This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Chicago Underground Film Festival and its first year under the aegis of IFP. To underscore the artistic merger, IFP’s Filmmakers Summit is now part of CUFF’s presentations.
Out of the 1,200 worldwide entries received, 120 of the best of these will be showcased Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at the Viaduct Theatre.
Roger Ebert once said about CUFF, “What you get for your money is not just admission to the films, but admission to a subculture.”
Not entirely, of course, as the experts speaking at the IFP Summit dish hard core, practical advice and information from the trenches, over two full days of panel discussions.
This year, the Summit intersects with new media; the Oct. 31 panels focus on new media production and technology, and the Nov. 1 panel considers all the angles available through new media to get a movie shown.
One of the noted technology panelists is Matt Dentler, digital rights manager for Cinetic Media, the company owned by distributor John Floss, who specializes in film festival deals. Dentler was formerly the programming director of the SXSW festivals.
