Pocket Releasing with Power UP

by Brian Hickey | Published October 8, 2007

New movie studios and new divisions of existing movie studios are created (or closed) almost every day, with little to no fanfare. Usually, it’s not worth keeping track unless you’re a studio suit. Well, Power Up, the only non-profit, all-volunteer, gay-influenced studio is one to keep an eye on. In July 2007, the niche studio announced their new Pocket Releasing division, which will focus on smaller, arthouse films with lesbian and gay themes. At the top of this new studio stands former Warner Bros. International Home Video assistant director Josephine Hunt-Korn, ready to embark on a daring new venture.

Stacy Codikow, Power Up’s founder and executive director, is excited about the wider audience these films will now reach. “We are launching this company to be able to give the attention to films that would normally be dumped into the DVD market but deserve a chance to have an audience see it as the director intended: At the theatre,” she says, adding that it has become too costly for the average small distributor to work with these niche films.

Pocket Releasing’s inaugural film will be the award-winning Itty Bitty Titty Committee, directed by Jamie Babbit (But I’m A Cheerleader). With successful runs at the Berlin and SXSW Film Festivals already under its belt, the film began a limited engagement at the Laemmele Sunset 5 in Los Angeles on September 28. If all goes well, at least Itty Bitty Titty Committee has the chance of a wider release and at best, Power Up has opened up the industry to an entirely new form of studio.

For more information on how you can Power Up, head over to www.power-up.net.