I always say that film festivals need to innovate and experiment more, and James Mullighan at the Cork Film Festival has done just that. From his press release:
… Cork Film Festival releases its 2013 edition highlights on pioneering video on demand platform VODO on a pay what you want basis. Vodo.net/cork …
… Three week project sees seven garlanded shorts and seven full feature films released by Ireland’s oldest film festival in a global first for film festivals …
… Features include Kathy Leichter’s Here one Day, Tony Palmer’s reissued 1974 Leonard Cohen biopic Bird on a Wire, and the Dublin Filmbase filmmaking MA production How To Be Happy, starring Brian Gleeson …
… Lion’s share of takings go straight to indie filmmakers’ pockets, with Fest’s take going directly into the pot for its new feature film Spirit of the Festival Award …
Mid Cannes Film Festival, attended by Cork Film Festival’s Creative Director James Mullighan and Head of Programme and Editorial Don O’Mahoney, the Festival launches its very first video on demand initiative, with seven shorts and seven features being retailed on a pay what you want basis, alongside bonus content.
Innovative platform VODO, which careful curates themed bundles of content, is working with a film Festival for the first time. Vodo.net/cork.
The initiative has three tiers: Pay What you Want (four shorts and one feature, including Made in Cork prize winner Yvonne’ Keane’s Stolen, and Filmbase Ireland’s How to be Happy, starring Brian Gleeson); Beat the Average (three features and three shorts, including biopic of writer / chess master John Healy Barbaric Genius, and Cork Fest 2013 opening night short Mechanic, starring Syl Fox); and Beat the Premium (including Tony Palmer’s recently reissued 1974 Leonard Cohen doc Bird on a Wire, and John Kastner’s prize winner mental health sensational doc Not Criminally Responsible).
“We’ve been working with Jamie King and the team at VODO since straight after the Fest last year”, said James Mullighan, Creative Director, Cork Film Festival.
“In this day of screeching web noise, I really admire the platform’s loving, carefully curated approach to films and more. They were the ideal choice to launch this experiment in distribution. I am hopeful it will be popular with the thousands and thousands of fans of the Cork Film Festival in Ireland, Europe and amongst the global Irish diaspora, who fondly wish they could attend the Festival, but cannot. I’m grateful to and proud of the independent directors and producers who lit up our Festival in November last year to trust Jamie and I with their babies”.
Once payment handling costs have been deducted, VODO – who levy no extra charges other than their 25% sales fee – hand all the proceeds to Cork Film Festival. The Festival sends 70% of that straight to the filmmakers, ringfencing 5% for its new €1,500 feature film Gradam Spiorad na Féile / Spirit of the Festival Award, which takes a bow during the Festival’s 59th Edition, 7-16 November.
“Cork’s Bundle shows a real engagement with online culture and experimentation in the transmedia sphere”, commented Jamie King, CEO and Founder of VODO, which has recently successfully promoted Not Safe for Work and Big Brother bundles.
“When you let customers set the price for themselves,’ says VODO’s Jamie King, ‘they can turn out to be surprisingly generous. The average price paid for the Cork Bundle is currently $11.20. That’s a win both for audiences and the filmmakers.”
“I had a wonderful time when I was honoured to be invited to Cork last November as filmmaker in residence”, remembered Tony Palmer, celebrated British music film biographer and documentarian, whose Leonard Cohen film Bird on a Wire played at the Festival, as well as his new Benjamin Britten feature Nocturne, and his entire 7 hour, 46 minute dramatic reconstruction of the life of composer Richard Wagner, the last film Richard Burton even made.
“The Cork Film Festival is going out on a limb to bring its films to a wider audience. This should be celebrated, and I’m delighted to be involved.
The bundle went live on Wednesday 14 May, the opening day of Cannes International Film Festival, and runs until Tuesday 3 June.