Even among the best independent films in America which get into Sundance each year, only about 5% receive distribution. The film distribution game is a difficult one, one that is particularly difficult for Asian American films, which are perceived to have a narrower audience than a white film in English. It is not at all surprising that there are not that many Asian American films that make in the mainstream. It's not encouraging for most Asian American filmmakers who often have to make great sacrifices to get their film made then have to struggle to find a distributor that will adequately promote and release it to the public.
The story has been that we are not bankable, we are not a viable market with only 4% of the viewership population. I recall watching "The Grace Lee Project" with only 2 other people at the Film Forum on a Friday night when it played there for a few weekends several years ago. It was an excellently edited documentary that it kept me riveted until the very end though I had had no initial interest in the subject matter. Most good documentaries never see the light of a theatrical release. The only public play that they receive is at film festivals.
Documentaries, in general, are even less likely than indy features to make a profit so my little documentary with an Asian American lead is highly unlikely to pick up a distributor. So I often wonder what will happen to my little documentary when it hits the market. Will I find an educational market niche and change the world? Or will it become another indy film to never see the light of the day and find its way off the shelves? Luckily we live in the digital age and self-distribution is a more than plausible option.
The distribution problems for Asian American films are myriad. Once you subtitle a film, the market is reduced by 20% so say the film distributors in America. Many English-speaking Americans do not want to read subtitles or hear dubbed English while watching a film. It is no wonder that very few if any Asian American films have made it in the American marketplace. Though many of them are in English, there are many that have portions of it in an Asian language. There are layers of difficulties even producing a film in a language other than English in the U.S. because most skilled editors and production crew even in New York City are mostly English only speaking. Others are inclined to label “foreign language” films as foreign when they are made by and about Americans who speak languages other than English. Is a language foreign when a million or more Americans speak it? Such as Mandarin Chinese? Or Spanish? What constitutes foreign vs. domestic in the linguistics? Distributors are essentially business people with a concern for the bottom line, who are concerned with selling their product and attempting to reach as large of a consumer base as possible. A film with characters who speak English with an accent makes it less marketable, however good its artistic merits and human interest value may be. Good film distributors also have a concern for artistic merits in a film, but often commercial interests outweigh quality. You could have a badly written script, an implausible plot, lots of special effects, and a mediocre director, but if you find a celebrity to star it, it is a guarantee of a certain level of visibility and viewership. The film world ain’t no meritocracy.
As many of you may already know, Can Truong is a Vietnamese boat person, one of the millions who fled Vietnam in boats in search of freedom after the fall of Saigon. That fact led me to study the history of the Vietnamese boat people. Journey from the Fall, directed and written by Ham Tran, was one of the best indy films I have experienced in the past few years. I say “experienced” instead of “seen” because the film like many great works of art was an emotional experience for me. I was deeply moved, perhaps because I, too, am an immigrant and could relate to the experiences of the protagonists in certain ways that the average American could not. Though there are many white renditions of the Vietnam war and its aftermath in film, this is the first to authentically portray the experience of millions of Vietnamese who fled in overcrowded unwieldy boats, some enduring untenable levels of deprivation and suffering. It was an important untold story that needed to told by Vietnamese Americans for Vietnamese Americans. The film seemed to have catalyzed a mass catharsis in the Vietnamese community based on the few people I have spoken with. For many years, many Vietnamese boat people didn't want to speak about the horrors of the re-education camps, the pirates who raped women on the boats, and perilous journey across rough seas. Breaking the silence is the first step to healing. It was for this reason Ham was motivated to make this extraordinary film, he told me. They are my motivations for making "Can." Artistry and healing are delicately intertwined. The expression of truths facilitates healing.
Ham is an inspiration to me. He's a rock star. I am enamored with his work and artistic integrity. Despite a low budget and other numerous obstacles, he crafted an emotionally powerful story that remained true to the heart of the Vietnamese-American experience. In order to understand what I mean, you would have to see his beautiful film (www.journeyfromthefall.com) and check out some of his interviews on youtube.com:
>Ham Tran Interview by Asia Pacific Arts, Part 1 of 2
>Ham Tran Interview by Asia Pacific Arts, Part 2 of 2
And now Ham and a few other Vietnamese American filmmakers have started their own film distribution company, Wave Releasing, to promote and release their own works after realizing that most American distributors will overlook or undermarket their amazing films. Though Journey from the Fall was an extraordinary landmark achievement by any measure, it took nearly a year from the time that it premiered at Sundance to get a distributor. That is shocking to me considering the numerous other films of far lower quality which get distribution deals immediately upon its film festival premiere. Like I said, the film world is no meritocracy.
Labels: the film distribution game
