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The distribution strategy for The Blair Witch Project was created and implemented by Artisan studio executive Steven Rothenberg. It was released by Artisan on 30 July 1999 after months of publicity, including a ground-breaking campaign by the studio to use the Internet and suggest that the film was a record of real events. The Blair Witch Project was first shown at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. This "recovered footage" is presented as the viewer is watching the movie. The viewers are told the three were never seen or heard from again, although their video and sound equipment (along with most of the footage they shot) was discovered a year later. Williams) who disappeared while hiking in the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland in 1994 to film a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair Witch. This movie was put together from amateur footage and relates the story of three student filmmakers (Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Michael C.
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