We Survived till '25: Now Get it Fixed in '26. Today Let's Talk About... Art as Resistance: A List of the Best Films from WW2. Plus, it's Public Domain Day & DARUMA Ended 2024 at #1 on a Best-Of List
January 1, 2025 is Public Domain Day: Works from 1929 are open to all, as are sound recordings from 1924. Plus: The Rumpus has opened up for submissions and check out indie film MAYBE FOREVER.
We made it! It’s 2025! We survived! (Barely!)
I’m taking bets on what the new mantra is going to be for the coming year and my husband coined a good one: Get it fixed in ‘26.
Ugh. I hope that things don’t go the way of 2024 and that 2025 brings with it a lot of energy and innovation because we can’t go through that again. Hopefully today’s post will motivate and galvanize you into a productive year ahead, one with you steering your own ship toward success.
If you’re new to this Substack about Indie Film Marketing & PR, welcome!
I post four articles a month with at least one free public post per month. Each post gets into the nitty gritty of indie film marketing, PR and distribution and contains insight into these topics as they specifically relate to indie film.
This month’s free post covers a variety of topics and shares a number of useful links as well as lays out my own personal goal for 2025: to always be working on something, paid or not.
But before I dive into today’s topics, I was surprised by this news yesterday: my movie DARUMA was named the top film of 2024 by Michael Clark of the Atlanta Film Critics Society.
It was completely unexpected and a phenomenal way to close out 2024. This list put the film in the company of movies like Conclave, Super/Man and Woman of the Hour.
If you’d like to read the full list here is the link, but here is what the article had to say about the film:
This prototypical “under the radar,” shoestring budget movie came to my attention only a week before I finished compiling this list. It is one of those ultra-rare instances where I expected nothing, and received so much more. A wheelchair-bound, angry, unemployed alcoholic veteran is informed he has a 4-year-old daughter whose mother just died, and he is now her legal guardian. Giving away more plot than that would rob all interested viewers of the many twists that unfold along the way. Suffice to say, it will first break your heart, put it back together, and then pleasantly melt it. (100/99 - Fandango at Home)
As indie filmmakers, I cannot stress to you enough just how vital getting your PR and marketing plan in place is as you’re planning to make the movie. There are no guarantees with anything but I can tell you that having done this now, counting on a regular distributor outside of the studio network to do this for you is setting yourself and your film up for failure and it’s too big of a gamble for you to make.
You cannot wait until your film is accepted into a festival or picked up by a distributor and think that will be enough. It’s not.
You have to continually be thinking outside of the box and generating new places for people to discover your film. And speaking of, if you’d like to see the film that made it to #1 on this list, here’s a link to it:
Goals For 2025 and Beyond
I won’t lie: I’m nervous about 2025 and all that’s going to come down the pipeline. But I don’t like feeling powerless so I’m resolved to do something: I’m going to continue to make art and films and support projects that I believe in.
Work begets work and staying busy is going to not only help keep me productive but stave off the growing feeling of dread I have for the coming year. And that’s largely what this post is in an effort to address: using art as resistance and a means of taking your power back. And indeed, giving yourself the power to do something. This is partly why I encourage filmmakers to be so proactive in driving the success of their films and why I encourage my clients to choose themselves, rather than waiting for someone to choose them.
For me, combating misinformation is one of the biggest things I want my work to tackle in the year ahead, because so much misinformation is intentionally planted to persuade public opinion (you witnessed astroturfing in real time and saw it methodically laid out in Blake Lively’s lawsuit) into a desired result, regardless of whether or not it’s true.
And yes, this happens other places as well, not just in celebrity culture. It most glaringly happens in politics and on social media all the time and it’s pretty striking to see how public discourse and opinion gets swayed and manipulated with some strategically placed Tweets and Reddit threads.
It’s disheartening but this is why I’m making tackling disinformation and media literacy central themes to my upcoming work in the New Year, because as you can see, it’s critically important.
Art As Resistance: The Best Films Made From 1937 - 1945
In times of darkness, you must find the light and I know a lot of people are uncertain about things at the moment. So as a comparison, I wanted to look at the films that came out of one of the darkest periods in modern history, World War II. I wanted to see what films resonated with the public zeitgeist during that time of upheaval and so compiled the following list.
The level of craftsmanship, quality and indeed, the way these films have become “classics” just goes to show you that even in times of extreme uncertainty, people look to the arts and more directly, look to storytellers to help them make sense of chaotic and overwhelming situations. It’s reassuring to me and indicative that we haven’t entirely lost our humanity… not yet anyway.
Not surprisingly, a lot of these films dealt with the war itself (Casablanca), but a lot of these movies tackled other injustices, such as Gaslight, which is a movie about a woman who’s husband tries to intentionally make her feel like she’s going crazy so he can steal her money.
Though 1939 is widely considered the BEST year in film history, here’s a list of some of the incredible films made from 1937 - 1945:
Casablanca - 1942
Gaslight - 1944
The Wizard of Oz - 1939
Gone With the Wind - 1939
Citizen Kane - 1941
The Best Years of Our Lives - 1946, but close enough to make this list
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - 1937
The Adventures of Robin Hood - 1937
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - 1939
Mildred Pierce - 1945
The Philadelphia Story - 1940
The Maltese Falcon - 1941
Ninotchka - 1939
Mr. Chips - 1939
Meet Me in St. Louis - 1944
Of course, there are many, many more, but what do you glean from this list? Are any of your favorites on it? I like to imagine that during this period of uncertainty, films were not only sources of comfort but instruction as well, as people around the world tried to make sense of the chaos going on around them and looked to movies as sources of inspiration.
Hopefully, 2025 and beyond will yield us with some of the most influential films the world will ever see as we try to make sense of the world we’re heading into.
Watch Indie Film Maybe Forever
Again, if you’re new here, welcome! Part of my commitment to the indie film community is to promote an indie film once a week at no charge to the filmmakers. This week’s film is indie movie MAYBE FOREVER:
Sofia Ramirez is a middle aged divorcee who has never given up on love. Greg Campano is a loner and a romantic, who didn’t think he’d find anyone worthy of his love. But these two find each other and go on a romantic date. This movie is about their day-long journey through the city of LA.
As always if you have an indie film you’d like me to promote, click here to submit your materials. I do not promote crowdfunding campaigns but I also never charge to plug your film! This support matters and I hope you’ll spread the love around.
Submit Your Writing to The Rumpus
I first discovered The Rumpus because the great author Cheryl Strayed (Wild) frequently publishes there. They are announcing their inaugural Rumpus Prize for Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Nonfiction.
Submissions are open December 5, 2024, to March 2, 2025. The Rumpus has a long history of championing emerging and established poets, fiction writers, and essayists, and we’re pleased to announce a new way the magazine will bring attention to great writing.
If you are a writer and not in the position to get a movie or short made at the moment, I encourage you to keep creating because you are developing IP for yourself, IP that you can use to get yourself an agent or manager, as well as create a catalogue of work.
The goal for 2025 is to always be working on something.
Good luck!
It’s Public Domain Day! A List of Select Films & Books Entering Public Domain 2025
One of the best parts of the New Year is the new list of all the titles entering into the public domain. Under the Copyright Term Extension Act, books published and films released in 1929 enter the public domain in 2025.
When I published this list last year, the big news was the indie slasher movie WINNIE THE POOH: BLOOD AND HONEY. It turned the beloved A.A. Milne character into a feral, blood thirsty killer and has since spawned numerous copycats looking to cash in on IP now in the public domain, like THE MOUSE TRAP, which was announced the same day Steamboat Willie went into the public domain.
This year the big characters are the original iterations of Popeye and Tin Tin, and already POPEYE THE SLAYER MAN has been announced from ITN Studios, the same people that brought you, you guessed it, Blood and Honey. Even Netflix is getting in on it with an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials Mystery.
So if you’re looking to quickly pitch a slasher movie, you might want to look ahead at what’s coming down the pipeline in 2026 and beyond and put your pitches together based on that.
Of course, you can always remake some of these classics into movies that don’t turn the beloved characters into murderous villains, but by all means, do what motivates you to create.
The list of select titles for 2025 is here.
If You’re Playing in a Festival This Year and Want to Work With Me, Read On!
I’m opening up to new clients and consultations in the New Year and love working with indie filmmakers on their PR and festival strategies.
With the rising costs of literally everything I waffled back and forth as to whether or not I should consider a rate increase and ultimately I decided not to do so for the time being, for this Substack or for my consulting rates. So for now, the rates are what they were in 2024. If you’re looking to lay the groundwork for your own project or want to project solve with me and devise a plan, book your one hour session here or contact me to discuss a more in-depth engagement.
We’ll start with a 10-15 minute call or Zoom to discuss your project at no charge. If you decide you want to book a session you’ll be sent a client intake form and payment information and we’ll pick a time that works for you.
I need that intake form back no less than 48 hours in advance of our meeting so I have time to prepare because everyone’s situation is different.
In our session we’ll cover everything. I’ll give you feedback, ideas, advice, traps to avoid and more. It’s my hope that your time with me will save you a ton of money and heartache down the line. I work with clients at ALL stages of production or development in multiple verticals: film, publishing, tech, fundraising, small business start ups and more. You benefit from my lived experience in ALL of these fields and you leave being armed with knowledge and insight to move forward from a position of strength and clarity.
Ready to get going on your project? Book your session here.