Notes from an Invisible Filmmaker

By Roger Paradiso

The Invisible Filmmaker is a condition of the 21st Century. It’s streaming and digital warfare causing turbulence in the relationship between independent artists and the large conglomerates running the international commercial streaming systems. One is made by individuals who craft their art from a singular vision. The other is commercial mechanical art made by many people who work in a sort of factory system producing films solely to make money. Independent filmmakers can exist in the international commercial streaming systems but it is rough going.

Both systems are needed in a healthy world. And ironically, both are in jeopardy by individuals, governments and political systems that don’t respect copyrights, patents and trademarks. They believe in the dangerous notion that independent artists should not be paid.

In July 2023 I gave an interview to Wild Filmmaker Magazine (see reprint below), a disruptor to film festivals and a supporter of independent artists. Along with other organizations, they are fighting a guerrilla war against streamers who dominate the business. The job of all indie artists is to join together and define how they get a fair share of the pie for their work.

And we need to prevent incursions of films like Barbie into our art theaters which provide one of the most lucrative ways for an indie film to be seen and artists to be paid.

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From John Huston to Robert De Niro

Interview with Roger Paradiso ~ Wild Filmmaker

Who is Roger Paradiso?

I am an independent filmmaker and journalist. I had a great learning experience working as an AD, UPM and producer in the studio system. That started in my mid-twenties after I had done short films, theater productions and home video as a director, writer and designer. I made a good living in the commercial film business and I am forever grateful to my mentors in the Hollywood system.

I got to meet directors like John Huston, Woody Allen, Norman Jewison, John McTiernan, Adrian Lyne, Irwin Winkler, Robert De Niro and many others.

But then it was time, when my family was settled, to return to my roots as an independent filmmaker on films like Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding, I Want My Name Back (about the Sugarhill Gang), The Lost Village (about the gentrification and displacement of artists from Greenwich Village), Searching for Camelot (about John, Jackie and Robert Kennedy and the search for civil rights).

What inspired you to become a filmmaker?

Early on it was iconic filmmakers like Stanley Kubrick, John Huston, Federico Fellini and others. It was, at the time, about freedom in expression and unique visions. You can see and taste an independent film.

We need our audience to get out there and support independent artists. But right now, you can only get truly independent films in the festivals and in a few art house cinemas. You can stream them at some revolutionary companies like Globalcinema.online.

It feels like independent films are being sent to the gulags.

Do you think the cinema can bring a change in the society?

No, I think it can change individuals. It is up to these individuals to support freedom and equality by voting and by peaceful protest. You gotta get in the streets to live in the Wild. Then and only then will you see changes in society. We need leaders and benefactors with money. We need to monetize independent films like we do fine art.

Where do you see the film industry going in the next 100 years?

I see the continued erosion of commercial filmmaking to the point where it is all propaganda streamed to your home or by a chip to your brain. I want to see independent filmmakers being supported by a rebellious and educated society that includes billions of young and old people raging against the machine. I want to see films being shown in retro theaters either brick and mortar or online all over the world. Film will have a rebirth. I hope that festivals will start paying artists and becoming centers of distribution and celebrations. Festivals are the new art houses. They are either connected to physical theaters–or festivals will join an internet streaming service for indie films.

Art houses and alternative theaters like churches for screenings and bookstores selling DVDs will be many of the brick-and-mortar parts of a distribution system. More and more indie streamers will become art houses streaming indie films to sophisticated and rebellious audiences worldwide. I see cultural centers like festivals promoting global and nonviolent films which support a system where independent artists can make a living.

I also see the continuation of the battle of fascism over democracy. Fascists control the messaging and they do not want indie films. But I see hope for the future as we continue our evolution to a peaceful planet. But it will not be easy. We will need leaders who cannot be bought and sold.