TEN BURNING QUESTIONS: TWO WAYS HOME’s Tanna Frederick and Ron Vignone talk about SLO Film Fest and going online with their film

TWO WAYS HOME was about mid-way through a healthy film festival run when you got word that the film was selected for the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival. What were your thoughts when you found out the film got in?

TANNA: We were thrilled to be selected! As a returning veteran of the festival, it had been a wonderful experience with great people working on it, a fantastic venue, and a quality selection of films. So it was an honor to be chosen again as well as a no-brainer to want to be at the festival. And SLO Film Fest has such a unique and specific way of programming each year. It’s really special to be a part of their roster in that you know you’ll show up and they’ve taken a lot of time in their thematic approach to create a distinctive viewpoint for their audiences. What you’re going to see each year is an art piece within itself on the programmers’ behalf. 

RON: I was so THRILLED.  The George Sidney Independent Film Competition is legendary, and having lived in California for most of my life, SLO Film Fest has held a very special place in my heart. It’s that kind of boutique festival that I think is getting rarer these days. The community rallies around it and devotedly attends the screenings. They really celebrate independent film! Tom Bower, who plays Walter in our film would say, “There are communities that define their festivals these days.”  San Luis Obispo is one of them.

Ron, when you heard that the film festival was canceling the film festival due to the coronavirus this year, what were your thoughts? 

RON: My first thoughts were that festival director Wendy Eidson and her team were clearly taking the smartest and safest measures to protect the community and the public – and thank goodness for that. It goes without saying that a lot has happened in a very short time in the US, and we all find ourselves in a very different situation than just a couple short weeks ago. I think for all of us, the canceling of festivals and public gatherings brought to bear what is now our new reality for the time being. Obviously, I was disappointed about not being able to participate in the festival and connect with that robust film-going community. I was very sad for all the filmmakers, and for the festival board and staff, who I know have worked tirelessly to do the massive amount of work it takes to put on an event like this.

As a filmmaker, you always want your work to be seen up on the big screen with big sound, and all the trappings of that experience. And we will return to that reality in the future (maybe even with a vengeance after staying inside for so long). But for now, it is an imperative that we get through this with public safety as the focus, and a consciousness for everyone’s well-being. It follows suit then that the age of the online film festival has come to be, and I think it’s great – with the exception of how much business is lost for the local partnership companies, vendors, and small businesses that depend on these yearly events.

TANNA: As filmmaker-having five festivals cancel almost simultaneously while putting so much work into just the festival tour alone for the last year-just made my heart sink. There’s already a feeling of hopelessness and fear in the air with everything taking place during a pandemic. It was, and still is, the feeling of just thinking that the film had sunk. The feeling of guilt that a film should even be important in an emergency situation to me is still strong. But I have to say, it’s the little things right now that equate to big deals in life. The fact that SLO Film Fest is playing our movie gives me a reason to smile, to hope. To know that what I made to reach other people still has a place to maybe do that. And right now, smiling, hoping, and reaching other people might just be some of the most important things we can implement. So this brainchild of the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival is possibly doing way more than they can even predict by not throwing in the towel.

Tanna, what are your general thoughts about film festivals adding online presentations of films?

TANNA: I think we will and should see a surge in online festivals not only during the time of the coronavirus but as an effective way to bring the filmmaking community closer together. From an indie filmmaker’s standpoint, it is far more economically feasible than to ‘travel’ to several festivals with a film that one has invested months if not years into – with their pocketbooks, their energy, pulling favors from everyone. After all of that, you routinely have little left to budget into PR.  

The exploration of an online community of filmmakers playing their films could really open up opportunities for the cast and crew of these smaller budget films to participate by ‘virtually attending’ festivals. Most films couldn’t provide that for them. That experience is sometimes as special a part of the process as pre- and post production itself. AND to possibly streamline distributors to such online festivals could make it possible to reap income not just from the bigger fests but from any fest that might employ online viewing.  

What were/are your concerns with the online presentation? Potential for pirating? 

RON: Well, of course there are always concerns for online presentation and the pirating issue. The question warrants a huge discussion that will need to be addressed if online film festivals become ubiquitous. But given the current state of events, and for all the folks that paid hard-earned money to attend the film festival, we were compelled to deliver an experience and connect with that audience who had faith in buying tickets to see these films.

What conversations did you have with Wendy Eidson and the SLO Film Fest staff prior to agreeing to participate in the online presentation to put your minds at ease in order to agree to do it?

TANNA: Wendy jumped to the task! It basically boiled down to, ‘We don’t want to cancel!  We want to do this online!  Who’s in?’  And after all the e-mails about cancelled festivals and events with no end in sight, we thought, ‘Why not?’  It was such a positive reflex on Wendy and the SLO Film Fest staff’s behalf. Our film covers mental health and May is Mental Health Awareness Month.  With COVID-19 people being cooped up inside and a real battle that will face everyone goes beyond the physical responsibility of staying healthy to the conundrum of how to keep oneself protected mentally. Online artistic platforms such as this one is such a constructive way to not only highlight a geographic region where the festival is being ‘held’ via a virtual tour of its programming but give people hope and agency to keep planning and moving forward in their lives. It’s great that Wendy was not fazed by what couldn’t take place but focused on what the possibilities could be: a broader audience base and a mental relief for those seeking out artistic comfort.

RON: Safety and security were the first things that Wendy addressed in reaching out to us, and we/they took measures to control the content while still being able to connect to their audience. Again, these are unprecedented times and the timing of it all made it an easy decision for us to participate. I believe this is the 26th year that SLO Film Fest have been in operation, so everyone is clearly well-informed about the challenges that online presentation presents. We are so happy to connect with an audience during the festival and feel we are in good hands. Hopefully we bring an experience of value into some people’s homes.

Did either of you check out any of the other films that were presented online?

RON: Yes! I watched Gille Klabin’s mind-bending THE WAVE and the mesmerizing documentary AGNIYOGANA (LOWER THE HEAD AND INVOKE THE FIRE) by Emma Balnaves.  Both films blew me away in totally different ways.  I recommend them highly for truth & soul seekers alike. Those were easily a couple favorites of mine.

TANNA: John Walker’s ASSHOLES: A THEORY was great! Also, to give shout outs to some shorts, Illogic’s MAESTRO, an animated short about a bird performing an opera was beautiful, and Brian Gersten’s THE GREAT TOILET PAPER SCARE is timely, right?

With so many film festivals canceling or postponing currently, what is ahead for the film that you currently know of for 2020?

TANNA: Everything now is at a standstill in a lot of ways. We will try to move straight into distribution, I suppose, but as a film with no studio backing for PR we were relying on festivals for building a grassroots audience base. To go from state to state, festival to festival, has been our our means to piecemeal a following together and create word of mouth. And it’s worked – garnering festival screenings, awards, and audience support through those festival appearances has been our baseline over the last year to show distributors our film is worth investing in.  

Each festival serves as a medium to figure out who our audience is when we can’t afford to hold test screenings to gauge audience reactions. Following each festival, we’re repositioning and rethinking our plan for distribution because we’re lucky enough to understand who and where to place our film. But that takes time and it has been a journey festival to festival as we cross our fingers and earn support from them and their audiences. It is essential for filmmakers to have festivals play in and in this day when they matter more than ever before, thank goodness for festivals like SLO Film Fest that are turning to new inventive methods of hosting.

RON: We still have engagements at the North Hollywood (NoHo) Film Festival, Myrtle Beach International Film Festival, Fort Myers International Film Festival, and a yet to be announced Southern California engagement. We are also playing a few engagements in Iowa, including a big mental health summit, very close to where we filmed the movie. All of these engagements have been rescheduled, the dates ranging from the end of summer to fall, dependent of course on how the Coronavirus situation unfolds. Fortunately, we keep getting invited to play at film festivals and we look forward to keep connecting with audiences as we all safely make our way through this crisis. Please everyone, stay safe and follow the health guidelines. We thank you for this opportunity to connect with you.