BIMIFF #4 - ENG

B I M I F F S P E C I A L A R T I C L E 59
B E F O R E A N D A F T E R A
T A L K W I T H A
D I S T R I B U T O R
IYes, I’ve been avoiding this talk. I did not want to know these formulas. But now I do, and now you do as well.
It was an October night, around the end of the month when I had to make a hard decision. I had to cut out a scene. When sending my
final draft, we named it: the director’s cut; it was the cut when, after so many hours of staring at the screen, fighting with myself, and
telling myself that I have to do it. I pressed the delete button. That scene was a key one for me; it spoke very closely to my targeted
audience. It reflected a daily struggle, and it resembled them very much. But my targeted audience is not the same one as my
distributors. I want to screen the film, but they want to sell it. I want to reflect reality; they want to get viewers.
To make that harsh decision and order to let go of that scene, I had to tell myself the same “advice” a mentor once gave me: “learn when
to let go”. And I let it go.
As I am writing these words, I regret letting go. I wanted that scene to be out there. I couldn’t keep it because if I did, I would have had to
cut out another one; and if I did so, the plot's arc would get messed up.
I am an independent filmmaker. I identify myself as such. For me, films are made to be watched; and films won’t remain “films” if they
don’t get the decent platforms and the audience they deserve. I fell into the trap of the platforms; it tempted me to sell - in other terms, to
be viewed. My targeted audience is a hostage of the streaming giants, and we filmmakers are too. The audience watches what they are
offered, and we make content to what is supposed to be offered.
When the cinematograph was invented and used by the Lumière Brothers, distributors did not exist. Perhaps, the fathers of cinema were
right about announcing cinema's death before it even began. Cinema is an art, and not a product. Nowadays its existence depends on the
consumption of the product.
After all of this, I seriously question myself: Am I still independent?
I took my seat on the editing chair, with all my footage in front of me. I had complete power and freedom, yet I gave it away in a matter of
seconds. In that fictional world, I was the sole creator indeed, but sure I was not the decision-maker.