Buzz on Eventful leads to distribution deal for 'Mooz-lum'

By Sarah Sluis

Eventful may be best known as the conduit for Paranormal Activity's "Demand It" campaign, which led to the movie's viral-like success. Now the site, which also allows users to set up "Demand It" campaigns themselves, has rewarded one of its most successful campaigns. The movie Mooz-lum will be shown in twenty AMC theatres in February. The areas with the most users requesting the movie will be rewarded with a screening in their city.

Mooz-lum seems like the perfect movie to have targeted distribution. The coming-of-age drama follows a black Muslim college student struggling with his identity. It's a typical second-generation immigrant struggle, with a man stuck with one foot in his family's culture and another in the mainstreaming force of American culture. 9/11, and the heightened tensions toward Muslims that occurred during that time period, also comes into play. The writer/director Qasim Basir, a black Muslim himself, likely drew from his own life when making the movie--for example, both he and his male character go by their first initial instead of their full Muslim name.

After watching the trailer, it's clear that this movie is not a festival-type, arty film--it has more of a commercial feel to it, with some moments approaching broad melodrama. But it's clear that this story interests a group of people that will feel compelled enough to see this story on the big screen. If Eventful and AMC Entertainment team together for more films, it will be interesting to see how this type of model evolves, and what kind of films end up succeeding in this space. When people "Demand" a film, they feel more psychologically invested in the movie and more apt to see it when it actually does visit their town. It's the total opposite of how most movie marketing works--blanketing viewers with ads trying to convince us this is a movie we'd like to see. "Independent" film is often equated with arty films that appeal to cinephiles, but this movie has a commercial style but a niche subject. Perhaps these are the kind of independent films that would succeed in this independent-to-exhibition model. With so many films in the marketplace that go unseen or straight to DVD, this type of model could bring niche movies exactly to the audiences motivated to see them.