The Circuit

The Hamptons Int'l Film Festival and SnagFilms will simul-preem the docu "Haze" at both the fest and online via SnagFilm's embeddable widget.  Narrated by Robin Penn Wright, doc frames college alcohol abuse through a fraternity hazing death at the U. of Colorado.

The announcement was made during SnagFilms CEO Rick Allen's keynote presentation at the IFP's Independent Film Week.

The partnership between Hamptons and SnagFilms will also include "Hamptons Extra," a slate of docus to screen exclusively online.  The lineup will be announced with the fest's regular slate in September. 

Allen revealed that the two-month old company is on 10,000 websites he terms as "online theaters."  With the SnagFilms widget websites can screen over 450 films, including full-length features like "Super Size Me."  Those films, in turn, are peppered with ads resembling commercial breaks - from Head and Shoulders shampoo to Starbursts.

"Since launch, our widgets have been embedded in pages that have been seen more than 55 million times, and our websites have each had one million page views," said Allen. 

The IFP's Independent Film Week kicks off today.  Conference info here.

In my articles covering the 30th anniversary of the IFP and the evolution of the Independent Feature Film Market, Ted Hope reminisced about his "The Brothers McMullen" experience, which typifies what the IFP is trying to do with its Labs and Project Forums.

"The Brothers McMullen was just another no-bud indie that everyone passed on until Michelle Byrd and the IFP agreed to screen it at their Independents' Night at Lincoln Center. 

"This was November and pre-Sundance though so Ed Burns and us had quite a dilemma: we couldn't miss such a great opportunity, but we needed to premiere it at Sundance.  Eddie had been re-cutting furiously every night when he finished work until sunrise each morning and the movie had transformed from the version all distributors were first submitted.  The film was now clearly a comedy and one of the biggest jokes came at around twelve minute mark (when Eddie's character is cutting a banana into his rice krispies discussing the windfalls of marriage).

"What to do?  Miraculously, when we screened to a packed house of indie film lovers, critics, and quite a few distribs, right after that joke, with the crowd roaring in laughter, the Walter Reade with its state-of-the-art projection had an abrupt interruption.  Technical difficulties.  We had to leave when laughter was the loudest.  That wave of support carried us all the way to Park City where the anticipation was fantastic and right to the table that night with Tom Rothman signing aboard to make "The Brothers McMullen" Fox Searchlight's first acquisition and release."

"The IFP had stepped in at the exact critical moment and gave us the opportunity to reposition the film on the top of buyer's acquisition list, and to define it to the world as what it really was: a remarkably fresh and honest comedy about romance, its pitfalls and pleasures."

A highlight of New York's Independent Film Week, the IFP has announced 37 projects for the 14th No Borders International Co-Production Market, one of three sections of the org's Project Forum held Sept 14-19.

No Borders' alumni include Courtney Hunt's Sundance-winning "Frozen River," Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden's "Half Nelson,' Joshua Marston's "Maria Full of Grace," and Miranda July's "Me and You and Everyone We Know."
 
Notables this year are:

HOWL – A biopic of revolutionary beat poet Allen Ginsberg starring James Franco, Mary-Louise Parker, and David Duchovny; written and directed by Academy Award winners Epstein and Friedman; executive produced by Gus Van Sant.

KHUMBA – No Borders' first fully animated project, KHUMBA, is set in South Africa and tells the story of a half-striped zebra who is first ousted and then saves his herd.

CRAWLING AT NIGHT - A grief-stricken Japanese ice-carver mourning the death of his only child makes an unexpected connection with a struggling cabaret singer played by Maria Bello.

MEN – Alan Cumming and Lukas Haas star in a contemporary American adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's classic La Ronde directed by Broadway helmer Chris Ashley (XANADU)

LOU – John Hurt stars as a man with Alzheimer's disease who builds an unexpected relationship with his granddaughter.

THE NIGHTINGALE - A highly-charged contemporary political thriller set in present day Iran directed by Mark Bamford (CAPE OF GOOD HOPE).

Filmmakers Kevin Smith, Robert Greenwald, and SnagFilms CEO Rick Allen will headline the 30th annual Independent Film Week in New York, September 14-19. 

Formerly known as the Independent Feature Project Market, the six-day event dedicated to supporting new indie projects will be held at Chelsea's Fashion Institute of Technology.

Smith will topline the daily "Conversations With" series, discussing how is 1994 hit "Clerks" began at the Market.  The Weinstein Company will release his new film, "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" on Halloween.  Greenwald, who helmed the docu "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism," will talk about film's role in social change while Allen will explore the future of distribution.

Throughout the week, panels on the indie film industry will focus on particular themes, including Making Your First Feature, The Global Marketplace, and Film and Philanthropy.

Full schedule is at www.filmmakerconference.com.