The online movie rental service's Chief Content Officer has been selected as the recipient of the 8th Annual Woodstock Film Festival's Trailblazer Award.
By FilmStew Staff, FilmStew.com
In the world of independent film, Ted Sarandos is a big star. Low-budget filmmakers have come to realize that his online movie rental service Netflix is the dynamic new way to leapfrog over limited theatrical release and reach paying customers who are miles away from the nearest art house cinema.
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"People from all over the country read a New York Times review now," Sarandos declared at a recent L.A. film industry panel discussion. "They get the newspaper at their Starbucks. They know a [small] film will never play in their town, so they put it in their Netflix request queue right now. " As such, Netflix can often help the makers of specialty releases reach a larger audience thant they would by means of conventional theatrical release alone.
For this and other accomplishments, such as the creation of the service's Red Envelope Entertainment production arm, Sarandos has been tapped to receive the Trailblazer Award at the 8th Annual Woodstock Film Festival (October 10th-14th). "Ted Sarandos has brought high quality independent film to those who would be otherwise unexposed to such artistic talents," raves the festival's co-founder and executive director, Meira Blaustein. "That demand is a huge part of what keeps filmmakers able to create."
One example of Sarandos' magic cited by the festival is the 2007 documentary Steal A Pencil For Me. Directed by Academy Award nominated non-fcition director-producer Michèle Ohayon (Colors Straight Up), it recounts the holocaust love story surrounding a man imprisoned in a concentration camp alongside both his wife and lover. Forced to write secret missives, the illicit pair encounter challenging new circumstances when all parties are later released from the camp.
Executive produced by Sandos, Steal A Pencil for Me will also screen at the festival as one of about two dozen offerings outputed by Red Envelope Entertainment so far. Other titles include Sherrybaby, Puccini for Beginners, Julia Delpy's upcoming romantic drama 2 Days in Paris and next year's documentary Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends, in which a filmmaker and fan Clint Eastwood conducts the interviews.
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