Cinema Ventures

OVERVIEW

Cinema Ventures Ltd. has been established as a not-for-profit public company to support filmmakers, distributors and community groups who use the power of film and the experience of cinema to create positive social change by developing new film distribution strategies based on philanthropy.

COMMUNITY TARGETED DISTRIBUTION

The first of these new film distribution strategies is called COMMUNITY TARGETED DISTRIBUTION (CTD). CTD works by allowing “host groups” in regional centres to run documentary film screenings for their own benefit. Each “host” is drawn from existing groups already formed around issues explored in the films. Experience has shown that this idea works, especially when filmmakers present their work to cinema audiences in person. The missing piece was always the cost: publicity, travel, filmmaker’s and distributors fees and per diems. The CTD scheme raises these costs from philanthropy and uses the money to realize the highest aims of the filmmakers, their investors and contributors.

The CTD “tour” works like this: A filmmaker presents his/her work in a different location in a cinema setting each night of the tour, with intervals for publicity prior to each screening. The “host” group brings in the audience – using their networks and the wider community. If the “host” group choose to run the evening as a fundraiser, the box office profits go 100% to the “host” to further their work. Unlike the old way of running these events, the philanthropy-driven model maximises money raised by the “host” group, which adds a fiscal incentive to the traditional ways communities have used documentaries: to educate, raise awareness and advocacy. This fund-raising aspect adds practical, accountable outcomes that will spark further interest from philanthropy.

BENEFITS

Audiences enjoy the shared experience of watching a film in a cinema which - unlike television - leads to activism and real change. The television versions of most documentaries are narrated and edited in such a way as to force-feed the viewer in bite-size chunks interrupted by ads. Theatrical documentaries work as cinema, offering audiences opportunities for debate, rarely available after viewing the television version. The cinema becomes a social space for thinking outside the claims of mass media.

Host Groups learn about their wider community by showing a film that sparks debate. They are able to use the film as an advocacy tool to connect with new audiences and other host groups and imagine new ways to communicate, and take action. They are able to raise funds to further their work.

Filmmakers see their work with audiences in a cinema setting. This offers a learning curve to improve their future practice. Audience feedback is face to face. Regional audiences take filmmakers out of their inner city milieu. Filmmakers are paid for presenting their work.

The film is more widely seen, used, reviewed and analyzed. After CTD support a film is better positioned for traditional “outreach” – ready to be used by students, educators, community leaders and policy makers - who may never have heard of the film otherwise. To extend the film’s potential (beyond the purview of any one distributor) is the real aim of Community Targeted Distribution.

Film Distributors are paid a standard film hire, adding an attractive extra strand to the distributor’s income. Distributors can enhance their back catalogue by offering fresh titles that may otherwise have languished. Cinema Ventures Ltd. offers distributors new ways to enhance their brand and corporate responsibility.

Donors to Cinema Ventures Ltd. see how their money is affecting imaginative and documented change in the communities where “host groups” are using the scheme. All donations to Cinema Ventures Ltd. are tax deductible.

You can help send filmmakers and their films across regional Australia - CLICK HERE to make a donation.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Andrew Pike AO (educational film distributor, producer and director)

Pat Fiske (film producer, director, sound recordist, educator)

Carolyn Johnson (finance background, film producer, educator and accountant)

Teri Calder (activist, publicist, film producer, active within many environmental and human rights groups)

All enquiries about COMMUNITY TARGETED DISTRIBUTION & CINEMA VENTURES LTD. can be directed to:

Gil Scrine (Managing Director), Ph: (61.7) 3391 0124 gil@cinemaventures.org

Registered Office: 44 Northcote Street East Brisbane Qld. 4169
ABN: 19 12305 0984
ACN: 12305 0984