NewEnglandFilm.com

A more sober mood set the tone for the 2001 Independent Feature Project (IFP) Market this past October.

Don’t get me wrong — there was the usual blanket of postcards, moviegoers with short-attention spans, and a handful of zany costumes. But generally, things seemed toned down.

"It was more subdued this year — I don’t know if it was because [the market] was smaller or because of September 11th," said Marlo Poras whose film "Mai’s America" returned to the IFP Market in 2001 as a completed film, after premiering as a work-in-progress in 1999. "It just didn’t feel as desperate. Or maybe I just didn’t feel as desperate."

Shortened from eight to six days, the 2001 IFP Market lineup featured 90 narrative scripts, 120 works-in-progress, 60 completed fiction and documentary features, and 60 shorts. This year also marked a shift toward more works-in-progress (68%) and documentaries (approximately 50%).

"Documentaries have been uniformly strong in recent years, as in last year’s ‘Southern Comfort,’ ‘Children Underground,’ and ‘Promises,’ and we expect the discoveries this year to be equally exciting," said Market Director Milton Tabbot.

It’s quite possible that New England films may account for some of this year’s success stories. From "Mai’s America" a wonderful completed film about the American experience of a Vietnamese exchange student, to the promising work-in-progress "The Flute Player" about a man struggling to revive Cambodia’s traditional music, to "Ice Balls," a zany documentary about chunks of ice falling from the sky — local documentaries made impressive debuts in this year’s market.

Director C. Phred Churchill, an inflatable blue alien, and associate producer Alex Kreuter represented "Ice Balls: the Movie."
PHOTO BY KENT BYE (VISIT http://www.kentbye.com for more photos)

As usual, filmmakers of documentaries or otherwise heartily promoted their films and aimed high.

"There are definitely filmmakers who go with dreams of Harvey Weinstein saying their film is great," said filmmaker Chris Engles who premiered his work-in-progress, "This Town," a comedy about the adventures of a 30-something single who finds love in the next cubicle.

Beyond the filmmaker fantasies, Engles attested to the value of screening a film at the IFP Market. "It’s a fantastic learning environment," said Engles. "There’s the discussions, panels, parties, but more than all of that, just standing in the room while an audience not attached to your film see it for the first time is learning experience."

Still, most filmmakers, especially those with completed projects, attend with the goal of connecting with distributors, festival programmers and exhibitors. But at a market with hundreds of films clamoring for attention, this can be challenging.

"That was the one surprising thing about the IFP — you have almost no access to the buyers," said Engles. "On the one hand, I understand it… but on the other hand, people are going there to find some destination for their project." Attending for the first time, Engles hired local indie film guru David Kleiler to help him navigate the world of the buyers.

Attending as part of the No Borders category, local filmmaker Jocelyn Glatzer of "The Flute Player" experienced a much different market. Taking place at New York’s Tribeca Grand Hotel, No Borders occurs during the annual IFP Market but has its own independent selection process. In addition, rather than the free-for-all atmosphere of the regular market, No Borders filmmakers meet one-on-one with buyers and funders.

"It was really wonderful. [The people we met with] had read about the film beforehand and had watched the trailer. We still had to do the pitch, but it wasn’t blind," said Glatzer. With 10 meetings over four days, Glatzer felt they had made some valuable connections with some major players including BBC, HBO, POV, and others to approach when the film is completed in the summer of 2002.

But most agree the key to success is after the market. "It’s hard because you spend loads of time and money, you work your ass off and then immediately after the screening you don’t know how you did," said Engles. "So, the next step is following up with those who attended the screenings."

"Our goal is to get festival interest and some leads on international distribution," said Poras. "We got lots of bites and we’ll see what happens."