Steven Soderbergh Presents Blockchain Award to NFT-Funded Film 'Calladita'

While Web3 has yet to catch up outside of the cryptocurrency space, Film3 had a big moment in the spotlight in Park City, Utah on Saturday when 'Calladita,' a new film from director Miguel Faus, was named the winner of the Andrews / Bernardo Award.

Established by renowned director Steven Soderbergh and the Decentralized Pictures platform, the award provides $300,000 in funding to complete outstanding English-language feature films and shorts, for up to three filmmakers.

“Winning this Steven Soderbergh award is a dream come true for me and the entire Calladita team and community,” Faus said Decipher via direct message, adding that he believes Film3 is the future. of independent cinema and is the reason why “Calladita” exists.

"caladita" tells the story of Ana and, according to Faus, is a portrait of the Catalan high bourgeoisie, with a mixture of realism and satire.

“The film touches on issues of class differences and injustice from a deep and sophisticated perspective, moving away from clichés and easy caricatures,” Faus wrote in the film's description.

Unlike traditional movies, the team behind Calladita financed the movie using NFTs. This practice gained traction in 2021 and 2022, with other filmmakers, including iconic directors. Spike Lee and Kevin Smith, turning to digital collectibles to fund movies and drive engagement.

“This movie started as a crazy idea in my mind that maybe I could finance my first feature through a collection of NFTs, and a few months later, thanks to 500 degens on the internet who believed in us and coined our NFTs, we were able to make the movie,” Faus said. "To now have it awarded by an independent film legend like Steven is a dream come true."

With NFT, film productions can create unique digital assets and sell them to collectors, investors, and fans. Now, instead of just buying a ticket, moviegoers can own a piece of digital cinema history while directly watching the next Hollywood blockbuster.

“What blockchain allows us to do is not just determine in a fair and transparent way who is most deserving of the funding that we offer,” Decentralized Pictures co-founder Leo Matchett said during a panel at the Film3 on the Mountain conference, which took place in held in conjunction with the annual Sundance Film event. Festival. "But it also has this mechanism of incentivized behavior built into it."

They joined Matchett for the panel discussion, moderated by Decrypt Studios' Alanna Roazzi-Laforet, Decentralized Pictures co-founder Mike Musante and Rebecca Barkin, president of the Metaverse platform. Lamina1.

“The use of tokens goes back to how you get people to vote. How do you get them to spend time reviewing the projects?” Musante said. “So we created a token that is the incentive for people to vote.”

Launched in the summer of 2021 by Mike Musante and producers Roman Coppola and Matchett, with a $50,000 documentary funding award from The Gotham Film & Media Institute, Decentralized Images is a blockchain-based platform where filmmakers can submit proposals. of films by paying a shipping fee in the project's native token, FILMCredits (FILM).

In April 2022, Soderbergh funded the $300,000 grant into the decentralized imaging platform. At the launch, he told IndieWire that he was interested to see if blockchain movie financing works. For “Calladita”, he did.

While the world may not be ready to buy a JPEG monkey, the idea of directly funding and supporting your favorite creator could be the spark that launches a revolution in Web3 and Film3, creating a direct connection between filmmakers and their audience. .