Trouble the Water, a gritty documentary about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, was amazing enough to win the grand jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival, but, oddly enough, isn't amazing enough to get picked up for distribution. Why? The rumor is that the film is just "too black." Execs are nervous that there aren't more white people in the movie, which was called "one of the best American documentaries in recent memory" in the New York Times. According to Defamer, this isn't the first time a Sundance winner has had trouble getting distribution because it was deemed too ethnic. Last year's Padre Nostre was considered by industry honchos to be "too Mexican" for mainstream distribution. Meanwhile, there continues to be no such thing as "too white."
This is the same reason given for why The Wire never won any major awards(sp),sad America sad.
Fuck Sundance. There are other festivals and others ways to get distribution. Everyone I know affiliated with Sundance is smug and they all think they are so fucking smart. Wittier-than-thou types.
*bitter*
There were white people stuck in the city and we saw them stranded outside the convention center and the Superdome - it just so happens that most of the white people had transportation and resources to evacuate in time (isn't that the point?)…the film wasn't made by them so why do they expect to be front and center of everything that occurs everywhere? God complex? hmmm…..