Apple/iW Podcast: Meet the SXSW Filmmakers

"I think right now it's all about choices and being realistic about the way that people are watching work and about the distribution landscape," explained filmmaker Joe Swanberg earlier this month, at an Apple Store event in Austin during the recent SXSW Film Festival. His new film, "Alexander The Last," was one of five that screened simultaneously at the festival and on demand via cable TV. "If you want as many as possible to see your film I think it makes a lot of sense to make it available in as many ways as possible. So that's why I'm personally excited about the video on demand."

indieWIRE's Eugene Hernandez moderated the discussion at the Apple Store in Austin, TX with four of the filmmakers whose work screened at the 2009 SXSW Film Festival and participated in the IFC Films initiative. On hand to discuss their work were Swanberg, Matthew Newton, director of "Three Blind Mice," Joe Maggio, director of "Paper Covers Rock," and Yavor Gardev, director of "Zift." Joining them was IFC's Ryan Werner.

Werner described the undertaking as a way to "take advantage of the attention these films would be getting at SXSW and build on that." He noted, "Not everyone can be here and the reality of the marketplace is very, very tough for films, especially a lot of these very personal films to get into theaters and stay there for a long period of time. So, this is a way for us to keep promoting these films over the next 3 months and build an audience for them."

During the SXSW, Swanberg, film distributors and other filmmakers talked about how to build word of mouth in the on demand environment and discussed each of their movies.

To listen to indieWIRE Present: Meet the SXSW Filmmakers podcast discussing their work and this new distribution model, download the podcast for free from iTunes here.