The Longoria Affair Nominated for an Emmy

The Longoria Affair (El caso Longoria) — which aired this past November on Independent Lens — has been nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Historical Programming Long Form category. The film examines the refusal of a Texas funeral home to care for the body of WWII Mexican American soldier. Filmmaker John Valadez spoke with Independent Lens about the film and its impact through a series of community screenings.

When you set out to tell this story through film, was there a particular audience you wanted to reach, and if so, did you succeed?

I remember when I first started college, I came across a really stunning and disheartening statistic: the high school drop out rate for Xicanos hovers was around 50 percent and it has been that way for at least half a century.  That fact has always troubled me.  For Mexican American kids who do get into college they find a world largely devoid of educational materials about how Xicanos have helped shape the destiny of this country.  The same absence in history that is so devastating to Mexican Americans is something that ultimately hurts non-Xicano students as well.  You can look to the ethnic studies wars taking place in Arizona to see just how determined many policy makers are to maintain this absence of self-knowledge.
› Continue reading

Tags: civil rights, distribution, john valadez, Latino, Lyndon Johnson, Mexican Americans, Social Media, the longoria affair

Lessons from the Lab: Digital DIY and Distribution U.

Last month Indies Lab Director Davin Hutchins went back to school to learn about “do-it-yourself” (DIY) distribution and filed this report for BTB.

If you haven’t heard of the phrase “do-it-yourself” or “DIY distribution” then perhaps you have been too busy fundraising, shooting, or editing your latest documentary to notice. Or perhaps you live under a rock.

With traditional theatrical, broadcast and DVD distribution channels for independent docs in serious decline, everyone is talking about “DIY distribution,” also known as “hybrid distribution.”

Independent filmmakers in New York City debate the prospects of digital distribution of cinema at Distribution U.

The concept, coined most famously by Paradigm Consulting’s Peter Broderick, suggests that there is no cookie-cutter approach to the successful distribution of a film. Each approach should be tailored. Custom strategies like these were the main focal points at the east coast installment of Distribution U., a one-day crash course held by Broderick and journalist and CinemaTech blogger Scott Kirsner.

We here at the IndiesLab are sort of obsessed with the digital aspect of DIY distribution — that nexus where fan-building, advertising, and promotion intersect with online platforms like iTunes, Netflix, Amazon VOD, etc. We’ve been monitoring filmmaker conversations online and at events like Distribution U. to see if people are thinking seriously about digital DIY approaches.
› Continue reading

Tags: distribution, DIY, Hulu, independent producers, IndiesLab, iTunes, netflix, New York

Advice for Filmmakers from Doc TV’s Peter Hamilton

Peter Hamilton, editor and publisher of documentarytelevision.org

Peter Hamilton is a former executive with CBS International, New York. He is the editor and publisher of DocumentaryTelevision.com, which analyzes deals and trends in the ever-changing business of factual television. Because we know many of you are independent filmmakers trying to navigate the complex world of distribution, we spoke with Peter Hamilton last week to get some insights.

More than 25 years ago you co-authored a book titled Off-Hollywood: The Making and Marketing of Independent Films. How different might that book look if it were published today, and what about it would still hold up?

That’s a very good question. Off Hollywood was a groundbreaking work supported by The IFP (Independent Feature Project) and Sundance to provide the emerging independent film community with hard numbers about the production, distribution, and exhibition of independent films.

That was in the analog era when there were few windows available for independent filmmakers. Now, there are many more distribution platforms, television networks, DVD options such as Amazon, Netflix, pay-per-view, online, and many others. › Continue reading

Tags: cbs, com, digital distribution, distribution, doctv, documentarytelevision, independent filmmakers, indie films, ITVS, network, PBS, peter hamilton