Independent films usually screen at the Sundance Film Festival in hopes of gaining positive buzz and snapping up distribution. The process can be long, and some sales don't happen until after the close of the festival. Some films picked up at the fest don't arrive in theaters until sometimes two years later. The distributors of Bass Ackwards, one of eight films scheduled to premiere in a new section called NEXT (selected for their innovative and original work in low- and no-budget filmmaking) is planning to take a different route.
New York based New Video and Zipline Entertainment hope to capitalize on the buzz coming out of Park City Utah, and release the film nationally beginning on Monday February 1st 2010, a day after the Festival closes. Bass Ackwards will be available for purchase and download in tens of millions of homes via major digital retailers, cable VOD and DVD on demand. A full retail DVD release is still planned for the spring, and will include in-depth bonus material documenting the unique distribution strategy. You can read more about the release in the press release, after the jump.
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Press Release:
2010 Sundance Film Festival Official Selection 'Bass Ackwards' To Be Released Nationally Day After Festival Close
Digital Distributor New Video To Make Film Available Across Multiple Platforms Beginning Monday, February 1
NEW YORK, Jan. 5 In an unprecedented distribution maneuver that will bypass theatrical and other traditional windows, the highly anticipated film, Bass Ackwards, which will have its World Premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, will be available nationwide one day after the festival closes. Through this unusual distribution deal with New York based New Video and Zipline Entertainment, Bass Ackwards will be available for purchase and download in tens of millions of homes via major digital retailers, cable VOD and DVD on demand beginning Monday, February 1, 2010. A full retail DVD release in the spring will include in-depth bonus material documenting the unique distribution strategy. This ground-breaking deal is a first of its kind for a feature-length film out of a premier festival like Sundance.
The film, executive produced by Sundance veteran Mark Duplass and marketing executive Marian Koltai-Levine, produced by Thomas Woodrow and directed by actor Linas Phillips, also stars Phillips as a man who embarks on a lyrical, strange and comedic cross-country journey in a modified VW bus after ending a disastrous affair with a married woman.
"The partnership with New Video and Zipline Entertainment breaks new ground. It combines a cutting-edge film with an innovative distribution vehicle — the prestigious Sundance Film Festival," said Thomas Woodrow, producer of Bass Ackwards. "It's a new way to quickly bring the film to a broad digital audience after launching the film at the Festival."
"The title, Bass Ackwards, not only describes an offbeat and entertaining film, but also the spirit of the filmmakers who are joining us on this innovative ride," said Steve Savage, co-president, New Video. "Together we'll be taking a film from its festival buzz immediately to an audience who is 'on the pulse' and want to see it now. The digital age is an exciting time in the evolution of indie-film distribution with Post-Festival-Releases among the new paradigms."
Bass Ackwards is one of eight American films selected by the Sundance Film Festival for inclusion in NEXT (<=>), a new category that recognizes films for their innovative and original work in low-and-no-budget filmmaking. Armed with a pedigree of Sundance Film Festival veterans, Bass Ackwards will be part of a wave of films that showcases the diversity of independent cinema.
"The goal of an independent filmmaker is usually to strike out on your own, without the assistance of big budgets or a big studio, and tell the story you want to tell the way you want to tell it - all while getting as many people as possible to see your film in the process," said Mark Duplass, executive producer, Ba
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