“You Can Only Sit on a Zoom Call for So Long”: Tamara Mariam Dawit (Finding Sally) on Online Markets and the Hot Docs 2020 Digital Experience

Splitting her time between Toronto and Addis Ababa, Canadian-Ethiopian filmmaker Tamara Mariam Dawit is no stranger to international workshops and events. (Or to Hot Docs. When the pandemic hit the longtime alum had been set to premiere her latest Finding Sally, a personal investigation into the life of a long-lost communist rebel aunt four decades after her disappearance.) “I think the upside of online meetings is that the cost is less. You don’t have to pay for flights and hotels, which is what often makes attending a market like Cannes or the EFM too expensive for many people,” Dawit offered. “And right now for me, attending events this spring — like Sheffield, Cannes and Hot Docs — online is better than having them canceled. But I find that online markets are really only helpful for following up with people you already know in the real world. I think it is a bit more challenging to make a meaningful connection with a new producer or decision-maker who you don’t have any past interactions with.”

To read the rest of my interview visit Filmmaker magazine.