A plea for digital distribution
A few months ago, a semi-independent movie called Gafla (Scam) came out in Bombay. It seemed conceived along the lines of Madhur Bhandarkar, the director of sledgehammer subtlety whose one-note movies garnish dry typing scenes with cheesy subplots of prostitution. The topic, stock scams in Bombay, was timely but the reviews were mixed, and we skipped seeing the movie.
Now the indie film collective Third I New York is screening this midmarket Bollyflick. These are strange bedfellows. Gafla isn’t quite an indie film, but it falls victim to the limited selection of Hindi films that make it to the U.S., movies like Krrap and Kanker Sore.
A couple of weeks ago, a commenter here plaintively asked for Loins of Punjab Presents to open in Indianapolis. The chances of a small indie comedy opening outside major cities like NY/LA are about the same as James Cameron writing a Bottle Rocket.
Yet these are artificial market barriers. There’s no reason why NY and LA should have a monopoly on the desi American arts scene, for experiences as easily digitized as film. There’s no reason why a desi in Indianapolis, or Portland, or Munich, shouldn’t be able to watch the movie at leisure. Come home, crack open a beer, pay $3 online and download the entire film while you shower. In a broadband nation, it shouldn’t take more than an hour to suck down a copy of acceptable quality. Eliminating the middleman means more money given directly to the filmmaker, and a mailing list of hardcore fans to whom to market future movies.
We’ve all got long lists of movies we’ve been meaning to see. I still haven’t seen Mutiny: Sounds of the British Asian Underground. We’ve never managed to be in the same city at the same time. At this point, with 60% of America on broadband, there’s just no reason for this. (For that matter, half the books I blogged in the last year aren’t even available in the U.S.– but ebooks are a separate post.)
Get with the times, cinéastes. Find a friend to encode your flick, set up a buy page and start screening.
on Thursday, April 26th, 2007, 5:11 pm in Business, Film, Tech › 
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I think filmmakers are worried that once the work is digitized at a sufficiently high quality, consumers will “pirate” it. “Digital Rights Management” is kind of a joke. Artsist are torn between cultural benefits - easy movement of information and ideas - and money. The entertainment industry only knows how to make make money by restricting access to work. We need that oft-invoked yet-to-be-realized “new income model for the digital age.” I’m all for free access to art, and err on that side (and have crazy faith this will ultimately make me more successful financially), but others are understandably afraid of losing imagined income. Exciting times.
Speaking of ‘L.O.P’, I had the pleasure of meeting the ‘other’ Manish…(Acharya) last week and I must say, he has a wicked sense of humor! I’m sure it translates well into his movie making. Pity, I couldn’t catch LOP @ NYU… hope he heeds your advice and starts screening his movies online!
That will be so wonderful Manish…sitting at home and watching “Choas theory” or Lions of punjab”..you know they should charge 10 dollars for a movie like everyone else..like the way they charge u when u go to theatre or u order pay perview movies..Iam ready to pay like I pay for any other movie I would pay for outside , why just 3 dollars…the producers should make money too right, they work so hard to make movies like these..
May be producers of Lions of punjab should talk to people at
http://manoranjaninc.com/index.asp
http://nowrunning.com//searchHalls.asp?region=USA
and show their film along with other typical hindi movies made in India by Indian film makers..they will make a lot of money if they can have movies released all over US..All first, second and third generation Indians would love to watch movies like American desi, where is the party yaar, Lions of punjab etc., as they can relate to such movies better.
may be then I can see the movie in Indianapolis theatre…
Though Digital distribution is my favourite..sit at home at leisure, pay ten dollars like any other movie and watch it drinking elachi tea and eating samosas..thats pure heaven..
This is what Toffler writes about in his book “future shock”..the world of future.. custom airplanes designed for individual needs like virgin… custom movies made for specific audience where audience pays the producers to make movies for their needs..everything is custom made online marketed and freely available to anyone in any country at anytime they want to watch or enjoy..disposable paper wedding gowns custom designed..custom degrees for children with every kid designing his own curriculum and degree..future world..
BWcinema, which is based in Queens, is carrying “Gafla” on a $3.99 3 day guest pass or $10 monthly unlimited subscription basis.
link
They’re using streaming Windows Media, and it works pretty well (though sometimes at peak hours on weekends you have to wait a bit to get in). The quality is “good enough” — VCD or thereabouts. If you plug your computer into a TV screen using S-Video, it doesn’t look all that bad.
I’ve never been able to confirm whether BWcinema is actually paying royalties to the Indian film distributors or not. If they are, I would feel a lot better about using the service.
Just curious. this is not my line of work so feel free to ignore. Since you seem to know this person, how much would it cost to get distribution rights to loins for Toronto. My friend is buying a repertory theater and I can get it screened there. He’s into preserving the neighborhood. I want to see some zip in the neighborhood as well and can take care of the promos. It’s getting stodgy. That said - this isnt a slamdunk - the owners of the theater are stalling because they are legacy white-collar shitheads who dont know what their dad build.
Actually. Change that. I can get it screened in a really run-down but tres kewl SF repertory theater - if you’re that desperate. I got friends in low places :-) so what would it cost? I’ve linked my (correct) email addie to this.
I saw a couple of movies at Indianapolis independent film festival this weekend..the ones I saw were horrible, one from Africa and one from US..
there were two documentaries from India (riding solo, beghar bacha)which were liked by some of my artsy american friends who saw them..I hope to see them this week..
http://indyfilmfest.org/
May be movies like “Lions of punjab presents” which looks like already won an award can be a part of independent film festivals like this one which happen all over the US and everyone will get to see the movie in every city..and who knows it might pick up more awards too with actors like shabana azmi in them..Just saw ur post Manish on this movie at IMDB, very interesting characters in the movie..looks like a winner..