LICO JIMENEZ THE EBONY LISZT: Building An Audience – Julie Carmen comments

When you’re a first time documentary filmmaker whose passion project revolves around a fascinating but relatively unknown subject, how do you cut through all the current media noise to get recognition and support for your work? How do you create enough interest in your story to inspire hoards to leave the comfort of their cocoons and show up at your screenings? This awards season, there are 90 international Oscar contenders and almost as many studio films. all with recognizable names, as well as innumerable indie films made by friends and family. How can your passion project make a mark?

We’ve been working on our documentary Lico Jiménez the Ebony Liszt for going on seven years and in that time we have discovered a wide range of ways to gain support for making the film and attracting potential viewers. The efforts never stop and we are constantly exploring new strategies, but our work is paying off and we’d like to share our strategies with others who may find them helpful. Continue reading on THE FEMALE GAZE

ABOUT JULIE CARMEN

Born and trained in New York City, Julie Carmen danced on Broadway in Zoot Suit, starred in the recently restored Night of the Juggler, played the Puerto Rican mother in John Cassavetes’ Gloria and is known among cosmic horror connoisseurs as Regine Dandridge in Fright Night Part Two and Linda Styles in John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness. She’s a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and was inducted into the New Mexico Film and Television Hall of Fame for her iconic roles in Robert Redford’s Milagro Beanfield War and Gore Vidal’s Billy the Kid. While on the Board of Directors of IFP/West, Julie created the John Cassavetes Award for filmmakers who embrace Cassavetes’ experiential style. Julie studied with Sanford Meisner and Uta Hagen, has a Masters in Clinical Psychology, is an LMFT and certified yoga therapist.