BANNED IN NEW YORK

I’m not gonna lie, there is something very exciting about your first brush with controversy. Late Thursday evening we got the call from Rose Vincelli of IFP. She is a no-nonsense woman, and when she calls we know she means business. She calmly told us that our trailer would not be able to be shown at the Rooftop Films screening on Sunday night because the event was being held at Fulton Ferry Landing which is a state run park. The New York State Parks Commission deemed our trailer to have content of a “sensitive nature” and that it was “not family friendly”. What Luck! At first we didn’t take it so well until we realized this was a great opportunity! In these days of DIY and BYOB you gotta do everything you can. So, thanks Albany for helping us to create a little buzz. The IFP Banned Four, as we’ve started to call ourselves, are our film The Tested, plus Perfection, AuPair, Kansas, and the one that really put the nail in the coffin Wanderlost. Of course the ones that were able to be shown City on a Hill, The Imperialists Are Still Alive!, Myth of Time, Phasma Ex Machina, Postales, and Stranger Things held it down. The lesson to be learned here and one I hope other filmmakers can benefit from is that in a flooded marketplace it’s a struggle to get noticed so anything that might be able to distinguish your film and make it stand out, use it to your advantage no matter how small the tidbit might seem. This brings me to our Project Forum meetings that we had on Monday. Another exercise in standing out. Many of the people we met with were literally off the plane from Toronto and it was our job to pitch our film in a way that would remain in their minds after they got up from the table. Each meeting was 30 minutes, and I found the process a lot less stressful than I originally thought. It was a small victory every time we got our “two minute warning” as it meant the conversation was flowing and that we were doing something right. We felt like we clicked with the people we met with and I’m confident they will be tracking our film as we start our festival run. I was again thankful for being banned because it was an excellent ice breaker. Thanks again IFP for putting this all together as it continues to be an invaluable experience. Oh, and I’m the one throwing up the peace sign in the picture.