The evolution of film festivals in the digital age

Posted by Liz Hover on Thursday, April 22, 2010. Categories: Film, Marketing, Distribution, NSI

Over the last few years we've heard a lot about how the film festival model is changing, broken [insert your preferred word here] and just about everything else.

I just read this post over on the Documentary Tech website called The Evolution of Film Festivals in the Digital Age which is in response to a piece from the Associated Press on Tribeca’s efforts to put films out as on-demand products.

It dovetails with a lot of what we were hearing from Jon Reiss, Sheri Candler and David Geertz when they talked to Winnipeg filmmakers about the changing world of distribution and marketing (a video of which is coming very soon to our website).

More food for thought. There's no shortage of commentary about the role of film festivals today and into the future.

What are your thoughts on the future of film festivals?

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Views expressed here are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).

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  • Film Festivals


    J Des Roches
    Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at 6:49:45 PM


    While we are able to view films online, film festivals are about social interactions and cennections and mutual enjoyment of films shared by an audience. The cool thing about a film festival is that you look around you in the theatre and realise that everyone there has chosen the same movie as you have from the films scheduled that day, based on your interests. In the same theatre as you there may be followers and friends of that director, actors, editors, support staff, writers and the like, or people interested in the subject matter, or even just people who have heard good reviews. When you leave the theatre after sharing laughter, tears, sighs and groans, and turn to face each other, there is the opportunity for empathy without words; you have just shared the same movie, and whatever else you might have felt or thought, you know that you did all just see the same film. A film festival experience is a human one, and for those intimately involved it is a kind of trip, a ride, with a beginning, full body, and climatic conclusion which often ends in a party where people group together and meet the faces behind the names on the pregrams and in the credits. A 3 day film festival is like a journey to another place in a time all it's own, and could never be satisfactorily replaced by an online presence. Human being will get as close as they can in any situation, as is proven by chat rooms annd social interaction sites, but the joy and intensity of a film festival is inescapably intertwined with the very presence of human to human contact and physical bodies, there in the moment, and in the flesh.

  • RE: Film Festivals


    Liz Hover
    Wednesday, April 28, 2010 at 10:48:14 PM


    I totally agree that the physical experience of a film festival can't be beat. I think we're lucky to be able to enjoy both the online and offline festivals. Thanks for your comment.

The views expressed here are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).

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