The years immediately following the coronavirus pandemic were marked by a dire, almost apocalyptic view of the future of moviegoing. Audiences already decimated before the global lockdowns have become even thinner, streamers have gained market share, and small arthouse theaters have closed even after reopening with no audience return.
But over the past two years, this feeling of utter doom has slowly and steadily begun to be replaced by a tentative but very present hope. In the same pandemic year that devastated old arthouse audiences, a new generation of young moviegoers was born, fueled by cinephilia based on the Internet Archive, social media, and platforms like Letterboxd, lining up for repertory screenings and special events in major U.S. capitals and other cities around the world.
Speaking at the Costa Rica Media Market, Charlie Sextro, Utopia Distribution’s senior vice president of acquisitions and business development, explained how this phenomenon helped reshape Utopia’s release strategy last year.
Sextro, who served as Sundance’s senior film programmer and curator for 13 years before joining Utopia in March 2025, said “this is a very difficult time” for film releases. “In the United States, it might be the hardest thing ever to really connect and get traction, but it feels like everything is being destroyed right now to rebuild into something new.”
“What I like about it is that it feels like it’s based on young audiences falling in love with arthouse movies and going to independent movies,” he added. “The independent film world has always been driven by older audiences, which was the basis for the release of foreign language films and arthouse films. But that has disappeared with Covid-19, and now there is a younger generation driving arthouse. For me, that is a dream. That is what I have wanted all my life. Young cinephiles are the greatest in the world, so I am incredibly excited for what is to come.”
The executive cited the success of films like Curry Barker’s “Obsession” and Kane Parsons’ “Backroom” to illustrate how everyone these days is looking for “fandom that drives excitement.” This concept has helped shape Utopia Distribution’s recent shift in direction, with a carefully curated, event-driven strategy that will see it reduce the number of annual releases in favor of spending more time with each film.
“Back Room”, courtesy of Neon
“We are a small company,” Sextro pointed out. “We’ve been around for about seven years, which is a very long time for an indie distribution company. We used to release nine or 10 movies a year, but we’ve been doing it the old-fashioned way, just releasing very well-received films into theaters on a very regular basis, and then We were running campaign after campaign. That’s not the case anymore. So our pivot is to bring the numbers down because it’s not sustainable. We need to change the way we publish.”
Sextro said it’s still incredibly difficult to “stay in theaters” with small, independent screenings, but that you can succeed in “putting together a really great event and making the release an event.” “What we do as a company right now is we plan to release about four to five films a year, and we only release one film at a time. We also have a complex roadshow format that most companies similar to ours don’t do because it takes a lot of effort. We’re happy to do it publicly, too. But we know that if we build something that’s pure for the audience and not just fall into a traditional way, people will come and love it. They love having something made specifically for them.”
The veteran exemplified this strategy by bringing up the recently released documentary Summer Tour, produced by Chloë Sevigny and directed by Mischa Richter. Utopia decided to tour the documentary about Grateful Dead fans for six weeks prior to its general release, showing it exclusively at music venues followed by a 90-minute live concert by the Grateful Dead cover band featured in the film.
“We spend six weeks creating the material before it goes into the art house,” he said. “We’re using the first six weeks to promote the arthouse instead of just spending money. We generate revenue by creating (selling) events. I’ve always believed that movies are great and have an audience. What we need to fix now is how[movies]connect with audiences.” The way audiences interact with movies needs to change from the old, traditional way. ”
Provided by Rapha Sales Loss
This change is also a direct response to another industry-changing phenomenon: the dramatic decline in VOD licenses. “In the past year alone, we haven’t won any major streaming licensing deals from any streamers,” he said. “Every time they see our film, they say it’s too small. They’ve kind of given up on independent films and arthouse films, and that takes away a big revenue stream that could have gone into release.”
“VOD, rentals, Amazon, Apple and other streaming services are getting smaller every year,” he continued. “You won’t find arthouse movies on Apple or Amazon.”
Asked by Variety about the reason for his visit to Costa Rica, Sextro emphasized that the company is “agnostic,” especially considering that while Utopia has a diverse catalog, there are still few Latin American titles. “We release documentaries, we release foreign language films, and we release a lot of American independents.”
“We have a large Spanish-speaking audience in the United States,” he added. “There are a lot of movies that have the highest percentage of ticket buyers, so there’s a huge amount of space for that. We’re open to movies that we love and believe in and think there’s a potential audience for. That’s what we want in a movie and what we’re passionate about releasing.”
The executive said Utopia is looking for films led by filmmakers with a wealth of ideas. “We rely heavily on our filmmakers to be our release partners and to come up with ideas and collaborate creatively. Filmmakers have the best ideas because they’ve been living with film for years and years and years. Yes, I think there’s incredible potential for releasing Latin American films, and even Spanish-language films in general, in the United States. It’s a very powerful cause.”
