The 2025 Sundance Film Festival was largely seen as a mutated affair, with a line-up focused on discovery over commerciality. But for producer-financier Tango Entertainment, where credits run the gamut from Oscar-nominated Aftersun to Weird Al Yankovic movie Weird, and its head Lia Buman, the festival was particularly notable.
With three films in the line-up, Tango landed the most moneyed deal to date out of Sundance, when Together, the supernatural horror starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco, sold to Neon for a reported $17 million. Another title, Sorry, Baby, the directorial debut from Eva Victor, became one of the best reviewed movies of the festival and landed distribution with A24. And then there was the Chloe Sevigny starrer Magic Farm, which was acquired by Mubi ahead of the fest.
At a time in the industry, in particular in independent production, when market forces are causing many to pull back, the six-person team at Tango doubled down, financing and producing a slate of five features in 2024. Aside from Together and Sorry, Baby, there is the upcoming Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor historical romance The History of Sound and the Olivia Coleman feature Wicker, currently in post, as well as a fifth year-to-be-announced project.
Ahead of SXSW, where Together is getting its second festival screening, Buman talks about the pitfalls of genre and working with first-time directors.
There is always a lot of gnashing of teeth in the indie film space. What is heartening about working in indie film at this current moment?
What’s heartening is that we have companies like Neon, IFC, A24, and Mubi. They are in a great place, company wise. They are leaning into what the audiences want with genre, and they’re engaging with [audiences], not only through the types of movies, but also the volume of movies and the way that they’re marketing the films.
You had three movies at Sundance this year, two coming in without distribution. While getting into Sundance is a massive platform, for a small company like Tango, does having multiple titles at one festival make you nervous? Could you be competing against yourself?
No, there were no nerves. I had a plan. (Laughs.)
What was the plan?
When the strikes made everything pretty quiet, Tango had built a reputation for having good taste, for being a good partner, and for liking risk. And I saw the opportunity to build an independent film equity financing slate. We produced and financed five different films last year. The company’s not that big. It’s six people, but I saw the opportunity when there was paralysis. When a group of people are doing one thing, I tend to think, “What else could there be that we should be doing?” I realized that there’s not going to be a lot in the marketplace for when things do come back. You’re as strong as your decisions, but I’m used to that mentality because as a theatrical buyer, your report card is so public. Tim Headington, who is my partner in the company, and I connected after I was a buyer for 10 years. He funded Film District and I worked there. The support and guidance and involvement that he has at Tango is a huge reason that we are able to do all the things that we do. He believed in this goal of not only feeding the independent film ecosystem, but becoming a pillar of it if you do a good job.
So, I read the market, and I was getting great material, and we had time because it was slow because of strikes. The plan was always that two films had to go to Sundance, because, if they didn’t, then it would be too crowded. You show up with five at a festival — I would be fine, I would figure it out — but that’s hard to navigate. But then the plan went better than expected.
Sorry, Baby was the first film for Eva Victor and Together was also a first-time feature director. What would you say to someone who is hesitant about working with a first-time director?
Our very first film at Tango was a first-time feature director: Nia DaCosta. It didn’t even occur to me not to do that movie with her. There’s always going to be doubt coming from somewhere, so the job is to find where you can hedge against that doubt. With a first timer, for us, the budgets tend to be smaller and there’s a lot of weight that is put on producers to be incredible partners and shepherds. There is a lot of talk about who are the heads of departments that are around the first-time director. It does take more talking, it does take more time, and it does take more patience. And it is worth it, not only because the first timers usually have more personal stories, but those stories are so unique.
At the specialty box office, genre films have been performing well, and it has been a belief in the past couple of years that genre is generally a safer bet in the indie space. What are the pitfalls of producing and financing genre films?
The audience is there, and it is a safer bet because of that audience. But you can’t take the audience for granted. You still have to respect it and push the boundaries and offer something exciting, new, crazy. So, I would say the pitfalls are that you just do it because it’s genre. There’s so much out there already that is just genre that’s available on all the platforms. If you’re really trying to make something that is a for a theatrical audience then you gotta go for things that feel a bit risky. And, usually, that is going to come from a new filmmaker.
What are the biggest headwinds facing the independent space right now?
One thing it’s fighting against is just the cost of making a film in the States. It is hard to do right by everybody in the States, and also still keep the budget at a place where it would be profitable in the marketplace, so that we can go back and make more. The marketplace is shifting, and maybe it’s getting better. It feels like the floor of things is going up through different licensing deals and through the new distributors popping up like Metrograph and Utopia. We’re still in a little bit of a feast or famine. Either your movie is going to sell and be okay, or it will not find distribution.
What are the lessons learned from the past year?
I’ve learned to trust my gut. The model we’ve built works. I do think there is a lot of opportunity. There’s also so much risk, but it can be calculated risk. You have to get excited about up and coming talent. If you find the stories and work with the filmmakers that you want to work with, and find films that you think will get traction in the market, go after them.
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