Staff Picks is dedicated to surfacing the best music, film, and art downloads on the Internet; digitally handmade by BitTorrent Publishers. Read on for this week’s finds.
In this week’s Friday Download, we have a dramatic film by Noam Kroll. Footsteps follows a young war veteran, Martin Tate, as he adjusts to returning home after military service in the Middle East. Kroll explains that it’s not a war movie – war is just the backdrop. With a background in dramatic films and human psychology, Kroll created a character-driven story that’s ultimately about a young man trying to put his life back together. Now, Kroll wants to make his passion-project film available to all. Enter your email to download Footsteps for free as a BitTorrent Bundle.
Read on for our interview with the award-winning director about Footless and filmmaking today. Plus, the free download link.
Q. Can you tell me about the creative process of making this film?
Since the budget was small, I was forced to make creative choices that would keep our budget low, while not sacrificing the story. Ultimately, this was achieved by focusing on the relationships between the characters, rather than the action that was taking place within the story. It was a blessing in disguise, because if we had all the money and locations, we might not have ended up with such a human story.
Q. What drove you to BitTorrent Bundle? Why did you decide to release your film for free on our platform?
I learned about Bundles through your Moby collaboration. I quickly fell in love with it. For years I have been looking for a platform that connects filmmakers to their viewers in a way that is simple, powerful, and flexible. Bundles is really all three.
Q. What’s next? What do you hope to achieve now that you’ve released your film?
My goal is simply to get the film seen by the world. This was my first feature and was never intended to have a theatrical release. My one and only goal was to showcase my work as a director, and the hard word put in by the rest of the cast and crew.
Q. What’s it like being a filmmaker today? What role will technology play?
Being a filmmaker today encompasses so much more than what it did just a few years ago. Directors in the early days of cinema had one job – to direct the actors. Over the years, that expanded to directing other facets of the production, and moved to filmmakers starting to produce their own work entirely. BitTorrent, I think, represents the next step in this evolution. Filmmakers today often need to self-distribute their films, too. And once you wrap your head around that fact, there are only so many platforms that exist that allow you to showcase your work with the world. BitTorrent Bundle is the most flexible and adaptable system out there that truly puts the power in the hands of the filmmaker. It will act as a launching pad for every modern form of distribution in the world.
