A “Provocation” at CIFF’s Re:Distribution Documentary Town Hall

In September, the Camden International Film Festival (CIFF) in Camden, Maine convened a Documentary Town Hall to bring together filmmakers and industry leaders for an open dialogue about how independent filmmakers and their allies can build a more equitable, sustainable and powerful future for documentary distribution. The Town Hall was canceled due to a post-tropical depression storm that swept through midcoast Maine on the day of the event, but co-organizers Sara Archambault (Program Director for the Documentary Film in the Public Interest Initiative at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center) and Abby Sun (Distribution Advocates member and Director of Artist Programs at the International Documentary Association) held informal versions for festival guests.

At the informal town hall, Distribution Advocates co-founder Amy Hobby introduced a provocative series of hypotheticals as a way of asking filmmakers to reflect on their own attitudes towards distribution options. We are excited to share Hobby’s presentation with the wider Distribution Advocates community.

Amy Hobby

CIFF RE: Distribution – A Documentary Town Hall

September 2023 

I’m up here today as one of the co-founders of Distribution Advocates along with Karin Chien, Carlos Gutiérrez, Avril Speaks and Abby Sun.  We formed as a collective in January of 2020, coming together around what we saw as gross inequities in the distribution of independently produced films.  Like patient advocates who help navigate the healthcare system, we began with the idea to advocate for filmmakers who are navigating a seemingly complex system.

With funding from Ford Foundation, the Perspective Fund and Color Congress, we embarked on 18 months of work focused around the pillars of education, advocacy, transparency, and dialogue supported by published newsletters, reports and articles. In short, we tried to fill a vacuum with data and knowledge. We wanted to counter opaque systems with transparency.

After our first 18 months, Distribution Advocates started to understand that advocating in a totally broken system could only be so effective.  

So, I’m going to ask you, the filmmakers in the room, to make some theoretical choices. The premise is that you have a newly completed, independently funded film.  

First Question:

• Option #1: A 2024 Sundance premiere (or another A+ festival)

• Option #2: A million fully watched views of your film via a free online platform 

  Think carefully and be honest with yourself.

  Now let’s up the stakes:

• Option #1:  A competition slot at Sundance or opening night – whichever one you want

• Option #2:  Two million views via a partnership with YouTube where you receive a percentage of advertising revenue as well as metrics on who is watching your film.

Last question:  

• Option #1: Let’s say you went to Sundance. You get good reviews and a major streamer approaches your sales agent and offers to license all rights to your film for $30,000. They love the film and see you as a promising director to work with. Maybe they discuss a potential awards campaign.

• Option #2: Through an easy-to-use tool, your film is booked in micro-cinemas in 100 cities. The tool helps you target specific audiences for your film. You’ll get 40% of all ticket revenue, retain the rights to your film, and receive a $30,000 grant for marketing.  

In summary, we are asking:

What if, in our new distribution futures, we don't replicate documentary's many structures of elitism, a scarcity mindset and gatekeeping that have excluded so many from having a seat at the table ? 

What if we focus on uplifting the audience and fostering broad inclusivity instead?