Jon Bernthal & Director John Pollono Explain Why They Don’t Want Their SXSW Film To Premiere On Amazon

Recently, it was announced that SXSW has teamed with Amazon to provide a streaming platform for filmmakers that were selected to take part of the now-canceled festival to allow for them to premiere their films to a global audience. On paper, that sounds like a great idea, as many of these indie selections will probably have more eyes on their films via Prime Video than at the select screenings in Austin, Texas. However, for Jon Bernthal and John Pollono, the star and director, respectively, of “Small Engine Repair,” they’re not interested in what Amazon Prime Video offers.

Speaking to Deadline, the two men discussed the idea of premiering their SXSW film on Amazon’s free-to-the-public SXSW program and why they’re not willing to do it. And while you may think it’s crazy for a filmmaker to pass up the opportunity to show their film to a global audience in light of the festival’s cancellation, it’s clear that Bernthal and Pollono have waited so long to show “Small Engine Repair” in front of an audience and they’re willing to wait until they can properly do so.

“We appreciate Amazon’s gesture, but we are going to ride this out. It was made to be seen in theaters, with an audience,” said filmmaker Pollono.

Bernthal added, “While we struggled over this movie for a decade, the light at the end of the tunnel was always how sweet that first screening with a real audience was going to be, and we haven’t had that. We heard SXSW was the right place to show this specific movie. That hurts. We’ve never had an audience full of film lovers, surrounding us and watching the final version of the film at its highest possible resolution, and really soaking that in. That for us was always the finish line, and whatever happened after, you don’t know.”

We have yet to find out what films will screen as part of the SXSW/Amazon deal. We imagine there will be quite a few filmmakers willing to showcase their films on the streaming platform for free. However, if Bernthal and Pollono are any indication, there will likely be a good number of folks that are just going to wait for this pandemic to pass, so that they can give their film the premiere they feel it deserves.

Ultimately, Bernthal is confident that once the pandemic runs its course and the world returns to a bit of normalcy, the desire to leave the house will prompt people to go to the cinemas once again. At least, that’s the hope.

“I also think that when this shit’s over, and God willing it’s soon, people are going to want to get out of the house and have these communal experiences as soon as it’s safe to,” said the actor. “There’s nothing I want to do more than bring my kids to a movie or a play.”

Of course, that seems to be months away. And instead of attempting to find an audience on Amazon Prime, the folks behind “Small Engine Repair” are willing to wait it out and take their chances in a post-COVID-19 film industry.