BACARAU, online film events, and looking forward.
This past week, I was planning on introducing several awesome Latino genre films at the 27th annual San Diego Latino Film Festival. I spent the last several months watching films and selecting a solid collection for our Un Mundo Extraño series of horror, sci-fi, and fantasy films. One of those films was a wild genre-masher from Brazil called BACURAU. Not only did this star one of my faves, Udo Kier, but also a wonderful performance by Sônia Braga.
Here was the description: A few years from now: Bacurau, a small village in the Brazilian sertão, mourns the loss of its matriarch, Carmelita, who lived to be 94. Days later, its inhabitants notice that their village has vanished off the maps and that a UFO-shaped drone is flying overhead. There are forces that want to expel them from their homes, a band of armed mercenaries led by Udo Kier arrive in town picking off the inhabitants one by one.
I was excited to show it, and devastated when it and others would be canceled along with the rest of the film festival, due to the coronavirus situation.
Now, there is some good news! BACURAU is hitting the world in an almost unprecedented online premiere, with a collaboration between the distributor Kino Lorber and art houses around the world. The dates vary, but yesterday was the start for San Diego, and it will be available for the next four days, until March 25. The distributor and individual cinemas will share in the sales from this new experiment.
This has revealed to me a new concern. Many festivals are either in the process of, or considering a virtual format for their events in light of the current global crisis. Of course, on a real level, I find social distancing to be a difficult challenge for a festival, whose entire existence is based on building community and social closeness. There are also considerations about premiere statues, and what online screenings might do to an undistributed film’s chances of finding a distributor. None of these are insurmountable challenges considering what is going on, but I am finding myself in growing anxiety over another challenge.
And this BACARAU opportunity has helped bring that to light. Allow me to explain:
I work intimately with two different art house cinemas: Digital Gym Cinema in San Diego, which is part of the same Media Arts Center that puts on the SD Latino Film Festival, and The Frida Cinema in Santa Ana. Both are participating in the BACARAU screenings. On top of that, one of the beloved Horrible Imaginings programmers Macon Wilson works for a fantastic organization in Tennessee called IndieMemphis. They are also launching their new IndieMemphis Movie Club, which will include BACARAU. It is a huge endeavor of weekly virtual events, and we are super proud of her and her team for it.
Arthouses I love all over the country are participating, where anyone could join in and get a “Virtual Ticket” to watch the film. In this case, that ticket is $12, a far cry from the $20 of the Universal films that went online this week. So which do I promote?
We have been hearing the cliché “canary in the coal mine” a bit this month, but I think BACARAU is kind of that for what could happen if all these film festivals go online. If anyone in the world can now “attend” Fantastic Fest virtually, then why would they virtually “attend” our more modest festival in the same month? Could this lead to a true competition in the film festival world that I honestly, in my years of doing this, never really felt? These are my anxieties right now. I’m just posing the question.
In light of this question, I will split this next section in three (just because they are the three that I’m most closely tied to in some way). If you are in these regions, support the one closest to you! If you are in another, check listings and, support your regional organization!
As usual, let’s take care of one another, and explore this brave new world with open eyes and thoughtfulness. I would like to see all festivals survive this, and not just the ones with the greatest number of resources!