Selling celluloid
Ingrid Patetta/Cameranomade.net
Making a film is only half the job. Once the end result is there, it has to be sold and that is easier said than done. It is even more difficult if you are an independent filmmaker, since you are usually out there on your own, as French director Ingrid Patetta discovered.
Almost a year ago, she finished filming her documentary Au Centre de la Terre - des Puits et des Hommes (At the Center of the Earth - Of Wells and Men), about traditional well diggers in the West African country of Niger. Ms Patetta produced, edited and shot the film almost entirely by herself - but she didn't have a marketing organization behind her.
It did help, however, that Of Wells and Men won the competition at a film festival in Niger. Ever since, she has sent the film to as many festivals as possible around the globe.
Ms Patetta spends at least two hours a day on marketing-related activities. It doesn't come cheap either, since the costs for burning DVDs and postage are coming out of her own pocket. She says:
"The best part of making a film is actually making it and then showing it. But the whole marketing part is not fun."
Her efforts are slowly paying off, though. The film has been screened at about 20 festivals around the world. If you happen to live in Italy, you can see Of Wells and Men at the Slow Food on Film Festival in Bologna next week.
Listen to a report by Network Europe's Sarah Elzas:
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