There are numerous promotions, even by major studios, using online distribution to build buzz about their projects or simply to get their films to as many people as possible, but to release a film via Facebook is a completely new avenue.
One such film ‘Life! Camera Action’ – an internationally acclaimed, numerous award winning, film-festival favorite feature film – has recently released worldwide exclusively for Facebook users.
It is produced and directed by Indian filmmaker, Rohit Gupta who has also co-written the film with LA based writer/director/lyricist Amanda Sodhi. Filled with dreams and ambition, ‘Life! Camera Action’ is a moving story of a young girl in pursuit of her dreams of becoming a filmmaker against all odds.
It is for the first time that an independent feature film has been released and distributed for the audience worldwide exclusively via Facebook.
This should be a sigh of relief for many independent moviemakers who are left to wonder if their films will ever see the light of the day. With this new avenue, they can turn their investment in to a profitable venture by reaching audiences around the world quickly with just few clicks. “Thanks to technology for empowering us with the tools to unleash our imagination,” says Gupta who is a MBA graduate and comes from a family of entrepreneurs.
Gupta knew that looking for conventional distribution would be futile and took matters into his own hands. He has released the film worldwide in partnership with Boston-based new media company Gigaplex, Inc. After the release, the film made an instant buzz on its official Facebook page, by receiving over 12,000 likes in just 3 days, and picked up substantial viewership among its audience on Facebook.
‘Life! Camera Action’ was recently named as ‘One of the top 10 outstanding movies made by Indian Americans’ by Silicon India. The list included ‘The Sixth Sense,’ ‘Unbreakable’ (M. Night Shyamalan), ‘Mississippi Masala,’ ‘The Namesake’ (Mira Nair), ‘Earth,’ and ‘Fire’ (Deepa Mehta).
India Post News Service