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The mordant,Rose Byrne-starring dramedyIf I Had Legs Id Kick You, with its Conan OBrien cameo?
Director Bill Condons remake of the novel adaptation-turned-Broadway musical-turned-Oscar-winning 1985-dramaKiss of the Spider Woman, co-starring Jennifer Lopez?
You get this moment to peer into the future.
These are the films that will be coming later in the year.
Buyers are being more pragmatic.
So theres an ecosystem of buyers telling artists,Take risks.
Do whats important to you.
It feels like theres a bit of a wind in the sails of indie films, Montgomery says.
Im not going to say I know what buyers think.
But Im hopeful that theres a positive vibe going in.
And theres something about the new year: [Sundances] placement in the third week in January.
As opposed to those fall festivals where theres lots of stress.
All generated strong buzz at festivals including Toronto, Cannes and Sundance en route to their respective public offerings.
Over that time, the producers have observed Sundances imprimatur assuming increasing importance in both marketing and public recognition.
It seems like the audience has really evolved, McGehee says.
And they are really paying attention to box office now, to film festivals, to reviews.
The way audiences engage with the business of the film industry is very different.
So these days it seems like audiences care about the lineage that a film has in getting to them.
And distributors care about having those things to present to an audience.
Were not in a moment where a buyer is coming in saying,I need five movies.
Its more,If we see something we love, well buy it.
Were now in a period where there is a range of cinema, a range of quality.
Sometimes that quality is going to come in the form of something made outside the system likeAnora.
And sometimes its going to come from within, likeThe Wild Robot, Iwashina continues.
A24, as far as any young person is concerned, isntindiemovies.
I think categorically, we just have to redefine and not ghettoize this concept of indie.
Lets stop playing identity politics with movies, he adds.
We know what happened when we did that in the election.
