John Sayles and kung-fu, and why...

If you haven't heard (and we've been a bit breathless about it on Twitter, for good reason), Variance is partnering with Anarchist's Convention, the production company of John Sayles and Maggie Renzi, to release John Sayles' AMIGO this August.

To say we're excited is an understatement. John Sayles is one of our absolute favorites (LONE STAR, MATEWAN, and SUNSHINE STATE in particular stand out), and the film plays perfectly to a lot of our strengths- the two audiences we have the most experience reaching are art house audiences seeking quality films, and Asian American audiences in theaters in their home communities, and this film hits them both.

I was doing an interview for a podcast yesterday, and was asked "what kinds of films do you prefer for your slate?", a question to which, in looking it over, I don't have an answer to.

We do music documentaries about fringe genres and figures.
We do low-budget black and white indie musicals.
We do documentaries about education.
We do films by name directors.
We do kung-fu movies.
We do Vietnamese romantic comedies.
We do wacky comedies.

And, we've got five more films in the pipes that we haven't announced yet.

What do they have in common? After a lot of looking, I'd say the following:

-They're good, entertaining, sometimes thought-provoking, and well-made films that belong in a theater.
-They're films that have at least one distinct audience that we can start the ball rolling with- the audience isn't "everyone".
-They have involved and intelligent filmmakers/producers attached that are willing to work to get them to succeed.
-They have producers that understand that "wait and see what happens" isn't the right plan, and a VOD/DVD plan has to be in place before we go.
-We enjoyed watching the film, and expect to enjoy working on it for the next 4-9 months.

That's not a lot to work from if you're trying to figure out "is this for Variance or not", but that's what these films have in common. There's really no genre/type of film we're either looking for or not (though I cringe every time someone tells me they've made a $2 million indie thriller with a b minus cast of 90s action stars).

So, um, bring it.