Check out the article written by Miranda Marquit about the 2006 TromaDance! Or, just read the article below:

Troma Center

The film festival experience gets really independent at TromaDance.

by Miranda Marquit

Filmmaker Frankie Frain shows obvious disillusionment. “Sundance has clearly stepped out of the independent realm,” he says. “These $15 million ‘independent’ films are impossible to compete with. When films like One Hour Photo and Eternal Sunshine [of the Spotless Mind] are entered into Sundance, the individuals—the independents unconnected to the studios—can’t get in.”

Frain’s film, I Need to Lose Ten Pounds, would probably not have been accepted into Sundance. But the 20-year-old’s feature length musical—about an overweight teenage boy who has tried everything (including ingesting condoms) to lose weight—is definitely original. And the world need not miss out on his artistry. Troma Entertainment’s alternative to Sundance, TromaDance, provides the ideal venue for filmmakers who consider themselves the true independents.

Lloyd Kaufman founded Troma Entertainment with Michael Herr, and 32 years later—after creating the Toxic Avenger franchise among other genre delights—it is the oldest continually operating independent film studio in the world. But Kaufman only got into the festival business about eight years ago when his friend Trey Parker (of South Park fame) tried to get his film Cannibal! the Musical into Sundance.

“He paid the entry fee and didn’t even get an ‘F-you letter,’” Kaufman says. “So he went to Park City and screened it out of the back of his car. It was a huge hit. The people were bored, the media was bored, with what Sundance had become. I knew I had to do something.”

In addition to enjoying its seventh year in Park City, this year Troma will invade the Toronto Festival, and enjoy its second year at the Berlin Film Festival. Edinburgh hosts TromaFling; there is a TromaDance New Mexico; and Tromapalooza, which takes place near Nashville.

This year’s TromaDance director, Kiel Walker, says that the widening popularity of Troma-based film festivals amounts to “an art movement, giving art back to the people.” Unlike many other film festivals, TromaDance does not charge a submission fee. Entrance and screening fees remain conspicuously absent. Anyone can submit, and hundreds do. While only 61 films were selected for showing this year, TromaDance also holds “secret screenings” of noncontest movies in the Troma condo.

Kiel points out, “It’s hard when you’re a struggling filmmaker. You’ve maxed out your credit cards and probably annoyed all your family and friends and went all over town trying to get funding. You want to show your movie, and all these ‘independent’ festivals are hitting you up for another $50, $60, $70 or more to get in.” And then, you probably won’t make the cut.

Sam Balcomb and Jesse Soff (both 26 years old and from Los Angeles) made the cut this year with their short film Texas Fortune. TromaDance movie selectors invited them to submit their 10-minute short about a drifter fighting the undead. Balcomb says, “We didn’t want to make just a zombie movie. We made something with a good set-up, a good payoff and a little bit of a twist.”

Troma volunteer and past TromaDance director Jonathon Lees came across Texas Fortune on DVXuser.com, where the short won an award. Like everyone else involved with TromaDance, Lees isn’t paid a dime. He makes his money as a freelance video editor and by acquiring greeting cards and animation for a cell-phone company. But he believes in TromaDance. “I spend literally months watching thousands of films outside of my day jobs,” Lees says. “We help people learn to promote their films and put them in the public eye.”

Hundreds of other people believe in TromaDance, too. They come to Park City each year to help with the festival and enjoy the festival’s free activities. And they come to support truly independent filmmakers by watching their movies.

“The whole point of making movies, other than having fun yourself, is to get them to an audience,” says Soff. “But you may not have a venue for it. TromaDance provides that venue.”