Excited to be heading back to Hot Docs next week. I have fond memories of being there and have returned several times over the years since Think Outside the Box Office was published. It was one of the first places that I gave a distribution workshop way back in 2012 - and the room was overflowing - with people and enthusiasm. Interesting that we are in a similarly fractured and troubling distribution landscape now as when I first wrote the book. Shout out to Elizabeth Radshaw who has been creating such a great doc industry event at Hot Docs year after year and keeps bringing me back! This year, I will be sharing a panel next Tuesday May 2nd at 1:30 PM with Scott Glosserman founder and CEO of Gathr and Rachel Gordon, author of The Documentary Distribution Toolkit at the TIFF Bell Lightbox Theater. If you're at Hot Docs or in Toronto on May 2nd- come check it out!
Enjoy this throwback from NYC 2010- featuring my favorite workshop/lecture shirt from the time.
For anyone at Hot Docs interested in learning more about what I do, what creative distribution looks like in our modern digital landscape, and tips on reaching broader audiences, join us! And if you are coming to Hot Docs and can't make the panel - hope to see you there as well!
SEEING SAM NOW + AMERICAN HOSPITALS WITH MY MOM IN BERKELEY
A very special week last week for the wonderful Elmwood Theater in Berkeley, CA. American Hospitals screened on Monday the 17th and Sam Now on Tuesday the 18th. I got to bring my 97 year old mom to both screenings with my cousin and her husband. My sister, my brother in law and my son Sam, came to see Sam Now. We had over 60 people at both screenings which for a Monday and Tuesday night were not bad - especially considering I went to see Everything Went Fine at the Laemmle this past Saturday night and there were 6 of us in the audience. Not only was I able to share the experience with my family but the director of Sam Now Reed Harkness, and his Co-producer and wife, Heather Hawksford brought their adorable son and a lot of their extended family.
This is a truly special film - I constantly hear from people how much it affected them days and even weeks after they have seen it - and it also has changed how they view their own relationships and their families. Try to make it out to one of our next screenings before it goes on Independent Lens - it is really magical in a theater.
AMERICAN HOSPITALS: BETHLEHEM, PA SCREENING
Sold out ArtsQuest Center with almost 200 in attendance.
Panelists L-R: Director Vincent Mondillo, Executive Producer Richard Master, Hasshan Batts Executive Director of The Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley, Mark Pinsley Controller of Lehigh County and Wendell Potter.
Some of the notables in attendance included the Mayor of Bethlehem William Reynolds, the Former Mayor of Easton Phillip Mitman, the Former Mayor of Bethlehem John Callahan, the Lehigh County Board of Commissioner Dan Hartzell and Tara Zrinski, member of the North Hampton County Council and Joe Welsh of the Lehigh Valley Justice Institute.
Screenings continue through May and into June - hopefully you can come to one of the events.
THE FIRST STEP - Press Continues to Roll in and VOD Release
THE FIRST STEP is now available for rent or to own on Prime Video and Vudu. The film, filmmakers (the Kramer brothers), and the subject Van Jones, were all featured in The LA Times and The Guardian last week:
"a new, wide-ranging and thoughtful documentary on his (Van Jones) fraught activism and the bipartisan criminal justice legislation""Something else you don’t often see in documentaries: leaders from two disparate communities — liberals of color from South Los Angeles and white conservatives from West Virginia — finding common ground, in this case communities wracked by the scourge of addiction"
-Richard Harris, The LA Times
SAM NOW NY TImes Critics Pick!
“Observantly edited, the movie mingles the perspectives of many family members without casting judgment, developing an aching poignancy that recalls recent family dramas like ‘Aftersun’ and ‘Return to Seoul.’”
--Nicholas Rappold writes about SAM NOW as the NY Times Critics' Pick.
L-R: David Magdeal, Tommy Tang, Sam Harkness, and myself at the LA premiere of SAM NOW as the Blue Panther (alter ego of main subject Sam Harkness).
Got to don a Blue Panther lucha libre mask (you'll know why when you see the film) at the LA premiere on April 6th with Clinical Psychologist and author of "Don't Know Who I Am: How to Stay Sane in the Era of Narcissism, Entitlement, and Incivility", Dr. Ramani Durvasula and Dr. Catherine Mogil, Director of the Family Development Project and the film's director Reed Harkness.
Some of the panelists for the screenings at NY Village East theater included: Danielle Z. Kassow, PHD and Dr. Deborah Langosch, LCSW.
The film is screening in theaters in 20 cities nationwide with members of the film team attending with other notable psychologists and film critics. I'll be at the Berkeley Elmwood screening next week!