Audience Participation & The Big 8-0!

Posted in Diary of a Directrix, News
January 19th, 2010 by Devi Snively (The Directrix)

dic title smIt’s official.  Death in Charge just got into festival #80!  Go, Team – this so rocks!  We also just won our 21st award – definitely a new record for our Deviant team.  But these are mere numbers and not what’s truly important.  What really counts is that we’ve  made a film that’s reached thousands upon thousands of people, many whom have said the nicest things – how it’s made them think and feel, how it’s like nothing they’ve seen before.  No parent has ever been prouder of her offspring.

dic screeningscreening smMany ask me, why bother with the film fests?  But I think any filmmaker who foregoes this step in her career is cheating herself of a very significant part of an artist’s journey.

For an artist’s work to resonate with people beyond herself, her friends and family, she has to reach out to a world beyond her own – see how others experience things.  She has to become what I call the “generous artist”  – somebody who doesn’t just make films for her own selfish reasons, but rather someone who wants to reach out and touch others with her work, to communicate something, share a new world that others will enjoy, too.  Most importantly, perhaps, she should  make a film that will entertain.  Isn’t that what (narrative) films are about after all?

devi q and a smscreening smFestivals provide this opportunity like nothing else.  One sees her film play in different cultures in front of all kinds of different spectators and other filmmakers as well.  We also get to see what else is out there and discuss everything about them. It’s filmmaker therapy, education and enlightenment plus so much more.

I see so many films on the fest circuit that look fantasiaq&a smpretty enough, but simply don’t resonate with me, nor the rest of the audience.  The audience gets restless, texts, walks out.  These are frequently what I consider “selfish films.”  Somebody clearly didn’t take the time to get feedback on her work and put in the proper effort in order to effectively communicate screening2smwhat it was she was trying to say with other people.  But at the end of the day, the most beautiful crane shot in the world will not make up for a story that does not work, or a world that is not engaging.  Eye candy will only take you so far; then it merely becomes boring.  They would know this if they sat in enough audiences with their films and perhaps they’d improve.  And while it’s tough to get into fests for sure, if one’s film isn’t getting into any – well maybe it’s time to go back and figure out why.

Death unveiled with scythe smAppropriately, just days before trippin’s world premiere, tonight Death in Charge has what I imagine will be among its final public screenings here at Gower Studios as part of the New Filmmaker Series (which I’ve heard is a very well put on event.  After each short there’s a  q& a, followed by a reception with a bar – yay!)  Firefly Girl smTomorrow I get interviewed by a fellow from Variety for Moviemaker Magazine.  I’m not nervous at all.  Death in Charge and I have a fabulous relationship after traveling the world together.  I know her so well and I truly love her.  This little short has sure brought me an awful whitmomgunssmlot of amazing opportunities and adventures.  And I accept her for her strengths and her weaknesses and feel so grateful for  the journey and education with which she’s provided me.  She’s made me the filmmaker I am today, which is a very pleased and fulfilled one.  Death raised the bar and is propelling me ever higher from here on out.

Thanks to our wonderful cast and crew without whom this film would never be.  It’s a truly remarkable team and your work has paid off in spades.  I think it’s safe to say, ‘we’re a hit!’  I hope to see many of you there this evening.  You deserve to see your work enjoyed.

Leave a Reply