In an on-going effort to create innovative fundraising opportunities, Film Fest 919 is among a group of organizations chosen to partner with NEON Films to release the critically-acclaimed documentary Spaceship Earth on Friday, May 8. With no theatrical venue available and unlike so many films that are going straight to a digital platform, the distributor is thinking outside the box and pushing the documentary’s release with partnerships, with Film Fest 919 being one of those partners.
Film Fest 919 will provide a dedicated link to those who sign up, inviting them to download and view the film for $3.99. The festival, in turn, will receive proceeds from each download, providing much-needed funds to keep the organization sustainable. The link will continue to be available, depending on the success of the opening weekend.
Film Fest 919 has a deep-rooted association with NEON, who is responsible for such critically acclaimed films as I, Tonya; Portrait of a Lady on Fire and Three Identical Strangers. Their multi-award-winning film Parasite was screened early in the award season at the 2019 FF919 and won the Audience Choice Award. The film, of course, went on to break records by winning four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best International Feature. It was especially exciting coming from a distributor run by University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill alum, founder and CEO Tom Quinn.
SPACESHIP EARTH, directed by Matt Wolf. is the true stranger-than-fiction adventure of eight visionaries who in 1991 spent two years quarantined inside of a self-engineered replica of Earth’s ecosystem called BIOSPHERE 2. The experiment was a worldwide phenomenon, chronicling daily existence in the face of life threatening ecological disaster and a growing criticism that it was nothing more than a cult. The bizarre story is both a cautionary tale and a hopeful lesson of how a small group of dreamers can potentially reimagine a new world.
Film Fest 919 will post the link to Spaceship Earth on their website www.filmfest919.com, which will be activated on May 8. Follow them on their social media pages: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
About Film Fest 919:
Film Fest 919 is a film festival based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina that highlights the best feature films the year has to offer. Founded by Randi Emerman and Carol Marshall, the festival not only showcases great films, but the artists behind them and gives audiences the opportunity to engage with them. In the festival’s inaugural year its films went on to win seven Oscars including Best Picture and looks to continue to bring films of this quality to Chapel Hill every year. The town has a strong community of people with discerning tastes and a passion for the arts and the festival aims to serve as a celebration of these qualities as well as a way of introducing people from around the country to this small corner of the south.
