Tuesday, May 1, 2012

IndieLisboa'12: IndieTalks (1)


The series of conferences Lisbon Talks at the IndieLisboa Film Festival 2012 kicked off on Sunday with a seminar on Traineeship, Production and Distribution. But the Talks and Debates began yesterday with an interesting discussion on the topic Alternative or Independent Distribution and Creating New Audiences. Miguel Gonçalves Mendes (director, José and Pilar (2010)), Alexandre Oliveira (producer, Disquiet (2010)), Pandora da Cunha Teles (producer, Florbela (2010)) and Joaquim Bidarra (ZON Lusomundo). The conversation focused on how these people found and developed alternative distribution circuits for their last films, chiefly on bringing them to the north and inside of the country. Very little money, inexistent databases from the Portuguese Audiovisual Institute, the alleged prejudice against the Portuguese cinema (in which I do not believe one minute) were the major tide-waves they all had to paddle against. Miguel Mendes presented a very enthusiastic speech regarding his all-in option to waste all the money for trailers on a single new version of it to air prime-time on Christmas Eve, capturing a wide audience with a new approach (funnier, mostly, about such an austere figure), something that paid off very well. About the new audiences, Miguel, Joaquim and Pandora seemed to agree that one must be very careful with the eventual implement of the Film National Plan (for schools)  because there's a huge slice of pedagogy to be attended to instead of merely looking at it as a magic strategic potion. One of the most interesting questions asked was why do they only think the distribution after the film is made, instead of trying to include it in the package as another asset to search for financing. There was never a real answer.

More Talks and Debates during the whole week, at Cinema São Jorge:


Tuesday, 1/5, 6.30 pm
A Case Apart– The New Swiss Cinema

Wednesday, 2/5, 6.30 pm
Portuguese Cinema as Seen by Young Talents – Reflection on the Current State of the Portuguese Cinema

Thursday, 3/5, 6.30 pm
The Construction of New Narratives as an Answer to the New Media

Friday, 4/5, 6.30 pm
The Importance of Sound


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