FilmFest Hosts Free Panel for Emerging Filmmakers
Director and Author Heidi Van Lier Will Lead Session
The 9th annual Ozark Foothills FilmFest will host “Finding Your Audience: Indie Film Marketing Workshop,” a half-day workshop/panel led by director and author Heidi Van Lier, author of The Indie Film Rule Book. The session will equip filmmakers to reach new, larger audiences for their work at major festivals and on the growing variety of new media platforms. Van Lier also writes the “Indie Film Q & A with Heidi Van Lier” blog for Film Independent. She advises 10-20 filmmakers a year, speaks at colleges and on film festival panels, and is a programmer for the Slamdance Film Festival. Her first feature, Chi Girl, won the Slamdance Grand Jury Prize in 1999 and sold to IFC Films. Her second feature, Monday, will be released soon digitally through Cinetic Rights Management. She is currently in production on her fourth feature. The workshop/panel will be offered free of charge. It will take place Friday afternoon, March 26, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm, in Independence Hall, Room 103, on the campus of the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville. Those wishing to attend are asked to register in advance by calling 870-251-1189. Copies of Van Lier’s book will be available for purchase.
Van Lier’s participation is made possible by a grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Festival Grants program. The purpose of the grant is to make festival events more accessible to the general public, provide greater access to minority and less visible filmmakers, and help strengthen the connection between filmmakers and the general public. The grant also supports the five Indie Film Showcases scheduled during the festival.
Complete festival details are available at www.ozarkfoothillsfilmfest.org.
