TELEPORT / COYOTE
Feature Film Screening
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Industry Session Q&A - The True Cost of Making of Your Debut Feature, Hell or Highwater
7:00pm | 22 september | highbury & islington, London
starring THERICA WILSON-READ, BORISLAVA Stratieva, AILISH SYMONS, Ruhtxjiaïh Bèllènéa, with RICHARD GLOVER
(book early, space is limited)
ABOUT THE FILM:
In a dystopian future, teleportation technology enables two refugees to escape genocide. But when they trust the wrong back-alley teleporter, Ekaterina and Anya are separated. In a desperate attempt to reunite, our heroines are entwined in an insidious human trafficking ring involving corrupt politicians. How will they defeat their captors and reunite?
This screening will be prefaced by the award-winning short film PORTRAIT by Keir Siewert & Alix Austin.
ABOUT THE INDUSTRY SESSION:
Writer/director/producer Dustin Curtis Murphy sits in conversation with peer filmmaker Alix Austin (KILL YOUR LOVER) for a no-hold barred Q&A exploring both the inspirational & cautionary side of how to make your own debut feature film with little-to-no traditional industry support.
COYOTE was shot in 2022 over 15 days with a budget of roughly £80k. It was released in North America in 2023 after a limited festival run (including winning Best Sci-Fi Feature at VORTEX - the genre sidebar of the previously Oscar qualifying Flickers’ Rhode Island Film Festival). Its final festival was Unrestricted View 2024 where it won Best Director & Best Supporting Actor. It was then released in the UK under the new title TELEPORT contrary to any meaningful consultation from the film’s producing team.
IN THE INDUSTRY SESSION WE’LL talk about:
Dustin’s decade+ spent in development with Hollywood producers… that lead nowhere…
How he felt his only option for actualising his goal of becoming a feature filmmaker was to greenlight himself
How he used grass roots private equity to finance the film, including half of the film’s budget coming from his own savings
The pros & cons of being the main financial stakeholder in your own film - the creative freedom it brought paired with a precarious living situation
How creative filmmaking choices kept production costs low resulting in a finished film that was appraised 10x higher it’s budget at film markets
How he wrangled a core team of collaborators from his work in short film to all become stake holders in the feature with the shared goal of the project being a mutually beneficial path toward a feature film career for all involved
The joy of pre, production, & post juxtaposed with the trauma of navigating sales & distribution
Unexpected costs that no one prepares you for
Insight into the independent film festivals that championed the film vs the corporate Hollywood system that devalues indie filmmakers
How, in his experience, a film distributor over-promised and undelivered
The current lack of support for emerging talent and what needs to change
The toll the film industry can have on your mental health, how it’s taken time him time to recoup emotionally, and how you can strengthen your own mental if considering a similar career path
It’s our hope that the unfiltered honesty of this session will give a rare insight into the real-world struggles of indie filmmakers so those thinking of taking the same route into the industry can avoid the pitfalls and repeat the successes.