As I said in my recent review, Absentia is an “instant indie horror classic”. It’s frightening, intelligent, and a great source of rpg inspiration. Unfortunately, if you don’t live in a festival friendly city, it was also difficult to find a screening. Thankfully, that’s not the case anymore. There are now a few more ways to catch this creepy gem, and I urge everyone to check it out.
The first, and most exciting option, is a special screening and Q+A with director Mike Flanagan on Constellation, a new online movie theatre platform, Thursday Feb. 2, 10:00 pm EST. This is a pretty cool service that brings together the social experience of going to the theatre with the wide distribution of internet streaming. You buy tickets for the film, just like a traditional theatre (tickets can be purchased here) for a scheduled showtime. This may seem like the service’s weakness, but because viewers are watching the film at the same time, it allows filmmakers to appear via webcam, chat with the audience and field questions – just like a festival Q+A (which is exactly what Absentia director Mike Flanagan is taking advantage of). Of course if you don’t care about seeing a movie with the director, you can always set your own time, host a film and invite friends to watch, whom you can chat with during and after the screening (a format fans of play-by-post and google+ rpg sessions will be familiar with).
I think this is going to become an invaluable tool for independent filmmakers to promote and distribute their work. Nothing beats the fun and frenetic energy of a film festival, but the amount of people you can reach through festivals alone is fairly limited. A site like Constellation broadens the audience and allows fans not just to spread the word, but to spread the films themselves, without the need for mainstream distribution.
If you’re not that keen on watching movies on your computer, Absentia will also be released on DVD by Phase 4 films, March 13.
Tags: Pop Culture
