Limited release increases value of a film: Pene Patrick

The director of Playing for Charlie, Pene Patrick, says a cinema release, as limited as it may be, increases the value of a film.

“It increases the value in terms of its sales to other windows; since we announced our release we managed to attract a DVD distributor and an international sales agent,” Patrick told Encore.

The cinema release this week, says Patrick, will allow the film to be seen by as many people as possible, but filmmakers have to be realistic when the numbers of screens is limited and there is no big marketing campaign or recognisable stars.

Playing for Charlie is NZ-born Patrick’s feature debut, and she admits that it was developed as a purely  artistic endeavour made by  “a production company of one employee”, under the 10BA scheme and with the $1m budget supplied by “a couple who love art”.