For sixteen years the Flickers: Rhode Island International Film Festival has been bringing independent short- and feature-length filmmaking to Rhode Island moviegoers. As part of the festival this year, Flickers is bringing back the Film Forum, a one-day symposium on Thursday that will discuss how to sustain and grow independent, local filmmaking—and filmgoing—in the Ocean State.
The theme of the Forum this year is ‘Rhode Island: An Independent State for Film. For me, that encompasses both filmmaking and film exhibition, how people are keeping independent film alive on both ends of the equation. One doesn’t mean much without the other.
With Rhode Island having the second highest unemployment rate in the nation, how can local filmmakers work with local businesses to advance a homegrown industry, and not (as in the case of Louisiana) simply sell off the state to Hollywood studios in search in tax breaks? How can theater owners and alternative film exhibitors survive and thrive in an exhibition marketplace increasingly hostile to independents? How can journalists use the film medium to keep newspapers relevant and solvent at a time when storied national papers are halting daily production?
The forum is Thursday in the Providence Biltmore Ballroom, 11 Dorrance Street, from 8:30 to 1. Tickets for the Film Forum are $10 and are available to the general public. For more information, or to register, go to www.film-festival.org/RIForum2012.php or click here.
With all the mill buildings and warehouses we have in the northern part of the state, I’ve long thought they’d make a great place for a movie studio. They’re usually very big and have high ceilings and could have easy access to a few different highways for in/out access.
Making the film industry sustainable anywhere will not be easy. Film making is episodic, and not dependent on location. You can build up a concentration of skilled workers and resources but a two year stretch of no work can kill that off.
Can universities become an important distribution channel for indies? If so, how?
Two thoughts on this? I would see figuring out how to get university student entertainment boards buy into showing indies as a key component. Getting faculty to use indie films in teaching would be another boost. In other words,
Figuring out a business model for indies is crucial. The key would be reliable channels of distribution.
Patrick, I agree there’s a lot that could be done with those physical remains of Rhode Island’s industrial past–besides turning them into luxury river apartments. And John, it’s true that “runaway production” (i.e. Hollywood shooting on location) has often led to an arms race in state and national tax cuts–creating local economic booms that rely on the next state not offering even deeper tax breaks. University distribution is an interesting idea; Flickers has recently donated much of its short film archive to URI’s Harrington School for educational use.
Forgot to add, the Forum was a resounding success yesterday. Maybe in the coming days I’ll do another piece for the site looking back at it.