The Importance Of Film Festivals To Documentaries

This column is a bit of a hustle to get you to come to the Tribeca Film Festival to see the World Premiere of our documentary, Hard As Nails. You see hustling is in the job description for filmmakers.

In my past life as a TV news producer, I worked hard but had a steady job, making good money. Now, as a filmmaker, I make less money, I always have to hustle and for the most part, I love it.

The actual production work I do now is pretty much the same. In both TV news and documentaries, you research, shoot, and then edit your footage into something watchable. But then the similarity ends.

With television, whatever I worked on, was going to be funded and seen. By contrast, getting a film off the ground takes a leap of faith and a lot of good fortune (if not, a personal one).

When I finished a TV piece, it was done. As a particularly talented colleague at the Today Show used to say after handing over her latest masterwork, "There it goes, off into the ether." When I finish editing a film, the work is far from over, as I now have to find an audience.

And that's where film festivals come in. Theoretically, the idea is that distributors and broadcasters will come to a festival, see your film and then get it out to a larger audience. But the reality is that a majority of the films in festivals are like my first films, worthwhile but largely un-commercial.

I made four odd and esoteric short docs on topics like the relationship between nature and man, images of God in the 21st century and so on. (Check them out at www.originalthinkers.com) I am very proud of them, but being shorts, the marketplace was limited. Yet I happily hustled them around the country because being in a dark theater with an audience watching, engaging and most of all reacting to my work, was amazing and completely unlike making television.

I think film festivals are also essential because of the discussions after the screenings. For me it was: American Splendor's crew, cast and subjects at Sundance; a heated argument about Israel after the documentary, Arna's Children at Tribeca; or our own experience with a film I produced called Live from Shiva's Dance Floor.

Shiva, directed by Richard Linklater, featured Speed Levitch, the brilliant tour guide from the documentary, The Cruise and was about Speed's unique vision for Ground Zero. It had been incredibly well received at Telluride Mountainfilm (a tremendous festival, www.mountainfilm.org). During the Q/A at our final screening, the stage manager raised his hand. I called on him expecting another wet kiss. Instead, he started a three minute harangue on how the film was deeply offensive, getting angrier and angrier. It culminated in him asking, "I just want to know, why the fuck did you make this film?!?"

The conversation that followed was exhilarating for everyone in the room. Filmmakers work very hard to get every single moment right but with his diatribe, the hostile stage manager had quickly unraveled our finished product. There was nothing in the ether; it was all right there in that room that day, making the whole film experience, richer and deeper.

And that's what I hope will happen if you come to see my feature film debut at Tribeca (I said I was going to try and hustle you). Here is a brief description from the back of our postcard (which I will eagerly hand you if we meet anytime soon):

Justin Fatica is not for everyone. When he steps up to the altar, the unordained Catholic minister becomes a frenetic whirlwind of energy using a mix of professional wrestling, Hip Hop and Scripture to bring Jesus to thousands of teenage worshippers. Despite his success, his intense, over-the-top approach faces some serious resistance - even from his own beloved Catholic Church.

Naturally, I think the film is compelling but I know the Tribeca screenings will be memorable because our main character, Justin Fatica, will be in the house. Some people will love him, others will not and this being New York, all of these divergent opinions will most surely collide creating what I believe will be quite a conversation.

Look, if you cannot make it, we are incredibly lucky because HBO saw raw footage, decided to fund it and will send the film through the ether to your living room next year. But of course, even though it's not TV, and it's HBO, I'm pretty sure they don't have the technology yet to be able to send Justin live and in person into your living room. For that, I hope you will come to Tribeca.