This session of DOCUMENTARY FUNDAMENTALS is about releasing your next documentary. How can you find and build audiences for your film?  How do you know if your film is best suited for theatrical, broadcast, or both?  How do digital platforms affect “traditional” models of distribution and release? How can you best utilize your film festival campaign?  What does a sales agent do and how do I get one? Another can’t-miss session!

DOCUMENTARY FUNDAMENTALS: A professional development series designed to give the emerging or intermediate documentary filmmaker an inside look at the filmmaking process from pre-production planning to post-production and distribution. Over the past few years, UnionDocs has developed this ongoing program for documentarians that desire a better foundation for navigating the modern landscape of independent filmmaking. This six-part program takes place over the course of one weekend at UnionDocs. Buy a SERIES PASS ($125) or choose to attend individual sessions ($25/each).

Elan Bogarin was chosen as one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2017. She was nominated for the Gotham + Spirit Awards for producing “Big Fan” which premiered in competition at Sundance. Elan is the co-director of El Tigre Productions, a bilingual strategy/production company that creates innovative non-fiction films and produces content for the world’s leading cultural institutions. Clients include MoMA, the Whitney, The Getty, Colección Cisneros, Museo Reina Sofia, and The New York Times. As a strategist, she envisioned and managed the creation of coleccioncisneros.org, the digital hub of Latin American art. She is the co-founder of The Wassaic Project, an arts festival that has hosted thousands of artists and she has received support from Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program/ JustFilms Ford Foundation, Latino Public Broadcasting, NYSCA, Experimental Television Center, IFP, and HotDocs. Elan received her BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Carlos A. Gutiérrez is a film/video programmer, cultural promoter and arts consultant based in New York City. As a guest curator, he has presented several film/video series at different cultural institutions, including The Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Film Society of Lincoln Center, and BAMcinématek. Along with Mahen Bonetti, he curated the 53rd edition of the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar. He is a contributing editor to BOMB Magazine and has served as a member of the jury and the selection committees for various international film festivals including Morelia, Seattle, Margaret Mead, SANFIC, and DocsDF, among others. He has served as both expert nominator and panelist for the Rockefeller Fellowship Program for Mexican Film & Media Arts and for The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, as well as a screening panelist for the Oscars’ Academy Awards for film students. He holds MA in Cinema Studies from New York University and a BA in Communications from Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico City).

Mia Bruno combines an intricate knowledge of film distribution with a unique skill for innovative and effective marketing strategies. Mia works with filmmakers as a distribution consultant and impact producer, marrying an intricate knowledge of the marketplace with creative and targeted campaigns designed to connect with audiences meaningfully. In a time when the distribution landscape is rapidly evolving; Mia provides transparency, education, and analysis on what is working so that filmmakers are equipped to make the best decisions for their films. Beginning her career at the onset of digital distribution, Mia served as the Director of Acquisitions at Gravitas Ventures before branching off on her own to work directly with filmmakers and distributors. Some of her recent clients include the Sundance Creative Distribution Fellowship and George R. R. Martin’s art collective, Meow Wolf.