Among other matters, one of the subjects I can introduce to the conversation & get some feedback, perhaps, from Haskell & Sragow is how self-distributing DIY filmmakers should go about securing reviews of their work from established critics & writers (such as the two mentioned - see their mini-bios at the bottom of this post, they've done a lot of interesting work over the years), specially when the films in discussion may not receive a theatrical run & may not benefit from marketing and reviews & other articles arrangement skills (pitching such articles to publications, etc.) of experienced distributors & publicists - a hot topic among some DIY filmmakers I know. Here is the description of the discussion event from the
Atlanta Film Festival site:
"Saturday, April 18, 4-5:00PM
The State of Film Criticism: A discussion with Baltimore Sun movie critic Michael Sragow, film scholar Molly Haskell, and blogger Sujewa Ekanayake.
*We encourage you to screen the documentary Indie Film Blogger Road Trip, a film by Sujewa Ekanayake, available online in advance of this conversation on AtlantaFilmFestival.com, courtesy of the filmmaker."
Indie Film Blogger Road Trip is not yet available on the ATL fest site, but should be in a few days, definitely before the event happens on 4/18, as far as I can tell.
On the series that the event is a part of & the location:
"Starbucks Coffeehouse Conversations
Hosted by Starbuck’s at their new location (within walking distance of Landmark Midtown Art Cinema). Friday, April 17-Saturday, April 25 at 4:00 PM, join various filmmakers and other guests for stimulating and informative conversations on the latest film “hot” topics.
Starbucks
931 Monroe Drive
Atlanta,GA 30305"
More on the ATL film fest Coffehouse Conversations
here.
About Molly Haskell (
from ATLFF site):
"MOLLY HASKELL
Molly Haskell, author and critic, was a long-time staff writer for The Village Voice, New York Magazine and Vogue. She has written for many publications, including The New York Times, Esquire, The Nation, Town & Country, The Guardian UK, The New York Observer and The New York Review of Books. She has served as Artistic Director of the Sarasota French Film Festival, on the selection committee of the New York Film Festival, as Associate Professor of Film at Barnard and as Adjunct Professor of Film at Columbia University. In 2005-2006, she was a host on Turner Classic Movies’ “Essentials.” Her books include From Reverence to Rape: the Treatment of Women in the Movies (1973; revised and reissued in 1989); a memoir, Love and Other Infectious Diseases (1990); and, in 1997, a collection of essays and interviews, Holding My Own in No Man's Land: Women and Men and Films and Feminists. Her newest book, Frankly, My Dear: Gone with the Wind Revisited, will be published by Yale University Press in the Spring of 2009."
About Michael Sragow:
"MICHAEL SRAGOW
Michael Sragow, author of Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master, is the movie critic for the Baltimore Sun and contributes regularly to The New Yorker. He has also written for Salon, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, and Rolling Stone, among many publications. He edited the Library of America’s two volumes of James Agee’s work, as well as Produced and Abandoned: The National Society of Film Critics Write on the Best Films You’ve Never Seen. He lives with his wife, Glenda Hobbs, in Baltimore."
And for anything else regarding the
Atlanta Film Festival, go
here.
- Sujewa
