Distribution/Exhibition - looking at the indie landscape

Film Distribution is an increasingly rocky field with constant changes - a terrain that already is difficult to figure out for emergingg filmmakers. Join us as Karin Chien, award winning producer and distributor (dGenerate Films) and cofounder of Distribution Advocates, and Malkah Manouel, a film distributor and freelance theatrical booker currently working at MUBI talk about the current arena of indie film distribution and ways of strategizing the future of your film.

Join us to hear from these producers and distributors and discuss new options for getting one's films out there.

City College of NY, Shepard Hall Room 290 at 140th Street and Convent Avenue.

to get there: #1 to 137th Street, ABCD to 145th Street. ID needed to enter the building. Light refreshments served.

Contact workshop@twn.org for accessibility needs and other questions.

Karin Chien is a producer and distributor committed to bold voices and innovative forms that build practices of ethical filmmaking. As a producer, over the past 20 years, Karin has produced independent films, artwork and multi-format media that have broken new ground. Karin’s producing work has been recognized with top honors, including the Independent Spirit Producers Award, the Humanitas Prize, the Sundance Audience Award, the inaugural Cinereach Producers Award, and the 2022 Sundance Film Festival’s Producers Keynote speaker. As an advocate for producers, Karin co-created the CAAM (Center for Asian American Media) Fellowship and Karin created the Nevada City Artist Residency, the first creative retreat designed for independent producers. 

As a distributor, Karin is the Co-founder & President of dGenerate Films, which has acquired over 100 fiction & nonfiction titles of independent Chinese cinema. In 2023, dGenerate Films received Special Recognition for Distribution from the New York Film Critics Circle. Karin is a Co-founder of Distribution Advocates, a coalition to equity in structures of distribution, and as part of that work delivered the 2023 Color Congress Distribution Keynote. Karin works as a strategic advisor across the media ecosystem. 

Malkah Manouel is a film distributor and freelance theatrical booker, currently working at MUBI. They have previously worked for other distributors including Third World Newsreel, Kani Releasing, and Dedza Films. Malkah also co-runs the film website Ultra Dogme and co-programs their monthly Movie Club, a monthly streaming series of avant-garde films.