Week 3 of collecting things! And posting to this Substack. I hope that things have been worth reading and sharing. I’d love to hear your feedback so let me know what you want to see more of in the upcoming weeks.
Anyway, this week was a solid one with quite a bit of editing done for The Selling Stage. I’ve also started developing another script idea. At this stage, I have 3 distinct ideas that could feasibly be the next project I write.
All widely different but all represent me as a filmmaker. How do you decide which move to make next?
What I Watched:
Not only does it have one of the best titles of all time “Bad Day at Black Rock” also is one of the best thrillers I’ve seen in a long time. I had been meaning to catch up with this since I heard about its influence on John Carpenter’s The Thing (which I love so much that I have the Drew Struzan poster art tattooed on me) and it didn’t disappoint.
Bad Day at Black Rock follows a stranger who visits a small western town looking for a Japanese-American man in the shadow of World War II, but ends up stumbling into a conspiracy of townspeople who are covering up something much darker.
What struck me was the framing and the blocking of the characters. Everything is so precise and each time the camera cuts, we discover more meaning from where everyone is in a scene. The lead Macreedy (played in such a powerful simmering tone from Spencer Tracy) moves and speaks so precisely, that it literally changes the scene when he chooses to do so, cutting through the muck that this town is buried in.
This is also such a beautifully rendered anti-racist film that questions what small towns are doing to combat prejudice in their own communities. It explores how silence and fear can be as much of a powerful oppressive force in justice as violence and that power truly comes from who owns the town.
An incredible film that I highly recommend. It’s tense, thought-provoking and so powerful in its craft.
What I Read:
Kinema had a super thought provoking write-up on avoiding check-list distribution. It’s been shared in my circles for a while now but still keep going back to it. With a film like The Selling Stage which sits between something like a prestige character doc and an exploration of the subculture of pro-wrestling, there are a ton of opportunities to get this film out to audiences.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the road show style and how some of the partnerships with independent wrestling companies around the country could help facilitate screenings in those same arenas that the shows take place in and to tap into the audience of those companies.
Wrestling fans are super passionate and they are the first line of ambassadors that can be built up for the film to help carry it along while collecting all of the other sub audiences we have, but are not the only audience we have.
Here’s a peek into our audience targets:
It’s all about targeting our wrestling audience and to build a groundswell of support as we reach out towards broader audiences. FOMO is a valuable thing and when buzz starts to generate in specific circles and branch out, there is an opportunity to reach those key targets.
This is especially true with partners who have crossover in our audiences that can help boost the film. For example, there is a strong group of influencers and commentators that sit in the wrestling fan/women’s sports lane that can platform the film, targeting the key audience.
Anyway, the Kinema article really helped me step outside of the festival lane and think about non-traditional forms of distribution that can happen in tandem with a strong festival push.
What I Collected:
This week I got a beautiful package from Deaf Crocodile, a great boutique distributor mainly dealing in foreign animation. I stumbled onto them after hearing about their release of Pied Piper, a 53 minute Czech animation from director Jiri Barta. I was super interested in the Czech new wave after watching Daisies and picking up Criterion’s Czech New Wave eclipse set. I loved it when I first saw it and couldn’t wait to revisit so that was the first part of the set.
Part of the desire to pick up Pied Piper was since having a kid, I’ve thought about a curated collection for him to dive into as he grows up. I know a pivotal part of my love of film came from sneaking into my older brother’s room to steal DVDs to watch when he was off at college. So I wanted to start curating a collection that my son, when he’s old enough for screens, can pull things off the shelf and discover them.
A key note: Before diving into the rest of my pickup from Deaf Crocodile, I gotta say that I forgot how nightmarish and adult the Pied Piper is. It’s an incredible film that is a craft marvel. The puppets all look like they’re made of wood, giving the whole thing a folk horror feel. I’ve never seen anything like it. But with several scenes of mice being beaten to death and a cow taking an axe to the face, maybe I reserve this one for when my kid is a little older? I’m talking maybe 10-12 rather than 5-7.
Anyway, I also picked up a couple other things from Deaf Crocodile including Vol 3 of The Treasures of Soviet Animation set, Tamala 2010 and The Devil’s Bride. The first two are other animated films I can’t wait to dive into and The Devil’s Bride is a complete blind buy for me, but as soon as I saw it was a Lithuanian rock opera, I couldn’t resist.
Excited for all of these pickups. I think Deaf Crocodile is putting out some bangers and I already have a laundry list of additional titles I need to get from them. If you haven’t heard of them before, I highly recommend them.
Also, my plea to Deaf Crocodile: Please release a Lotte Reiniger set.
Anyway, what are you planning on checking out this weekend? Any thoughts on distribution? What’s a physical release you’ve been eyeing up or recommend?
Let me know below!
-Adam
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