Indie Film Goes Back to School
I came across an article by Caitlin McCarthy, a teacher and filmmaker who posted on Ted Hope’s blog, Truly Free Film. The full article is here: http://trulyfreefilm.blogspot.com/2009/08/how-to-save-indie-film-seek-out-working.html
Below is my reply to both Ms McCarthy and a commenter
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Ms McCarthy offers some very insightful advice. I think “Cunningham” is missing a valuable point: children spend a great deal of time in school and participating in school-related activities. School is a tremendous part of children’s lives. And, giving a cue to the indie filmmaker contemplating multiple micro-cinema releases, it’s a good place to merge art and commerce, inspiring future endeavors (i.e. dreams) on both sides of that spectrum.
If you could tell one person about your film and know for sure that this person would tell no less than 500 people, doesn’t it make sense to partner with them? Isn’t this the case when you discuss with a school principal the benefits of screening your film to his/her students? A film poignant to parents and children in school should be shown in school, with a screening easily coordinated by email. Consider the screening of a PG or G-rated film to junior high or high school audiences in your neighborhood, community, city and state and the financial possibilities are endless. Give back a percentage of the sales to the school(s) and the effect is multiplied.
I believe it must be further clarified that “disadvantaged youth” spans more than “Hispanics and African Americans” as Cunningham repeats via statistics — over and over again. There are many under served communities in traditionally mostly-white neighborhoods.
Whether kids “want to be in school” is not the point. Kids ARE in school, for a great deal of time. Let’s inspire them by reaching out to them, breaking down the barriers between their communities and the rest of the world, and teach them to dream to reach and to achieve.
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