Killer Biopic Stirs Controversy in Canada

According to the Montreal Gazette, 'Karla', a film about notorious Canadian killers Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo was pulled from the screening schedule of the Montreal Film Festival due to a political and sponsor backlash:

In recent months, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty had been urging people not to go see the movie, which documents the story of Canada's most notorious couple and the brutal killings of schoolgirls Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy.

McGuinty congratulated the Montreal film festival organizers Thursday for cancelling the screening, which had been scheduled for later this month.

"These crimes were searing events in the life of this province," McGuinty said. "I have not understood how people would want to profit from that."

Sellers said he knew Air Canada, a sponsor of the Montreal festival, did not want its logo to be posted during the screening of Karla, and he believes the airline was among those sponsors pressuring the festival to drop the movie.

So has all of the negative publicity hurt the producer's chances for finding an audience? According to Quantum Entertainment producer Michael Sellers, Apparently not:

Sellers also said all the publicity generated by politicians like McGuinty speaking against the movie, and the cancellation by the Montreal festival, have actually helped his cause.

"I've had two other film festivals and two or three other distributors call already this morning, so the news value of this and the controversy may in the end be positive," he said.

Will politicians ever learn? If you don't want people to go see a movie, leave it alone. Instead, there are now over 300 articles on Google News, providing hundreds of free column inches -- the dream of every indie movie marketer. Right now, it looks like the producers are working the "freedom of artistic expression" and "no one's dragging you to see this" PR angles, which are straight out of the ol' Miramax playbook. Changing the films name from the generic "Deadly" to "Karla" was a pretty brash move, however, and looks like a blatant move to capitalize on the publicity surrounding Karla Homolka's recent release from prison. We don't care about all that though -- we're still shell-shocked from reading that the flick stars Laura Prepon from "The 70's Show" -- count us in!

[Via the Montreal Gazette]

['Karla' Official Site]

Festivals Entering the Distribution Realm

Slamdance announced their entry into the distribution game earlier today. According to their release:

Leveraging the brand-name recognition accrued by ten-year-old Slamdance Film Festival, Slamdance President and co-founder Peter Baxter has joined forces with veteran film and television producer and talent-manager Robert Schwartz, and Cleveland-based businessman George Ketvertis to launch the Slamdance Media Group. The company, which will comprise distribution and talent-management units, has pacted a home-entertainment output deal with Ventura Entertainment, a division of independent giant Ventura Distribution, to sell product under a new, branded Slamdance label. The theatrical distribution unit, to be known as Slamdance On the Road, has inked with ArcLight Cinemas for exclusive exhibition of the new company's titles in the Los Angeles market.

With brand recognition running high among top U.S. festivals such as Sundance, South by Southwest and the Tribeca Film Festival, it's really no surprise to see them morphing into specialty distributors. After all, Sundance has had a successful home video venture and premium cable channel for years.

Large, successful festivals bring important ingredients to the mix that give them a leg up in the distribution game:

1. They have established relationships with corporate sponsors to use as a springboard for promotional partners in new ventures.

2. They have a direct channel to secure a "first look" at new product.

3. They have large, highly targeted member/attendee bases ripe for ancillary product marketing.

4. They get loads of free press.

The festival business has grown from a cottage industry into a big business, with major studios often cherry-picking festival talent for studio exec positions. Festivals have also become an important part of studio release strategy in terms of marketing (getting advance word out about upcoming releases) and market research (using festival audiences to determine needed tweaks before a national release.)

Slamdance was one of the original Sundance piggy-backers, and have grown into a powerful force on the circuit in ther own right.

Expect more of the big boys to follow down this path in the near-term.

Related Link:
MCN Press Release: Slamdance Announces New Ventures