Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Abstract: Film Festivals as Producers: the Economics and Aesthetics of International Film Production

For my project in this class I would like to explore the international film festival as a site of film production. Film festivals are generating increasing attention due to their function as meeting grounds for creative individuals and investors, as well as their roles in defining and perpetuating certain styles and tastes in the content and form of international filmmaking practice. A special section in a recent issue of Cinema Journal addresses contemporary international film festivals from a variety of angles including the financial influence of entities that not only recognize achievement in completed international film work, but also work to produce new films as well. Most major international film festivals currently feature some type of film market, development program or production fund.

In my paper I would like engage with some of the current discussions about the roles of film festivals in production. My attention will be focused on entities within major international festivals like the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund which both provides funding to selected projects and serves as a platform for other producing-oriented services like matchmaking with additional financiers. Festivals of all varieties have increased in both number and size within the past decade while traditional types of film production that would have fed these festivals with content like the independent producer and the national cinema are finding ever increasing difficulty in operating according to their earlier models. My paper will explore the ways that international film festivals are both feeding themselves a steady supply of new films and simultaneously institutionalizing certain elements of form and content.

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