Popular indie-rock band The National recently kicked off the Tribeca Film Festival as stars of the documentary “Mistaken for Strangers,” about lead singer Matt Berninger’s brother Tom and his time as a roadie for the band.
Now the filmmakers are considering how best to distribute the well-received movie.
“They’re in a unique position in which they have a huge connection to a huge fanbase already,” executive producer Marshall Curry told us at the film’s Tribeca premiere. “So I think they’re thinking very seriously about self-distribution or about controlling the distribution as opposed to selling all the rights to a typical distributor.”
“We want as many people [as possible] to see it, but the way they see it, we don’t know yet,” first-time director Tom added.
Meanwhile, the band is now gearing up for a tour, playing large venues like Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
But Matt indicated that playing at a basketball arena wouldn’t be any different than playing at a small club.
“When we get up there at Barclays Center, I think we’re going to do the same thing when we did at Mercury Lounge,” he said. “We have faith in our band, and we don’t have to put on a big fancy show, even though we are putting on kind of a big fancy show.”