The Viewing Room
MARKETING, PUBLICATION, PROJECT MANAGEMENT
TEAM
Deepti D'Cunha (Curator)
Sanjay Colaco (DTP Operator)
Ada Lath Gupta (Cover Designer)
The catalogue and gallery software simultaneously enable attendees to navigate the library and specifically seek films that list themselves, either through the gallery's metadata or the page's indexes, with special details: if a film is a debut, seeking completion funds, festival programming, cinema (or TV) distribution, etc.
Both on-event engagement and future partnerships are thus facilitated. A direct email campaign targeting production houses and independent filmmakers enabled an increase in applications by 60%. In 2015, over 200 films were submitted in 11 languages. 32 were curated by program-runner Deepti D'Cunha into the Film Bazaar Recommends (FBR) section.
FILM BAZAAR RECOMMENDS
FBR films are given an entire spread with a full-page still on the left, and a thumbnail on the right page with the synopsis, credits, and relevant signage.
Stand out films in 2015 included "Lipstick Under My Burkha" (Hindi), "Raghu Rai: An Unframed Portrait" (Hindi and English), and "An Off-Day Game" (Malayalam).
FILM LIBRARY
FL films, which consist of feature-length fictions and documentaries, and shorts, are given the single page layout with relevant signage.
A small percentage are already released and seek new channels for distribution and programming.
GALLERY DESIGN + MANAGEMENT
The Viewing Room spatial design allows every attendee privacy at any one of the 20 separate viewing terminals, with headphones to watch films uninterrupted, and a desk to make notes and arrange meetings with filmmakers (if they happen to be attending as well).
Spaces outside the venue enable attending filmmakers to advertise their films through posters and standees.
EMAILER CAMPAIGN
Feature-length unfinished films submitted to the Viewing Room are also considered for the Fiction and Documentary Work-in-Progress Labs.
The graphics on the emailers advertised the most recent past success stories of the Viewing Room and the WIP Lab.
The emailers were circulated weekly from August till two weeks prior to the event, with only Early Bird discounts on submissions fees and no increase from the standard fee for last minute applications.
This enabled filmmakers sufficient amount of time to submit media as per the requirements, and to proofread submitted textual content for catalogue publication.
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WIP LAB Event Collaterals
Marketing collaterals circulated during the event, announcing the projects from the Viewing Room that were selected for the Work-in-Progress Labs.
