International Film Festivals

The last decade has witnessed an explosion of interest in film festivals, with the field growing to a position of prominence within the space of a few short years. Film Festivals: History, Theory, Method, Practice represents a major addition to the literature on this topic, offering an authoritative and comprehensive introduction to the area. With a combination of chapters specifically examining history, theory, method and practice, it offers a clear structure and systematic approach for the study of film festivals. Offering a collection of essays written by an international range of established scholars, it discusses well-known film festivals in Europe, North America and Asia, but equally devotes attention to the diverse range of smaller and/or specialized events that take place around the globe. It provides essential knowledge on the origin and development of film festivals, discusses the use of theory to study festivals, explores the methods of ethnographic and archival research, and looks closely at the professional practice of programming and film funding. Each section, moreover, is introduced by the editors, and all chapters include useful suggestions for further reading. This will be an essential textbook for students studying film festivals as part of their film, media and cultural studies courses, as well as a strong research tool for scholars that wish to familiarize themselves with this burgeoning field.

The first comprehensive study of film festivals that marks key historical moments and offers surprising insights into the workings of a highly influentiual cultural network

Movies, stars, auteurs, and critics come together in film festivals as quintessential constellations of art, business, and glamour. Yet, how well do we understand the forces and meanings that these events embody? This work offers an overview of the history, people, films, and functions of the festival world.

Every year thousands of filmmakers like you unleash their newly completed movies upon the film festival circuit. Whether you're a first-timer with a comedy short or a seasoned veteran with a documentary feature, you all face the same set of problems. You all ask the same questions. You all want the pleasure of seeing your film play before a festival audience and gain the recognition it deserves. This is your book. Film Festival secrets will help you select the right festivals for your film, prepare your festival screener, save money on festival fees, create marketing collateral, and craft a screening sell out plan. And that's just the beginning.

This book provides the first comprehensive overview of the global landscape of documentary film festivals. Contributors from across the globe offer in-depth analysis of both internationally renowned and more alternative festivals, including Hot Docs (Canada), Nyon (Switcherland), Yamagata (Japan), DocChina, Full Frame (US), Belgrade (former Yugoslavia), Vikalp (India), and DocsBarcelona (Catalonia, Spain), among others. With a special focus on historical and political developments, this first volume draws a map of documentary festivals operating today, and then looks at their origins and evolution. This volume is organized in three sections: the first addresses methodological problems film historians and social scientists face when researching documentary film festivals, the second looks at the historical development of this circuit within the wider frame of history of world and national cinemas, and the third reflects on how politics find their way through festival programs and actions. Curatorial, organizational, industrial and political changes occurred in the festival realm addressed in this book help better understand how these affected documentary production, distribution, curation, exhibition and reception up to this day.

More than 5,000 film festivals take place globally and many of these have only been established in the last two decades. International Film Festivals collects the leading scholarship on this increasingly prominent phenomenon from both historical and contemporary perspectives, using diverse methods including archival research, interviews and surveys and drawing widely from fields like sociology, urban studies and film criticism to patent technology and history. With contributors from across the world and covering the major festivals - Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Berlin - as well as niche, genre and online film festivals, this book is an authoritative and exemplary guide to the evolution of these key sites for film distribution, exhibition and reception. Chapters unravel topics such as the relationship between corporations and festivals, the soft power function they can perform for their host nations and the changing identities of audiences on arrival at, and during exploration of, a given festival venue. Tricia Jenkins' edited volume reconceives the film festival for the global, digital age whilst drawing out its historic importance and ultimately makes a major intervention in film festival studies as well as film and cultural studies more widely.

The guide offers a wide range of unique information about festivals around the world for anyone involved in the film industry at any level, from those planning an independent film project to established producers and distributors, or for those who just love films. One may visit the author at www.festivalproducts.com for festival updates and special events.

More than 5,000 film festivals take place globally and many of these have only been established in the last two decades. International Film Festivals collects the leading scholarship on this increasingly prominent phenomenon from both historical and contemporary perspectives, using diverse methods including archival research, interviews and surveys and drawing widely from fields like sociology, urban studies and film criticism to patent technology and history. With contributors from across the world and covering the major festivals - Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Berlin - as well as niche, genre and online film festivals, this book is an authoritative and exemplary guide to the evolution of these key sites for film distribution, exhibition and reception. Chapters unravel topics such as the relationship between corporations and festivals, the soft power function they can perform for their host nations and the changing identities of audiences on arrival at, and during exploration of, a given festival venue. Tricia Jenkins' edited volume reconceives the film festival for the global, digital age whilst drawing out its historic importance and ultimately makes a major intervention in film festival studies as well as film and cultural studies more widely.

This is an open access book. This edited collection aims to document the effects of Covid-19 on film festivals and to theorize film festivals in the age of social distancing. To some extent, this crisis begs us to consider what happens when festivals can’t happen; while films have found new (temporary) channels of distribution (most often in the forms of digital releases), the festival format appears particularly vulnerable in pandemic times. Imperfect measures, such as the move to a digital format, cannot recapture the communal experience at the very core of festivals. Given the global nature of the pandemic and the diversity of the festival phenomenon, this book features a wide range of case studies and analytical frameworks. With contributors including established scholars and frontline festival workers, the book is conceived as both a theoretical endeavour and a practical exploration of festival organizing in pandemic times.

The inspiration for the major film Jojo Rabbit by Taika Waititi An avid member of the Hitler Youth in 1940s Vienna, Johannes Betzler discovers his parents are hiding a Jewish girl named Elsa behind a false wall in their home. His initial horror turns to interest—then love and obsession. After his parents disappear, Johannes is the only one aware of Elsa’s existence in the house and he alone is responsible for her fate. Drawing strength from his daydreams about Hitler, Johannes plans for the end of the war and what it might mean for him and Elsa. The inspiration for the major film Jojo Rabbit by Taika Waititi, Caging Skies, sold in over twenty countries, is a work of rare power; a stylistic and storytelling triumph. Startling, blackly comic, and written in Christine Leunens’s gorgeous, muscular prose, this novel, her U.S. debut, is singular and unforgettable.