Week Eight: 'Ida', A Foreign-Language Film Hit

Resource
How Did a Black-and-White Polish Film Become the Year's Surprise Foreign-Language Hit?


Summary    
     This article explains how the film, 'Ida', was able to get its success and what it took to reach that goal. At first, the producers were having a hard time trying to get this film seen more. It had been difficult mainly because its a black and white film, not seeming to be interesting to the eyes of the modern generation. They first concentrated on festivals, pre-release word-of-mouth screenings, and sharing the film with sneak preview audiences. The film's distributer, Music Box Films, then came to a conclusion that the film wasn't really connecting with many of the viewers and needed a different way to spread the piece. One of the company's employers even mentioned, "I didn't feel like these unmediated viewers were seeing the film properly, they needed that critical consensus". As a result, they decided that they needed to concentrate more on the distribution and try to stretch/broaden the target audience a little. Soon after this change the film found itself being a Box Office success and even scoring a 94% in Rotten Tomatoes.

Citation
Kaufman, A. (2014, October 24). How Did a Black-and-White Polish Film Become the Year's Surprise Foreign-Language Hit? Retrieved February 24, 2015, from http://www.indiewire.com/article/how-did-a-black-and-white-polish-film-become-the-years-surprise-foreign-language-hit-20141028

Quotes
• "But after five months in U.S. theaters, "Ida" has earned more than $3.7 million, making it the second highest grossing foreign-language film of the year"
• "Thus, rather than hold numerous pre-release word-of-mouth screenings, they pulled back from festivals and focused on the film's distribution — where, despite Variety's pan, the film earned widespread praise (scoring 94% from Rotten Tomatoes' Top Critics)"
• "The trailer also announces the film's Jewish themes. Although mostly quiet, one of the few key pieces of dialogue in the preview occurs 40 seconds in"

Reflection
    I feel like this was a great way for them to distribute and market the film. It usually isn't so easy for such raw and unique pieces become known and blend with other popular films currently being released. Im glad to see how they made last minute changes, in terms of marketing the film, in order to receive the audience they deserve and at the same time truly enjoy/understand the film.