Financing non-mainstream films

Recently, we saw the documentary Born into Brothels by Zana Briski, filmed in the brothels of Calcutta. The film has won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Documentary – a deserving recognition. It’s a beautiful film about a handful of children of prostitutes whom Zana Auntie decides to teach photography, and subsequently tries to lift out of their otherwise doomed future.

The Academy also nominated Hotel Rwanda this year for Best Picture, although it did not win.

Both films tell stories that most people do not want to hear. They are too disturbing, too depressing, too complex, and in the end, too challenging.

The question, from a business point of view, is how does the new business model of lower marketing / distribution costs affect such artistic endeavors?

I think, the answer is, thankfully, that it’s a good step forward, opening up lots of opportunities for lots of voices to be expressed and heard.

It’s okay that Hollywood’s coveted middle does not want to see these movies. Producers would do well to understand the game of online marketing to efficiently market their low-budget independent films.

As for financing, if Zana Briski were a savvy business woman, she would probably not have missed the opportunity to distribute Canon cameras to her children in the Brothels, and have Canon bank-roll the film. As for Terry George, did the Hotel Des Mille Collines participate in your financing?