The Encouraging Words of Mark Duplass
Sporting a sweet Vidiots hoody, Duplass reminds filmmakers that while it's many of our dreams for our films to make it into Sundance if we're not selected, there are all kinds of other film festivals out there. Sundance—or any film festival, for that matter—is not the end all be all of your film or filmmaking career. Anyone who's made a film and gone through the festival gambit Knows the extreme highs and lows of the tumultuous Filmfreeway. Festivals are an amazing opportunity to find an audience and network, and are also a ton of fun, so it can really sting if you get that rejection email. But it's important to remember that festivals not only look for quality, but also a myriad of factors about the programming of the festival, the genre, and so much more.
My friends and I went through these highs and lows this past year with our first feature, Shoft. We didn't make it into any of the "big" festivals, but we made it into a lot of really fun festivals such as Cinequest, Nevermore, and Flyover, and it was a blast. Just as Duplass mentions, sometimes getting into a bunch of smaller festivals is even more satisfying and fulfilling than getting into one with a bigger name.
Feeling better? We hope so. Keep on making movies and stay strong out there, readers.
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I always find it comforting to watch the early work of big-time directors. Not because it's terrific or terrible -- it's usually somewhere in between, which just goes to show that you never know where your filmmaking career is headed. The important thing is to get started. Christopher Nolan shot his surreal three-minute short "Doodlebug" with actor Jeremy Theobald, who would star in Nolan's $6,000 first feature Following a year later. Nolan then followed up with the brilliant Memento and the rest is history. Here's "Doodlebug:"
