon and Sabin are currently completing two more documentary projects Noah’s Arc, and Darlings.
A year ago with greater aspirations for the life of their films Sabin and Redmon started the distribution branch of their production company Carnivalesque Films. Carnivalesque Films now distributes and licenses all of their productions and also other gems including, Orphans, Manhattan, KS, Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose, The New Year Parade, Woodpecker and October Country.
Andrew Mer is VP of Content Parterships for SnagFilms and has been instrumental in building the SnagFilms library of over 900 documentary films. SnagFilms library consists of single titles from individual filmmakers and producers to multiple titles from many of the most widely known and respected distributors, aggregators, and broadcasters including, Virgil Films & Entertainment, E1, Alive Mind, Cactus Three, PBS, ITVS, Sundance Channel, Cinetic Rights Management and IndiePix. Andrew Mer has also been an independent consultant to the film industry in development and acquisitions. His most recent client was AOL where he served as chief acquisitions consultant for AOL True Stories, an all-documentary broadband platform. Andrew helped build and develop AOL True Stories’ slate of documentary films beginning with its launch slate. Previously, Elixir Films engaged Andrew to head its creative development efforts.
Todd Sklar is the founder of Range Life Entertainment, a privately-held film exhibition and marketing company. After the innovative self-release of his debut feature box Elder, Range Life is committed to breaking distribution boundaries and connecting creative communities through it’s cross- country touring platform. Centered on event-based screenings and niche-targeted marketing, Range Life will program close to 40 new features in theaters across the country throughout its 2009 touring programs. For more information, please visit www.fightYourDentist.com.
This event is presented with Range Life Entertainment.
