Panel 3 | Greenpoint Film Festival

Film Festival Strategizing

MODERATOR: Jeffrey Winter

PANELISTS: Flavio Alves, Chester Algernal Gordon, Brian Newman, Glen ReynoldS
RUNTIME: 90 MIN

TUESDAY, AUGUST 4TH 2020
PANEL 3, 6:00PM
LOCATION: THE VIRTUAL SPACE

SUBJECT: With so many festivals to choose from, how should a filmmaker narrow down the best approach for each of their projects? Hear from filmmakers who have taken their work to a range of film festivals, what impact these achievements have had on their individual projects and overall careers, and how best to guide your next project to new audiences.

JEFFREY WINTER

THE FILM COLLABORATIVE

Jeffrey Winter is a co-executive director at The Film Collaborative since 2010, an LA-based independent film distribution company with specialties in human rights, social justice, environmental issues, and LGBT cinema. Highlight films during this time include Kirby Dick’s THE INVISIBLE WAR, Louie Psihoyos’ RACING EXTINCTION, Ondi Timoner’s MAPPLETHORPE, David France’s THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARSHA P. JOHNSON, Nanfu Wang’s HOOLIGAN SPARROW, Rita Coburn Whack, and Bob Hercules’ MAYA ANGELOU: AND STILL I RISE; Andrew Haigh’s WEEKEND and many more. Other career highlights include five years managing strategic investments and U.S. sales/acquisitions for the largest media conglomerate in Spain (under the banners Maxmedia, Sogepaq, Sogetel, and Sogecine); several years handling grassroots marketing for L.A.’s two largest film festivals (the Los Angeles Film Festival and AFI FEST); a long tenure handling non-theatrical/festival/educational screenings for Wolfe Releasing (the world’s largest catalog of LGBT films); and 11 years as a panel programmer/programming consultant for the Sundance Film Festival’s New Frontier.

FLAVIO ALVES

WRITER/DIRECTOR

Flavio Alves is a Brazilian writer and film director. He was granted political asylum in the United States in 1998. Shortly thereafter, he attended Columbia University, where he earned an undergraduate degree in Political Science. After graduating, Alves worked as an assistant to then-New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY). In 2007, Flavio returned to school to study film production at NYU, where he received the Technosphere Award for Outstanding Achievement. His debut feature film, The Garden Left Behind (2019), premiered at SXSW, where it won the Audience Award. In 2018, Alves received The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Artist Academy fellowship, and in 2019, he was selected to Ryan Murphy’s HALF Initiative Directing Program, aimed at creating equal opportunities for minorities behind the camera. He is also the recipient of grants from numerous organizations, including the New York State Council on the Arts PEN America and Jerome Foundation.

CHESTER ALGERNAL GORDON

PRODUCER/COSTUME DESIGNER

Chester Algernal Gordon (Producer & Costume Designer): In 2019 Gordon became the first gender non-binary African-American costume designer to compete in competition at Cannes Film Festival with “Port Authority”. In the last 4 years they’ve produced a fleet of acclaimed short films and a feature documentary called “Pier Kids”. Gordon was also a winner of the Tribeca Film Institute’s 2019, TFI All Access Grant and TFI Pond5 Program. Gordon is a Film Independent 2019 Producing Lab & Fast Track Lab fellow. Gordon’s films have been official selection and won many awards in over 200 festivals combined including Berlin, SXSW, BFI, Outfest, New Orleans, Cleveland, Athens, Palm Springs, Blackstar, and the American Black Film Festival. They’re also a producer for the MIPCOM 2018 winner – GLAAD nominated documentary TV series, “My House”, on Viceland. Gordon’s latest shorts “Buck” and “Ship” are Sundance Film Festival 2020 world premieres.

BRIAN NEWMAN

PRODUCER

Brian Newman, the founder of Sub-Genre, consults on content development, distribution, and marketing to help connect brands with filmmakers with audiences. Clients include: Patagonia, REI, IBM, Yeti Coolers, New York Times, Shopify Studios, Stripe, Unilever, and Zero Point Zero. Brian is the producer of The Outside Story (Tribeca Film Festival, 2020), and Love & Taxes, and executive producer of Shored Up. Brian has served as CEO of the Tribeca Film Institute and is the founder of the Brand/Foundation Alliance.

GLEN REYNOLDS

PRODUCER/SALES AGENT

Glen Reynolds founded Circus Road Films in 2006 to provide strategic advisory services to filmmakers. Circus Road guides filmmakers through the festival and distribution process and negotiates licensing agreements on their behalf. Glen has participated in the sales of over 700 narrative and documentary feature films with many films premiering at Sundance, Slamdance, SXSW, Tribeca, Hot Docs, Fantastic, Telluride and Toronto. Distributors of these films include Fox, Sony, Universal, Lions Gate, Magnolia, IFC, Strand, Oscilloscope, Drafthouse, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Showtime, Starz, Lifetime, ESPN and Syfy. Glen has also co-produced twenty films to date including Conversations with Other Women starring Aaron Eckhart, Helena Bonham Carter, and Olivia Wilde. Glen holds a JD from the University of Texas at Austin, a BA in English from NYU, and is a graduate of the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York.