When festival poster art attacks!

A coincidence, I'm sure, but an amusing one:

The 1983 Atlanta Film Festival poster.	The 2009 Independent Film Festival Boston art.

Is there a common image source for both? Someone knowledgeable in art history, please let me know.

(Update: some Googling later, it looks like both works are the same take on an illustration in Gray's Anatomy.)

Audio: IFF Boston Audience Building Panel

Brian Chirls was kind enough to record our panel at the Independent Film Festival of Boston entitled Followers: How Filmmakers are Building Their Audiences Online in the 21st Century. To blatantly copy and subtly edit his blog entry on the subject:

The other panelists were:

Scott Kirsner (moderator) is a journalist and all-around smart guy. He’s the author of two books, Inventing the Movies and Fans, Friends & Followers. He also writes the blog Cinematech.
Brian Chirls is an audience/online guru who works on a number of independent film projects.
Sean Flynn producer and cinematographer at Principle Pictures.
We discussed a range of topics, including:

• Benefits and pitfalls of social networking (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc.)
  
• Strategies for reaching audiences before, during and after production
  
• Crowdsourcing to build audiences as well as help production
  
• How much of your content to post online for free
  
• Ad revenue models
  
• Distribution formats (DVD, download, streaming, theatrical, etc.)
  
• Applying all the above to other media such as music and art

Independent Film Festival Boston: Audience Building Panel by brianchirls

Steal this idea: use your vacation email message to market your film/event

I got this excellent email "out of office" autoresponder from a festival contact recently:

Absence Alert! I'm out of the office and returning Monday, April 13.

I'll be warm and dry playing outside dressed in my Patagonia Cold Track jacket, Polartec fleece, OR hat and gloves and New Balance Shoes. I'll use my Deuter pack to carry extra gear and supplies from Gore-Tex, Mountain Hardwear, OR, Petzl and Mountain Equipment Co-op. You can find me in the beautiful pristince Yellowstone to Yukon region, making tracks at Mount Engadine Lodge, or skiing one of the fantastic areas of Resorts of the Canadian Rockies. Following a great day outdoors I'll relax with a Big Rock ale or a glass of Redwood Creek wine and enjoy reading about travel, exploration and adventure in National Geographic Adventure magazine. I may fantasize about tripping away with World Expeditions or Canadian Mountain Holidays.

I will check and reply to email only sporadicaly. If you need immediate assistance please contact [snipped for privacy].

Laurie Harvey
Manager, Strategic Partnerships
Mountain Culture, The Banff Centre

Laurie not only turned her everyday vacation message into something funny, she also mentioned her strategic partners (aka "sponsors"), guaranteeing that existing sponsors would smile and that prospective partners would get the message: even when Laurie is on vacation, she's doing her job.

If you're a filmmaker, you can use vacation auto-responders to send messages in a similar way. Set one up to cover your email while you're away at a festival, and be sure to include the screening times of all of your upcoming festivals while you're at it. Add a link to your trailer so that everyone who emails you will get a chance to check out your film -- even if they're just trying to sell you "mal3 en#anc3ment" products.

MovieMaker's 2009 List: 25 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee MovieMaker Magazine

MovieMaker has released their annual list again, and the results are... interesting. I'm very pleased to see my old home, the Austin Film Festival, listed – arguably the most prominent festival on the list. No time to comment more now as I'm packing for IFF Boston (see you there? I'm speaking on a panel) but I'll have the full rundown next week.

Read The 2009 List: 25 Festivals Worth the Fee in MovieMaker Magazine.

Steal this idea - Secret Party for your Twitter followers

Festival directors reading this can steal the idea outright, but filmmakers may need a little more creativity to make it work for them. Either way, it's a clever and subversive way to boost your Twitter followers – the Atlanta Film Festival withheld the details about one of their parties, releasing the details only on Twitter. (You can find them at twitter.com/atlantafilmfest.)

Below is a quick snap of the party page of the Atlanta Film Festival's program guide.

Watch this: Doc short on managing your expectations on the festival circuit

Seven excellent minutes from filmmaker Zak Forsman on why you want to show up at festivals and what you should work to get out of them. This video starts a "virtual panel session" from filmmakers in the Workbook Project.

Upcoming panel discussions with yours truly

Normally it's difficult to get me to shut up about myself, but occasionally I get busy enough that I forget to do even that. As a result you may have missed your golden opportunity to see me speak at the Georgia Big Picture Conference this morning. Never fear! I have two more panels here in Atlanta and one coming up in Massachusetts at the Independent Film Festival of Boston. Here are the gritty details.

The Film Festival Circuit: A discussion with authors Heidi Van Lier (The Indie Film Rule Book) and Chris Holland (Film Festival Secrets).
Friday April 17th at 4:00 p.m.
Starbucks
931 Monroe Drive
Atlanta,GA 30305

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Distribution Options and Alternatives
Sunday April 19th at 10:45 a.m.
Hotel Midtown
Atlanta, GA

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Digital strategies for building and communicating with your audience
Sunday, April 26 at 12:00 pm
Somerville Theatre
55 Davis Sq
Somerville, MA 02144

The other panelists are:

• Scott Kirsner (moderator), author of the Cinematech blog and two very cool books.
  
• Brian Chirls, digital film marketing guru extraordinaire
  
• Sean Flynn, producer and cinematographer at Principle Pictures.
  

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Panels are open to festival/conference badgeholders; please inquire to GA Big Picture Conference or IFF Boston if you need more info.