A funny thing happened a few nights ago that succinctly describes the plight of independent filmmaking and the practice of sending screeners. Let me preface that with this; one of the most rewarding aspects of filmmaking in the true independent sense is the process of self-actualization, a partially controllable condition. Now, the uncontrollable condition (everything after the creation) is that the farther a vision strews from established norms, the harder it becomes to attract a certain level of attention. This is woven into the classic gatekeeper paradigm.
Ok, back to the first sentence. Nearly two years ago, Chicago Film Critics Association member Ian Simmons was handed a screener to the film MAN (screening at Chicago at the time) by a colleague, he watched the first ten minutes of it and shut the screener off prematurely, writing it off as not his thing. Fast forward to a couple of nights ago, as he confessed this earlier sin on his “Kicking the Seat Podcast”, and now proclaimed that the film had, “blown his mind” while dedicating an entire episode talking about the film. A massive change of opinion nearly two years in the making, done in a transparent, respectable & honest way.
This is the reality of artmaking and it is unavoidable when the access & context is not in place. One cannot demand that people pay attention to your work. But it is always the artist's responsibility to tell what needs to be told, in the only way that one can.
Time takes care of the rest, not in the sense that people will come around, but in the sense that ultimately, it never really mattered in the first place.
Here is the link to the Kicking The Seat Podcast in which MAN is given a positive, newly minted spotlight in the eyes of one critic.
And below, a link to watch on our preferred platform.