LOS ANGELES: Hollywood directors who had their glitzy premieres canceled due to Covid-19 are finding inventive ways to build buzz for their films – including bringing the red carpet into their living rooms.
The makers of “The Carnivores,” a quirky thriller-meets-love story set to debut at SXSW, took matters into their own hands by shifting the “premiere” to the cinematographer’s Austin home. “Our world premiere was Saturday 14th and dammit we wanted to still have our screening on Saturday 14th in Austin.”
David Magdael, a publicist who had four world premieres set for SXSW, looked into screening films at Hollywood agencies’ offices after the festival was canceled – but had to scrap that too after the town shut up shop. SXSW’s prestigious film competitions will go ahead as planned, with movies available to juries online.
“It’s a shame, you know — this is two years in the making, and everyone loves the theatrical experience,” he said of “Shooting Heroin.”“But this is what we have to do for the sake of the film and getting the message out.”Lindsay Lindenbaum’s documentary “Tomboy,” about four famous female drummers, was relying on SXSW to secure final funding needed to buy expensive music licensing.The song “is such an important piece of music in the film to really show what a legend she is,” said the director.