Three weeks, 5 countries, 9 venues, 100 meetings — and that’s just 3 weeks in the middle of the fourth quarter. We support the organizational infrastructure of the community, literally around the world. Find out more after the jump!

SCREENINGS — IndiePix was well represented by its films during this period. Here’s a sampling of the screenings and events …

The End of America. The month opened with a a sold out screening of The End of America in Salt Lake City, following it’s successful world premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival a couple of weeks early. And just a few days later, the film had its extraordinary international premiere at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival where it achieved tremendous coverage in the leading UK press.

Orthodox Stance. The inspiring story of Dimitry Salita, the 25 year old boxing sensation who combines his skill as a pro boxer with devotion to his faith, expands its global screening schedule with events at the Amsterdam Jewish Film Festival. Dimitry won his match at Madison Square Garden last Saturday night.

Axe In The Attic. The film that Roger Ebert called “a shattering documentary” was invited to the Festival International Du Cinema Des Peuples in New Caledonia. This film on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which is now in the festival circuit and in educational market distribution, resonates strongly with the people of these low lying islands. Our filmmaker, Lucia Small, was invited to present the film, and who would turn down a trip to the South Sea Island of New Calendonia? Congratulations to her. The film will be available to the general public in the first quarter of next year.

FESTIVALS — IndiePix was participated in six festivals during this 3 week period, building our presence in and supporting the key element of the independent film community’s informal institutional structure. The role that festivals play is critical, and we do what we can to support their work …

Sheffield International Doc Fest. Festival Director Heather Croall took over leadership of the Sheffield Doc Fest three years ago and has made it into one of the most important documentary festivals of the Fall season. We met her and her team in London in April, worked on developing a sponsorship package for IndiePix, offer to launch The End of America internationally at the festival, sent both Ryan Harrington and Danielle DiGiacomo to the event, and participated in panels and their innovative “Meet Market” program of filmmaker meetings. This is a terrific event, and we’re proud to have been part of it and will be eager to return next year.

Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival. Danielle was invited to participate in the JID Film Fest in Jihlava, Czech Republic. She was a panelist and met with a number of filmmakers in one-on-one meetings.

Copenhagen Documentary Film Festival and Forum. Liz is off to Copenhagen, Denmark, to participate in the Documentary Film Festival and Forum there. She will be a panelist in the new distributions panel as well. And her meeting schedule looks like that dance card of the prom queen. Go Liz!

Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival Based in NYC, the MIACC is a powerful presence in independent film from India. The New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT) organized a panel discussion on “traditional and alternative methods of distribution” — with Bob substituting for Liz. This is an important festival and we were happy to be able to support it for the second year in a row. Elaine Newman from the Tribeca Film Institute did a great job of putting the panel together and then keeping us in our places!

PANELS and MEETINGS — Events are great, but the real action is in the one-on-one meetings with the filmmakers, distributors, commissioning editors, buyers, festival programmers, and others that comprise what we call the “institutional framework of independent film”. These are the groups that are on leading the effort to build the independent film community. These are the people and organizations that we want to support. And this is how we did it ….

Jhilava — about 15 meetings with filmmakers as part of their one-on-one pitch meeting agenda. These meetings, coupled with the panel discussion Danielle participated in, gave us a good overview films and filmmakers from central Europe.

Prague — 2 meetings with key US television programmers, in which the discussion ranged from some of the films at Jhilava to projects that IndiePix is working on. We never miss an opportunity to promote our filmmakers.

London — our team met with a partner company in London. We’ll be making an announcement about this new partnership soon. It give us and them access to each others markets, and our filmmakers new access to more fans. Meeting count — 1.

Sheffield — from the Opening Night event, which was our party, to the final screening of The End of America on Sunday, this was an action packed four days. Total meetings — 50. This festival’s impact is reorganizing the doc distribution scene in the UK, and we are happy to be part of that.

New York — The MIACC event in New York City is an important event and the panel was well attended. Before and after, Bob had several meetings and set up several others. Happily, we met filmmaker Gayle Kirschenbaum, whom we’ve talked with before. Her film is A Dog’s Life, and this is her star! (Sadly, Chelsea was not able to make the panel discussion!)

Santa Monica — The AFM in Santa Monica, CA is a huge event, and even though things were noticeably slower and even though buyers seemed interested primarily in something like they had done two or three times before (risk management in a time of uncertainty?), it was worth it. Jason had 8 meetings with buyer and film partners (because IndiePix is on both sides of that fence), he checked out the new theater we’ll be working with there, and he talked with our partner in LA, Linda Nelson of Nelson/Madison films.

Copenhagen — Liz’s invitation to the documentary festival in Copenhagen included airfare and lodging. She’s representing IndiePix on the panel on new distribution models (doesn’t everyone want to talk about that one!) and meeting with another 15 filmkmakers directly. Liz’s reputation in the documentary and distribution sectors is unrivalled and her meetings (going on now) will be eagerly sought after, we’re sure.

Denver — and just as we were getting used to having Ryan around, he was off to participate in a jury at the Denver Film Festival presented by STARZ, the entertainment and media company based in Denver. His agenda includes additional meetings he’ll be having with filmmakers there as well as a couple of festival directors from other venues who want to see him.

SUMMARY … It’s been a busy period for sure. IndiePix seems to go through major changes every 3 or 4 months. Big steps that take us to another level and challenge us to adapt, perform, serve and deliver at entirely new levels. Big steps that give us a shot at opportunities we didn’t think we’d see for years. Big steps that help us build that global audience that inspires us to reach even further. Now we’re going to have to go take a nap!