The Film Collaborative
The Film Collaborative (TFC) is the first non-profit, full-service provider dedicated to the distribution of independent film, including narrative features and documentaries. Based in Los Angeles, The Film Collaborative services filmmakers worldwide by providing distribution guidance and support as well as theatrical, film festival and digital distribution of art house, independent and world cinema.
Non-profit organization | |
Industry | Film Distribution |
Founded | 2010 |
Headquarters | Los Angeles, California , |
Products | Independent Film |
Website | http://www.thefilmcollaborative.org/ |
History
Launched in 2010, The Film Collaborative is a service-oriented, educational organization aimed at encouraging and enabling independent filmmakers to forge their own brands and directly reach audiences with their work.[1] TFC educates filmmakers about marketing and distribution options with the objective to eliminate unnecessary middlemen and break away from the restrictive contract terms that are prevalent in the film industry so that creators, rather than corporations, may profit from their own work. An ardent advocate of new media/digital distribution, TFC encourages filmmakers to use the global reach of the internet for digital marketing and forging an ongoing relationship with their audiences.
Festival Distribution
In 2010 TFC did festival distribution for films such as Eyes Wide Open, The Owls, Florent, A Small Act, The Adults in the Room, How to Start Your Own Country, An African Election and Undertow.
TFC's 2011 slate included August, Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, Facing Mirrors, Hit So Hard, The Invisible War, I Want Your Love, Leave It on the Floor, Mosquita y Mari, Revenge of the Electric Car, Shut Up Little Man!, Some Guy Who Kills People, Vito, Weekend, We Were Here and The Wise Kids.
TFC's 2012 slate included A Fierce Green Fire, Interior. Leather Bar., Jobriath A.D., The New Black, A River Changes Course, Gayby, A Portrait of James Dean: Joshua Tree, 1951, Taking a Chance on God, Trans, United in Anger and Valley of Saints.
TFC's 2013 slate included I am Divine, Born This Way, G.B.F., Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia, The Happy Sad, Kink, Pit Stop and Valentine Road.
TFC's 2014 slate included Appropriate Behavior, Born to Fly, Boy Meets Girl, Cesar's Last Fast, Five Star, The Immortalists, Kidnapped For Christ, Out in the Night, Regarding Susan Sontag, Song From the Forest, (T)ERROR, To Be Takei and The Year We Thought About Love.
TFC's 2015 slate included All About E, All Eyes and Ears, The Amina Profile, The Armor of Light, The Bad Kids, The Hunting Ground, I Promise You Anarchy, Landfill Harmonic, Naz & Maalik, The New Man, Out to Win, Portrait of a Serial Monogamist, Racing Extinction, The Royal Road, Salero, Seed Money, Tab Hunter Confidential, Those People, Uncle Howard and While You Weren't Looking.
TFC's 2016 slate included AWOL, Boone, Cameraperson, Equal Means Equal, Forever Pure, Hooligan Sparrow, Hunky Dory, Icaros, Jewel's Catch One, The Last Laugh, Maya Angelou And Still I Rise, Out Run, A Song For You, Tower, Untouchable and Women Who Kill.
Collaborative Releasing
In late 2010, The Film Collaborative spearheaded the theatrical release of Javier Fuentes-León's ghostly love story Undertow (Contracorriente), which was Peru's Official Selection to the Academy Awards® for Best Foreign Language Film that year. In 2012, they released Jonathan Lisecki's alternative parenting romantic comedy-drama Gayby and Aurora Guerrero's coming-of-age film Mosquita y Mari.
In 2014, The Film Collaborative's theatrical releases included Switzerland's Official Selection to the 2015 Academy Awards® for Best Foreign Language Film, The Circle (Der Kreis), Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity,[2] Catherine Gund's documentary about the life and work of choreographer and action architect Elizabeth Streb, LGBT film historiographer-director Jeffrey Schwarz's I am Divine,[3] about the international drag superstar and John Waters' leading lady Divine, Darius Clark Monroe's Evolution of a Criminal[4] and The Hand that Feeds.[5]
In 2015, The Film Collaborative's theatrical releases included Jeffrey Schwarz's Tab Hunter Confidential,[6] Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe's (T)ERROR,[7] which won the Special Jury Award for Breakout First Feature at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. TFC also released Parvez Sharma's A Sinner in Mecca, Song from the Forest, and 1971, which focuses on a break-in of an FBI office that occurred that year in Media, Pennsylvania to steal over 1000 classified documents.
Requiem for the American Dream, featuring famed historian Noam Chomsky, began its release on January 29, 2016.[8] TFC released Nanfu Wang's documentary about a Chinese activist, entitled Hooligan Sparrow, on July 22, 2016.[9] The Film Collaborative, along with Emerging Pictures, will handle theatrical distribution for Landfill Harmonic (2016).[10] The film will open theatrically in North America on September 9, 2016. TFC partnered with Gravitas Ventures to release For the Love of Spock theatrically on Sept. 9, 2016.
In November 2016, The Film Collaborative launched Collaborative Releasing as a new distribution initiative that combines film sales and licensing with a hybrid release plan.[11] TFC also rebranded its Theatrical Releasing services under the Collaborative Releasing umbrella.
Collaborative Releasing handled the 2018 North American theatrical release of The Song of Sway Lake, directed by Ari Gold.
Slate
Film | Year | Director | World Premiere | Major Awards | Distribution / Services | Genre | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hooligan_Sparrow | 2016 | Nanfu Wang | Sundance | Best Social Impact Film, Documentary Feature (Greenwich International Film Festival), Spirit Award, Peabody Award[12] | Festivals, Theatrical | Documentary | |
195 Lewis | 2017 | Chanelle Aponte Pearson | Rotterdam | U.S. Grand Jury Prize—Narrative Special Mention Film (Outfest) | Festivals | Episodic | |
After Louie | 2017 | Vincent Gagliostro | BFI Flare | Festivals | Narrative | ||
All the Rage | 2017 | Michael Galinsky, David Beilinson, Suki Hawley | DOC NYC | Theatrical | Documentary | ||
A Bad Idea Gone Wrong | 2017 | Jason Headley | Festivals | Narrative | |||
Behind the Curtain: Todrick Hall | 2017 | Katherine Fairfax Wright | SXSW | Festivals | Documentary | ||
Bending the Arc | 2017 | Kief Davidson, Pedro Kos | Sundance | Best Documentary (Greenwich)[13] | Festivals | Documentary | |
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson | 2017 | David France | Tribeca | 2017 Programming Award for Freedom—David France and Victoria Cruz (Outfest) | Festivals | Documentary | |
ELIÁN | 2017 | Tim Golden, Ross McDonnell | Tribeca | Festivals, Theatrical | Documentary | Gravitas | |
The Fabulous Allan Carr | 2017 | Jeffrey Schwarz | Seattle | Festivals | Documentary | ||
The Feels | 2017 | Jenée LaMarque | Seattle International | U.S. Narrative Jury Prize, Best Actress—Ever Mainard (Outfest) | Festivals | Narrative | |
A Good American | 2017 | Friedrich Moser | CPH:DOX / DOC NYC | Theatrical | Documentary | ||
I Dream in Another Language | 2017 | Ernesto Contreras | Sundance | Audience Award: World Cinema Dramatic (Sundance)[14] | Festivals | Documentary | FilmRise |
Legion of Brothers | 2017 | Greg Barker | Sundance | Theatrical | Documentary | Gravitas | |
The Light of the Moon[15] | 2017 | Jessica M. Thompson | SXSW | Audience Award, Narrative Feature (SXSW)[16] | Festivals, Theatrical | Narrative | |
More Art Upstairs | 2017 | Jody Hassett Sanchez | Hot Docs | Sales | Documentary | ||
Motherland[17] | 2017 | Ramona S. Diaz | Sundance | World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award: Commanding Vision (Sundance)[18] | Festivals, Theatrical | Documentary | |
No Man's Land | 2017 | David Byars | Tribeca | Festivals | Documentary | ||
The Opposition | 2017 | Hollie Fifer | IDFA | Festivals | Documentary | ||
Pornocracy | 2017 | Ovidie | SXSW | Festivals | Documentary | ||
Quest | 2017 | Jonathan Olshefski | Sundance | Grand Jury Prizes (Full Frame, RiverRun, Dallas, Ashland), Human Rights Award (Full Frame), Honorable Mention (Cleveland)[19] | Festivals | Documentary | |
The Reagan Show | 2017 | Pacho Velez, Sierra Pettengill | Tribeca | Theatrical | Documentary | Gravitas | |
Romeo Is Bleeding[20] | 2017 | Jason Zeldes | San Francisco International | Winner of over 20 Film Festival Awards | Theatrical | Documentary | |
Score | 2017 | Matt Schrader | Hamptons International | The Music Movies Award (Cleveland International)[21] | Theatrical | Documentary | Gravitas |
Signature Move | 2017 | Jennifer Reeder | SXSW | U.S. Grand Jury Prize—Best Narrative Feature Film: Jennifer Reeder (Outfest) | Festivals | Narrative | |
Small Talk | 2017 | Hui-chen Huang | Golden Horse Film Festival, Berlinale | Teddy Award (Berlinale)[22] | Festivals | Documentary | |
A Suitable Girl | 2017 | Sarita Khurana, Smriti Mundhra | Tribeca | Albert Maysles New Documentary Director Award (Tribeca)[23] | Festivals | Documentary | |
Supergirl | 2017 | Jessie Auritt | Hamptons International | Festivals | Documentary | FilmRise | |
Sylvio | 2017 | Albert Birney, Kentucker Audley | SXSW | Sales | Narrative | ||
True Conviction | 2017 | Jamie Meltzer | Tribeca | Special Jury Mention, Best Documentary Feature (Tribeca)[24] | Festivals | Documentary | |
Unrest | 2017 | Jennifer Brea | Sundance | U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Editing (Sundance), Audience Award (RiverRun International), Grand Jury Prize (Nashville)[25] | Festivals | Documentary | |
The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin | 2017 | Jennifer M. Kroot | SXSW | Audience Award Winner, Documentary Spotlight (SXSW), Best Documentary Jury Winner (Outshine Miami), Audience Award (Nashville)[26] | Festivals, Theatrical, Sales, Digital | Documentary | |
What Lies Upstream | 2017 | Cullen Hoback | Slamdance | Festivals | Documentary | ||
Women Who Kill[27][28] | 2017, 2016 | Ingrid Jungermann | Tribeca | Best Screenplay (Outfest) | Theatrical, Festivals | Narrative | |
1985_(film) | 2018 | Yen_Tan | SXSW | Festivals | Narrative | ||
306 Hollywood | 2018 | Sundance | Festivals | Documentary | |||
93Queen | 2018 | Festivals | Documentary | ||||
Angels_Are_Made_of_Light | 2018 | James_Longley_(filmmaker) | Festivals | Narrative | |||
Cherry Grove Stories | 2018 | Festivals | Narrative | ||||
Crime + Punishment | 2018 | Sundance | U.S. Doc Special Jury Award For Social Impact Filmmaking (Sundance) | Festivals | Documentary | ||
The Devil We Know | 2018 | Sundance | Best Call2Action Film (Boulder International) | Festivals | Documentary | ||
Do You Trust This Computer? | 2018 | Chris_Paine | IREN Audience Award | Festivals | Documentary | ||
Dykes, Camera, Action! | 2018 | Emerging Talent Award: Caroline Berler (Outfest) | Festivals | Documentary | |||
Edie Windsor | 2018 | Festivals | Documentary | ||||
Terrence_McNally:_Every_Act_of_Life | 2018 | Tribeca | Audience Award—Best Documentary (Out CT), Jury Award—Best Documentary (Out CT), Festival Award for Best Documentary (FilmOut San Diego), Programming Award: Freedom Award—Terrence McNally (Film Out San Diego) | Festivals, Sales | Documentary | ||
Freelancers Anonymous | 2018 | Festivals | Narrative | ||||
Ideal Home | 2018 | Festivals | Narrative | ||||
Instructions on Parting | 2018 | Best Documentary (Athens International Film + Video) | Festivals | Documentary | |||
The Judge | 2018 | Toronto | Audience Award (CUFF.Docs) | Festivals | Documentary | ||
Jules of Light and Dark | 2018 | Festivals | Narrative | ||||
Living Proof | 2018 | Toronto | Audience Award, Best Alberta Feature (Calgary) | Festivals | Documentary | ||
Making Montgomery Clift | 2018 | Festivals, Sales | Documentary | ||||
Man Made | 2018 | Best Documentary Jury Award (Atlanta), Best Documentary Feature (Translations: Seattle Transgender Film Festival), Best Documentary Feature Audience Award and Fox Inclusion Feature Award (Outfest) | Festivals | Documentary | |||
Mapplethorpe_(film) | 2018 | Ondi_Timoner | Tribeca | Festivals | Narrative | ||
A_Moment_in_the_Reeds | 2018 | Festivals, Digital, Sales | Narrative | ||||
Punk Voyage | 2018 | Festivals, Digital | Documentary | ||||
Rx: Early Detection | 2018 | Sundance | Festivals | Documentary | |||
Shakedown | 2018 | Berlin | Festivals | Documentary | |||
the T | 2018 | Festivals | Episodic | ||||
TransMilitary | 2018 | SXSW | Audience Award, Documentary Competition (SXSW); Grand Jury Award (Florida Film Festival); Special Mention (Outfest) | Festivals | Documentary | ||
Tucked | 2018 | Best Narrative Audience Award and International Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize (Outfest) | Festivals | Documentary | |||
White Rabbit | 2018 | Sundance | Festivals | Narrative | |||
Wild_Nights_with_Emily | 2018 | Madeleine_Olnek | SXSW | Guggenheim Fellowship, U.S. In Progress Award (Champs- Elysees), Best Narrative Film and Best Screenplay (Q Films Long Beach), Audience Award Best Film (Shout Alabama), Jury Humanitarian Award (Honolulu Rainbow), Best Narrative Film (Out Here Now Kansas City), Best Narrative Feature (Tied- Tampa Bay International GLFF), Festival Favorite (Palm Springs LGBT), Best Actress- Molly Shannon- Jury Award (Out on film, Atlanta LGBT FF), Best Director (Runner-up)- Madeleine Olnek- Jury Award (Out on film, Atlanta LGBT FF) | Festivals, Sales | Narrative | |
Sales and Business Negotiation
In 2011, The Film Collaborative helped negotiate a deal for Andrew Haigh's Weekend (2011 film).[29] In 2012, TFC launched a new foreign sales initiative for LGBT titles with Peccadillo (UK), Outplay (France), Pro-Fun (Germany), ABC/Cinemien (Benelux) to share resources and launch films simultaneously in multiple territories when possible to maximize awareness and limit piracy.[30] In 2016, The Film Collaborative was a key player in orchestrating a splits right deal for the film Landfill Harmonic involving Vimeo (Digital), HBO Latino (Television), Tugg (Educational) and FilmRise (DVD).[31][32]
Recent Press
Screen Daily, November 23, 2016 At the Film Bazaar in Goa, India, Orly Ravid from The Film Collaborative advises filmmakers to use grassroots outreach and social media marketing.
Variety, November 14, 2016 The Film Collaborative Launches Collaborative Releasing
Educational Services
TFC offers distribution and marketing education to independent filmmakers seeking to reach traditionally underserved audiences. Via its membership and digital distribution programs, TFC guides filmmakers through the distribution process and helps them develop a custom strategy suitable for their film. In 2012, TFC launched a Fiscal Sponsorship program, enabling filmmakers to contract with TFC to extend tax-exempt status to their specific projects, rather than attempting to secure tax-exempt status on their own.
References
- "New Non-Profit Aims to Rep & Support Indie Films". indieWIRE. January 28, 2010.
- . The Numbers https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Born-to-Fly-Elizabeth-Streb-vs-Gravity. Missing or empty
|title=
(help) - "I am Divine website".
- "Indie Spirit Nominee 'Evolution of a Criminal' Is Provocative, Must-See Doc Debut". Indiewire.
- "The Dissolve".
- "Review Easygoing, enjoyable 'Tab Hunter Confidential' accurately reflects its star". Los Angeles Times.
- "Review: '(T)error' Documentary Follows an Informant in an F.B.I. Inquiry". New York Times.
- "Film Review: 'Requiem for the American Dream'". Variety.
- "Review: In 'Hooligan Sparrow,' a Chinese Activist's Hair-Raising Defiance of the State". The New York Times.
- "'Landfill Harmonic' set for multi-platform US launch". Screen Daily. Retrieved 5 July 2016.
- "The Film Collaborative Launches Collaborative Releasing". Variety. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
- "POV Documentary 'Hooligan Sparrow' Wins a Peabody Award". PBS.org.
- "Greenwich Film Festival creators pleased with results". Greemwich Time.
- "Sundance Winners: 'I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore,' 'Dina' Top Festival Awards". Variety.
- "SXSW Winner 'The Light of the Moon' Picked Up by Imagination Worldwide (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reproter.
- "SXSW Audiences Give Top Honors To 'Light Of The Moon', 'Baby Driver', 'Dealt'". Deadline.com.
- "Film Acquisition Rundown: Mubi Buys Philippe Garrel's 'Lover for a Day', FilmRise Picks Up 'Women Who Kill' and More". Indiewire.
- "Sundance Winners: 'I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore,' 'Dina' Top Festival Awards". Variety.
- "Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2017 Award Winners". FullFrame.org.
- "Russell Simmons to Executive Produce 'Romeo Is Bleeding' Documentary". Variety.
- "http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2017/04/ciff_2017_wrap_attendance_and.html". Cleveland.com. External link in
|title=
(help) - "Taiwan documentary wins Teddy Award at Berlin film festival". Taiwan Today.
- "Tribeca Film Festival Winners: 'Keep The Change', 'Bobbi Jene' Tops". Deadline.com.
- "Tribeca Film Festival Winners: 'Keep The Change', 'Bobbi Jene' Tops". Deadline.com.
- "Sundance Winners: 'I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore,' 'Dina' Top Festival Awards". Variety.
- "SXSW Audiences Give Top Honors To 'Light Of The Moon', 'Baby Driver', 'Dealt'". Deadline.com.
- "Tribeca Winner 'Women Who Kill' Lands at FilmRise, Film Collaborative". Variety.
- "Film Acquisition Rundown: Mubi Buys Philippe Garrel's 'Lover for a Day,' FilmRise Picks Up 'Women Who Kill' and More". Wikipedia.
- "Sundance Selects Takes North American Rights and Multiple Foreign Rights to Andrew Haigh's Weekend". AMC Networks.
- "'Landfill Harmonic' set for multi-platform US launch". Screen Daily.
- "Film Collaborative launches LGBT initiative for distribution". Screen Daily.
- "LANDFILL HARMONIC THEATRICAL RELEASE". Screen Daily.