SelfCinema-Adopt-a-movie tries to create ‘distribution from the bottom up’. The organisers explain, “It is actually the community of spectators that brings small but good films into cinemas, films that normally find little room in theatres. It is the spectators themselves who are the distributors, ‘pre-purchasing’ a ticket for the film – in reality a donation of the equivalent sum of money – when the picture and its director are publicly presented at bookshops, associations, universities and institutional organisations supporting the initiative. This means a minimum taking is thus guaranteed, enabling exhibitors to reduce the risks of screening the film, at least for a week. If the film is popular with audiences and has a good press, made possible by simultaneous release nationwide, and if the word of mouth from the first spectator/distributors is good, all this will enable the film to attract new audiences and ‘stay on’ in the cinema, just like a ‘normally’ distributed film.

SelfCinema is present at the 2007 RomeFilmFest with a ‘recommendation for distribution’ for one of the independent films presented at the Fest that still has no Italian distribution lined up. This is being organised together with a group of our supporters who have followed us in this first year of activity: Giancarlo De Cataldo, Francesco Di Pace, Marco Lodoli, Emanuele Trevi, Mariolina Venezia and Marco Videtta. The recommendation is mainly aimed at the public, but is also an invitation to ‘professional’ distributors not to overlook these films. If the recommended work does not manage to get into theatres through the usual route, it will be proposed to the spectator/distributors as a candidate for SelfCinema ‘distribution’.

The first film adopted by SelfCinema and released in cinemas by its spectator/distributors in May 2007 was L’estate di mio fratello by Pietro Reggiani, produced by Nuvola Film. It was a great success, with audiences of more than 15,000 in the whole of Italy to date, gaining a warm welcomed by the press, in an Italian experience also generating interest in other countries. 

SelfCinema invites its community of spectator/distributors to participate in the RomeFilmFest 2007, offering an important resource at a time of concentration in the distribution market.  

Those interested can sign up for the community’s newsletter and indicate their favourite small but good films by sending an email to info@selfcinema.it or by visiting the website www.selfcinema.it helping the association choose the next films to bring into cinemas’.