The pandemic severely disrupted traditional structures of exhibition, yet most filmmakers still speak to a binary choice of screens – expensive movie theaters or watching at home. It’s time for robust conversations about modes of exhibition that indie films can sustain and the different ways we can draw new and diverse audiences to independently told stories.
This webinar will gather producers, programmers, distributors, and exhibitors to explore innovations in exhibition around diversifying arthouse audiences, repertory streaming, collective models of revenue sharing, data transparency and more.
Webinar is free to all.
TAYLOUR CHANG, Curator of Film and Performance at the Honolulu Museum of Art, oversees the Doris Duke Theatre, an art house theatre located in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Serving as one of the museum’s gathering places, the theatre screens independent and international films, hosts lectures and performances, and runs a hip-hop music education program. She’s been an active member in A4A (Alliance for Action) since 2017.
KARIN CHIEN is an independent producer and distributor committed to bold voices and innovative forms that help build radical practices of ethical filmmaking. In 2020, Karin began a producing collaboration with Oscar-nominated Louverture Films. Karin is the recipient of the inaugural Cinereach Producing Award and the Piaget Independent Spirit Producers Award. She is a four-time nominee of the Independent Spirit Awards. Karin has produced 10 features, as well as interactive media and museum installations, starring women and people of color, including CIRCUMSTANCE (Sundance 2011 Audience Award), THE EXPLODING GIRL (Berlinale 2009) and THE MOTEL (Sundance 2005). Karin is the president and co-founder of Art & Action, a global production company specializing in shoots in Europe and Asia. Karin is the founder and president of dGenerate Films, the leading distributor of independent, contemporary Chinese cinema. dGenerate Films distributes 70 narrative and documentary films from mainland China. Karin is the residency director of the Nevada City Film Festival Filmmaker Residency program designed to support independent film producers. Karin is actively involved in teaching, advising or consulting for organizations including Sundance Co//ab, A-Doc, Center for Asian American Media, and Film Independent.
CARLOS A. GUTIÉRREZ is co-founder and executive director of Cinema Tropical, the New York-based media arts non-profit organization that has become the leading presenter of Latin American cinema in the U.S. As a guest curator, he has presented several film/video series at different cultural institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art, Film at Lincoln Center, the Guggenheim Museum, Film at BAM, and Anthology Film Archives. In 2007, he co-curated the 53rd edition of the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar and serves as co-director of the Tucson Cine Mexico film festival. He is a contributing editor to BOMB Magazine, a member of Film Forum’s Board of Directors, and has served as a member of the jury for various film festivals including Morelia, SANFIC, Seattle, Margaret Mead, DocsMX, and Austin’s Cine Las Americas. He has served as both expert nominator and panelist for the Rockefeller Fellowship Program for Mexican Film & Media Arts, the Sundance Documentary Fund, the Tribeca Film Institute’s Latin America Media Arts Fund, and the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.
KEISHA KNIGHT is the founder and Managing/Artistic Director of Sentient.Art.Film, a creative distribution initiative started with one thing in mind: creating new networks and distribution opportunities for artists pushing the boundaries of form and content. Keisha has a BA in Comparative Religion from Barnard College, an MA in Media Studies from Pratt Institute, and is currently a doctoral candidate in Film and Visual Studies at Harvard University. Keisha has been part of the programming teams at the New York African Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, and most recently co-curated, with Abby Sun, the experimental film series My Sight is Lined With Visions through Sentient.Art.Film.
BARBARA TWIST is a producer and exhibition consultant based in Los Angeles. In addition, she works as a freelance post supervisor. In the exhibition field, she consults for Vidiots, Film Festival Alliance and Europa International, among others. Most recently, she produced BYE BYE BODY which was nominated for Vimeo Pick of the Year 2020, played many festivals including Aspen ShortsFest, and currently has over 220K views on Vimeo. She was listed on Celluloid Junkie’s Top 50 Women in Global Cinema in 2017 and featured in BoxOffice’s “Women in Exhibition and Distribution” October 2015. She is on the board of the Ann Arbor Film Festival and Cinema Lamont. She is a member of Detroit-based Final Girls: a women’s filmmaking collective and recipient of a 2016 Knight Foundation grant. She holds an MFA in Creative Producing from Columbia University.