Jan 10, 2012
Artist Development
The San Francisco Film Society will present SFFS Film Arts Forum: Digital Distribution Now, a panel discussion focused on surveying, advocating and examining the latest developments in the bold new world of film distribution, 7:30 pm, Tuesday, February 7 at Roxie Theater, 3117 16th Street.
It’s no secret that online distribution is changing the shape of the film industry. From giants like YouTube, iTunes and Netflix to emerging, intriguing platforms like Fandor, Distribber, Dynamo and Distrify, filmmakers are faced with a distribution landscape that’s evolving daily. As independent film distribution has changed from DIY (“Do It Yourself”) to DIWO (“Do It With Others”-i.e., crowdfunding), filmmakers are exploring new ways to circumvent the middlemen and stream directly to audiences. The latest SFFS Film Arts Forum will assemble a panel to debate, demystify and debunk online distribution in all its varying forms. Panelists include online pioneer Jenni Olson, IndieGoGo cofounder Danae Ringelmann, film attorney George Rush and filmmaker Tiffany Shlain. SFFS Manager of Filmmaker Education Michael Behrens will moderate.
PANELISTS
Jenni Olson is director of e-commerce at WolfeVideo.com and one of the world’s leading experts on LGBT cinema history. As a queer media historian, activist, author and online pioneer Olson has been a longtime champion of LGBT film and filmmakers around the world. As an experimental filmmaker, Olson’s unique urban landscape films have been shown at film festivals around the world, and have earned critical and popular acclaim for their unique storytelling style. Olson’s most recent short film 575 Castro St. premiered at Sundance and the Berlinale in early 2009 and had its local premiere at the San Francisco International Film Festival. In 1995, Olson was one of the cofounders of PlanetOut.com, where she established the massive queer movie resource and database PopcornQ, launched PlanetOut Online Cinema, the first showcase for LGBT streaming media and founded the PlanetOut Short Movie Awards.
Danae Ringelmann cofounded IndieGoGo-an online crowdfunding platform for ideas-to democratize fundraising. Passionate about helping artists and entrepreneurs embrace the DIWO (Do-It-With-Others) approach, Ringelmann speaks often at conferences. Recent speaking engagements include SXSW, MAD Hong Kong, and Big Omaha. Fast Company Magazine recently named Ringelmann one of the Top 50 Most Influential Women in Technology. Prior to IndieGoGo, Ringelmann was a Securities Analyst at Cowen & Co. where she covered entertainment companies including Pixar, Lionsgate, Disney, and Electronic Arts. Ringelmann also focused on cable network, NFL, newspaper and hedge fund clientele while at JPMorgan’s Investment Bank and Private Bank.
Since 2000, the law offices of George M. Rush have provided dedicated legal services to filmmakers in San Francisco and elsewhere, specializing in the independent film industry. Rush provides both transactional and litigation services for films, as well as distribution advisory services on a case by case basis. He is dedicated to supporting independent filmmakers, stewarding them in the business and legal issues to make films both commercial and artistic successes. His clients include producers, directors, screenwriters and investors in development, production and distribution phases of filmmaking. Rush recently represented several films at major festivals including Michael Tulley’s Septien (Sundance 2011), Megan Griffith’s The Off Hours (Sundance 2011), Sofia Takal’s Green (SXSW 2011), Cherie Saulter’s No Matter What (SXSW 2011) and Barry Jenkin’s Medicine for Melancholy (SXSW 2008). Rush also produces films including his most recent project 4th and Goal, a football documentary directed by Nina Gilden Seavey.
Honored by Newsweek as one of the “Women Shaping the 21st Century,” Tiffany Shlain is a filmmaker, artist, founder of The Webby Awards and cofounder of the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences. A celebrated thinker and catalyst, Shlain is known for her ability to illuminate complex ideas in culture, science, technology and life through her unique films and her dynamic talks and projects. She delivered a commencement address at UC Berkeley and her films and work have received 48 awards and distinctions. Her last four films premiered at Sundance, including her acclaimed new feature documentary, Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death & Technology. Her team at the Moxie Institute is known for their groundbreaking work combining their films, new technologies, conversational tools and live events to engage people in new ways. They just have begun a new film series called Let it Ripple: Mobile Films for Global Change. Shlain is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, a visiting professor at the University of Wales and a member of the advisory board of M.I.T.’s Geospatial Lab. She was one of the technology leaders selected to advise Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on role of the Internet in society.
MODERATOR
Michael A. Behrens runs the Film Society’s Film Craft & Film Studies, Film Arts Forum and Behind the Scenes programs. He has produced, directed, acted and consulted for theater, film and television for the last 15 years. Currently, he is in production on two social justice documentary films, My Garbage My Neighborhood and The Naked Company. Kuro 2010 and Climate Change 2009, produced by Behrens, have screened at festivals around the world. Behrens holds an MNA in nonprofit administration from the University of San Francisco and a BFA in acting from the University of Idaho.
SFFS Film Arts Forum is the Film Society’s bimonthly information-sharing, discussion, networking, professional development jamboree. It’s an opportunity for local filmmakers and cineastes to meet one another and talk about their craft. SFFS gets the conversation started with dynamic presentations, topical panels, works-in-progress screenings and trade secrets. It’s an entire conference in the span of a few hours.
For complete program information visit sffs.org/Exhibition/SFFS-Film-Arts-Forum.
Tickets $7 for SFFS members, $10 general. Box office now open: online at sffs.org and in person at San Francisco Film Society Cinema, 1746 Post Street (Webster/Buchanan).