The Next Frontier:
Independent Film and the Arrival of Non-Traditional, Alternative Distribution.

Wednesday : August 24th
Time : 14h30 - 16h30
Location : Hyatt Regency

We’re hearing a lot about how the current system of film distribution is broken. In this “old” model, a film may get one rare chance to be delivered by a designated gatekeeper via just a few channels through tightly controlled and often exclusive distribution windows within specific territories.

Over the past few years however, we have seen growing evidence of a new model – one where the content creator can maintain his or her own rights in a non-exclusive fashion and distribute through multiple channels, in perpetuity.

Is this truly a new distribution frontier? If so, where do the opportunities and challenges lie for independent filmmakers? Join a panel of distinguished leaders in the field of non-traditional distribution who’ll be separating truth from rumor and offering valuable case studies from the front lines of digital exhibition, internet streaming, cable video on demand and social networking.

Moderator :

Mr. Christian Gaines
Festival Strategy, Business Development
IMDB, USA
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In 2008, Christian Gaines joined the Withoutabox division of IMDb.com, an Amazon company, where he’s focused on festival strategy and alternative distribution.

Prior to that, he served as Director of New Media and Senior Programmer at the Sundance Film Festival from 1994-1996, Executive Director of the Hawaii International Film Festival from 1996-2000 and Director of Festivals at the American Film Institute from 2000-2008, overseeing AFI FEST and other national exhibition projects.







Panelists :

Ms. Mynette Louie
Producer
Syncopated Films, USA
twitter.com/mynette

Mynette is a New York-based independent film producer. She produced Tze Chun's award-winning CHILDREN OF INVENTION, which premiered at Sundance 2009, played over 50 film festivals, won 17 festival awards, and was released theatrically and on DVD and VOD in 2010. She co-produced Andrew Bujalski's MUTUAL APPRECIATION, which was named one of the top ten films of 2006 by Entertainment Weekly, Film Comment, the Village Voice, and Artforum, among others.

Currently, Mynette is in post-production on three features: Marshall Lewy's CALIFORNIA SOLO, starring Robert Carlyle; Doug Karr's ART MACHINE, starring Joseph Cross, Jessica Szohr, and Joey Lauren Adams; and P. Benoit's STONES IN THE SUN starring Edwidge Danticat. Additionally, she is developing several narrative features, including Tze Chun's EYE OF WINTER, Eric Lin's WHY WE PULL THE TRIGGER, Rory Kelly's THE END OF SOMETHING, and Tze Chun's YOU'RE A BIG GIRL NOW, with which she was selected for the 2009 Sundance Creative Producing Lab and Fellowship. Mynette was also a fellow of the 2008 Rotterdam Producers Lab and 2010 Berlinale Talent Campus.

Mynette is on the Program Advisory Board of IFP and the Selection Advisory Committee of the Sundance Labs. She was named in Ted Hope's list of "21 Brave Thinkers Of Truly Free Film" for the hybrid distribution strategy of CHILDREN OF INVENTION, and profiled in indieWIRE’s “Futures” column, which features notable emerging talent in independent film.

Previously, Mynette served as Economic Development Specialist at the Hawaii Film Office, where she authored the state's 15-20% refundable production tax credit, oversaw the $7.3 million renovation of the state-owned film studio, and developed programs to foster local independent filmmaking. She also worked in marketing and business development at SportsIllustrated.com, Jupiter Research, and Time Magazine.

A native New Yorker, Mynette graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard University, where she studied Chinese film and literature.



Ms. Orly Ravid
Founder
The Film Collaborative, USA
Twiiter@filmcollab
Facebook: http://bit.ly/TFCollab

Orly Ravid Orly is a 12-year industry veteran whose experience in film ranges from festival programming to acquisitions & domestic licensing and distribution, as well as business affairs, foreign sales, and digital distribution. In 1998, Orly joined veteran boutique foreign sales company Amazing Movies & Highland Crest Pictures and launched the company’s Art House domestic distribution label.

Orly then joined Maxmedia, producers of Chen Kaige’s Cannes Selection “Emperor and the Assassin” and the Miramax / Dimension release “The Others” starring Nicole Kidman. At Maxmedia Ravid worked in production and development and created FilmFixx, the company’s domestic distribution arm that launched with the highly controversial film “Baise Moi”. Orly subsequently consulted for various independent distributors and filmmakers under her own label, Ravid Film Consulting. In 2004 Orly launched Wolfe Releasing’s foreign sales, theatrical, and digital distribution arms and handled its acquisitions and business affairs.

In 2010 Orly founded The Film Collaborative (TFC), the first non-profit organization devoted to the distribution-education and the distribution of art house and documentary cinema. The Film Collaborative since its launch has worked with over 100 filmmakers. It has consulted on distribution for films such as Sundance Winners GasLand and Contracorriente (Undertow), Revenge of the Electric Car (Tribeca), SXSW Winner Weekend, to name just a few. TFC specializes in splitting rights and helping filmmakers navigate digital distribution, and it created the first ever Digital Distribution Guide™ utilized by filmmakers and industry alike. TFC was commissioned to write a report on the topic for uniFRANCE to help its sales agents to navigate new media and has advised Sundance on its new digital distribution initiative. TFC is releasing a book about distribution entitled Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul that will be available in multiple digital formats and in paperback as of September 19, 2011.

From 2007 – 2009 Orly served as VP of Acquisitions and Distribution of publicly traded Berlin-based Senator Entertainment. Orly regularly moderates or speaks on panels at Sundance and other film festivals regarding new technology and digital distribution. Orly served as a Programming Associate for documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival and as Programming Consultant for Palm Springs International. Orly has served on the Board of Directors of Outfest Los Angeles Film Festival. Orly earned a B.A in English Literature and Film Studies at Columbia University and graduated with honors.



Mr. Ira Deutchman
Managing Partner
Emerging Pictures, USA
Twitter: @nyindieguy

Ira Deutchman Ira Deutchman has been making, marketing and distributing films for thity-one years, having worked on over 150 films including some of the most successful independent films of all time. He was one of the founders of Cinecom and later created Fine Line Features—two companies that were created from scratch and in their respective times, helped define the independent film business.

Currently Deutchman is President and CEO of Emerging Pictures, a New York-based film distribution and digital exhibition company, and is also the Chair of the Film Program in the Columbia University School of the Arts.

Among the over 60 films he acquired and released at Fine Line were Jane Campion’s “An Angel at My Table,” Gus van Sant’s “My Own Private Idaho,” Jim Jarmusch’s “Night on Earth,” Robert Altman’s “The Player” and “Short Cuts,” Roman Polanski’s “Bitter Moon” and “Death and the Maiden,” Alan Rudolph’s “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, ” Mike Leigh’s “Naked,” and the award-winning “Hoop Dreams,” which until recently was the highest grossing non-music documentary in history.

Other films Deutchman has worked on were “Sex, Lies, and Videotape,” ”To Sleep with Anger,” “Metropolitan,” “A Room with a View,” “Stop Making Sense,” “El Norte,” and “The Brother from Another Planet.”

His screen credits include Associate Producer of John Sayles’ "Matewan;" Executive Producer of Jonathan Demme’s "Swimming to Cambodia," Gary Sinise’s "Miles From Home," Paul Bartel’s "Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills," Matty Rich’s "Straight Out of Brooklyn," Stephen Gyllenhaal’s "Waterland," Maggie Greenwald’s "The Ballad of Little Jo," Alan Rudolph’s "Mrs. Parker & the Vicious Circle," Paul Auster’s "Lulu On the Bridge," Wayne Wang’s “Center of the World,” Daniel Noah’s “Twelve,” Anthony Jaswinski’s “Killing Time,” Loren-Paul Caplin’s “The Lucky Ones,” Amy Wadell’s “Brothel” and Georgia Lee’s “Red Doors;” and Co-Producer of David Anspaugh’s “The Game of Their Lives.” Deutchman was the Producer of Tony Vitale’s "Kiss Me, Guido," Sarah Kernochan’s "All I Wanna Do," Mark Christopher’s "54," Adam Davidson’s "Way Past Cool," Bob Gale’s “Interstate 60,” Tanya Wexler’s “Relative Evil,” and two upcoming films—Ann Hu’s “Beauty Remains” and Ed Radtke’s “Superheroes.” He was also Consulting Producer on the CBS sitcom “Some of My Best Friends.”

He is a graduate of Northwestern University, with a major in film.



Mr. Matthew Toner
President
Zeros 2 Heroes Media, Canada
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Throughout his career, Matt has worked as a writer, producer, director and digital designer on projects ranging from bleeding-edge mobile games to multiplatform television series to mixed martial arts spectaculars to nationwide comic creation campaigns.

Matt began in new media during the dot-boom in New York, helping to launch or manage three start-ups. Following the dot-crash, he switched gears and joined Vancouver’s burgeoning videogame industry, working as a designer and writer on a series of titles for Electronic Arts and Nokia. In 2006, he returned to new media and led the development of an award-winning television portal before launching his own studio, Zeros 2 Heroes Media.

His latest project – Animism: The Gods’ Lake – is a truly transmedia undertaking. In addition to an animated television series, the Animism storyline is orchestrated across a range of media channels including a teen-focused alternate reality game, smartphone application, augmented reality tags, digital comics, and social games.