Catching Up With Short Filmmaker Ian Martin

Ian Martin’s short film The European Kid could be called the sleeper hit from this past SXSX shorts extravaganza.  Besides following the festival route, he’s been published in the notable literary publication Open City, considering his distribution and acting options, and perhaps abandoning a werewolf novel.  

What’s been going on with you and your film since it premiered at SXSW this March?

There was a great flurry of activity after SXSW.  We screened at the Wisconsin Film Festival and won a jury award, we were written up in the Chicago Tribune and screened at Midwest Independent Film Festival and the Independent Film Festival of Boston.   We also screened as part of the Rooftop Film Series in NYC.  Through Rooftop, we were able to start streaming the film on IFC.com. Check it out here.

SXSW was really a springboard to a lot of these festivals and venues I wonder what would have become of the film had it not screened at the festival.  God bless SXSW’s independent-minded heart; I’m really grateful that they scooped us up and gave us a little spot in their nest.

Also, this is separate from the film stuff, but I had a short story published in Open City Magazine (www.opencity.org), issue 24.  

Distribution of short films online and elsewhere is changing and evolving every day and can be tricky.   How are you handling it?  How can people get their grubby hands on it? What snags have you run into?  Any advise for other first time short filmmakers?

Well, I’m very glad that we’re streaming online now at IFC.com so I can now direct them toward that site.  There are so many short films being shown on the internet now that finding sorting through the films to find what you like can be sort of difficult and from what I’ve seen it looks as if IFC has compiled some really interesting stuff.  Posting the film online is great, it’s an easy way for anyone to see the film and I love that aspect of the internet, but I also really like the idea of getting people an actual object or theatrical experience in addition to something that’s available online.  When we were at SXSW and Wisconsin I burned mini-DVD copies of the film and handed them out in tiny envelopes and I really love screening at festivals, having an audience react in person is a great experience.  I wish someone would take a bunch of short films and put together a short film roadshow.  I think that would be a really cool form of distribution (though perhaps not cost-effective.)  We’re also in the process of updating europeankidmovie.com and we’ll hopefully soon have an easy way for people to request or order a hard copy of the film.  

Last I heard, you were working on a feature project.  What stage are you in?  Is it a comedy?   Say yes.

Yes!  We’re working on a feature film called  An Abandoned Werewolf Novel and we’re shooting this spring.  It’s about a married man whose life falls apart when he reconnects with an old college friend.  There are funny parts, there are serious parts.  I guess it’s a movie for anyone who likes either funny things or serious things.  I’m very excited about it.  

Do you plan on keeping up on the acting side, casting yourself in future work?

I have a small role in Abandoned Werewolf Novel.  I get to play a retired gymnast.  I love acting and I hope I get a chance to keep doing it in my friend’s films and in my own films, though I find acting in my own films kind of difficult and I don’t think I could do much more than a supporting role.