Josh Fox’s ‘How to Let Go of the World’ Backed by Distribber.com
Distribber.com is launching a quarterly documentary grant program, starting with Josh Fox’s “How to Let Go of the World and Love All Things Climate Can’t Change,” Variety has learned exclusively.
The grant program, operated with the International Documentary Association, is designed to empower filmmakers to take control of their releases and directly distribute their content onto major platforms like iTunes, Google Play, and Netflix worldwide — while retaining 100% of their rights and revenue. Distribber.com is making grants totaling $50,000 in the first year.
Distribber and the IDA made the announcement Thursday, a day before the film’s Los Angeles premiere at the Fine Arts Theater in Beverly Hills with a panel including Shailene Woodley, Ed Begley, Jr., Frances Fisher, Chris Paine and EMA President Debbie Levin.
“How to Let Go of the World” premiered at Sundance in January, will be screened in 100 cities and air on HBO on June 27. In his Sundance review for Variety, Ben Kenigsberg described the film as “an environmental documentary that consists of roughly one-third doom-and-gloom to two-thirds wide-eyed optimism.”
Fox received an Oscar nomination for this 2010 film “Gasland.” “How to Let Go of the World” travels to 12 countries, acknowledges that it may be too late to stop some of the worst climated consequences and asks: what is it that climate change can’t destroy?
The grant program will be open to any film receiving fiscal sponsorship from the IDA, Pare Lorentz grant recipients, or films nominated for the IDA Annual Documentary Awards.
Distribber.com has released thousands of independent films to the major platforms such as iTunes, Netflix, Google Play, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Vudu, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and DirecTV. Its documentary “The Resurrection of Jake the Snake,” directed by Steve Yu topped the charts on iTunes earlier this year.
“We have been fortunate enough both as filmmakers and as technologists to have vast experience in the distribution world and we believe in supporting outstanding filmmakers like Josh Fox. We are honored to be working with IDA on this effort,” said Nick Soares, CEO GoDigital/Distribber.com.
Distribber charges a one-time fee of $1,595 for iTunes placement, then $150 per year for account access, collection and sales stats.
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