I’ll be presenting a workshop on Digital Doc Distribution at SFFS on June 7- discussing how doc filmmakers can reach their audiences in the current environment. There are great new opportunities as well as some challenges but overall, the changes can be a little confusing and it’s good to know about tools and resources to make it easier to manage.

Filmmaker Jen Gilomen will be on hand to talk about her film DEEP DOWN and we will talk specifically about projects in the room as well as about digital marketing and distribution tools doc filmmakers can use today.

Jon Reiss, furthering his bid to unseat Peter Broderick in whatever category they’re competing in, will be doing a 2-day workshop in NYC June 5-6 for filmmakers which will cover distribution & marketing, transmedia, and Jon’s many unique and insightful approaches to indie film dissemination. It’s $150 for members.

Ted Hope proposes we need a film fest panel on privacy. This dovetails with a discussion currently going on among some Free Culture people about the distinctions between sharing, stealing and the public vs. the private. As a libertarianish geek, I’m interested in privacy as it relates to my personal space and information in an age of unprecedented surveillance and public communication. On the other hand, as a marketer and adviser of others’ marketing, certain grey areas of internet privacy make it easier to reach an audience.

As filmmakers, we face specific privacy issues. For example, the MPAA may take the RIAA route and start trying to look at people’s hard drives in the name of enforcing copyright restrictions. I’ve spoken to several documentary filmmakers who face challenges in making and marketing their films because the globally ubiquitous nature of dissemination now means they can not protect subjects when being seen in the films would put the subjects in danger. And filmmakers need to know what the boundaries are as they become more creative in trying to build their audiences.

So, Ted, in absence of panels, maybe we can begin to discuss the issues now.