Kickstarter has signed up 32 theaters for its fifth annual free film festival on Oct. 15, highlighted by the vampire comedy “What We Do in the Shadows.”
“Getting your film made is the goal, but getting it in front of an audience is the fun part,” said Kickstarter CEO Yancey Strickler. “That’s why we made the Kickstarter Film Fest. We’re proud to shine the spotlight on independent filmmakers and creative people who are telling great stories. And this year’s audience will be bigger than ever.”
The Kickstarter campaign for “What We Do in the Shadows” raised $446,666 from 7,204 backers. The U.S. theatrical release topped $3.2 million with the film drawing another $2.7 million internationally and winning the Toronto International Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award.
The program includes four other films which received Kickstarter funds — “Afronauts,” which debuted at last year’s Sundance festival; “T-Rex,” the story of a teenage girl — Claressa “T-Rex” Shields — who becomes the one of first women to box in the Olympic Games; stop-motion animated film “Submarine Sandwich”; and “World of Tomorrow,” which won the grand prize at Sundance for Best Animated Short.
More than 18,000 film projects have been successfully funded on Kickstarter, and 2 million people have pledged nearly $300 million in support of film projects.
