Zeitgeist Films have been distributing the best of independent cinema since 1988. Yesterday, I had the pleasure to meet with Zeitgeist's Ian Stimler, who oversees Home Media, DVD, and digital sales, as well as the co-president and co-founder, Emily Russo. The company stands behind the distribution of such films as, Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Climates and Three Monkeys, Abbas Kiarostami's Ten, François Ozon's A Summer Dress and See the Sea, Todd Haynes' Poison, Jennifer Baichwal's Manufactured Landscapes, Bela Tarr's The Man From London, Lixin Fan's Last Train Home, and many films of Atom Egoyan, Guy Maddin, and The Quay Brothers (whose work is currently being exhibited at MoMa), amongst other established filmmakers of our time.
Zeitgeist is one of those companies that recognizes the quality, creativity, and uniqueness in a filmmaker's work. Even though most of the filmmakers in Zeitgeist's catalog are some of the most distinguished names in cinema today, they too, at some point in their careers, were just starting out and counting on their vision. Zeitgeist was able to see the vision of these filmmakers and enabled them to reach their audience.
In a similar way, most filmmakers on Film Annex are emerging and promising talents today, and our goal is to help them establish successful careers by promoting and distributing their work to millions of viewers. In the age of online distribution, discovering and accessing content is faster and easier than it used to be. That said, the number of films circling the web is higher than ever. In this giant pool of content, our goal is to pick out the best work that is being created right now and work together with the filmmakers in the promotion and distribution of their content. Having an online presence encourages filmmakers to be more hands-on with their distribution. In addition to showcasing their films, they let the viewers into their worlds and show them their working process with blogs, photographs, drawings, and behind the scenes videos.
Traditional distribution and online distribution might use different platforms for presentation, but in the end, the idea behind the selection of films is the same. Our mission is to recognize powerful, insightful, and exciting stories that are well-executed and foresee promising talents when they are starting out and building their career. Online film distribution is still a new medium, the possibilities are endless, and independent filmmakers are not the only ones taking advantage of it. Production and distribution companies, corporations and organizations are also joining this new journey. We look forward to working with companies like Zeitgeist that made a difference in the world of cinema and the careers of many filmmakers.
*Illustration by Eren Gulfidan
