FILM FESTIVALS

A film festival is an organised presentation of films in one or more cinemas / movie theaters or screening venues. Increasingly film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings.

The first major film festival was held in Venice in 1932; the other major and oldest film festivals of the world are: Cannes Film Festival (1939), Festival del film Locarno (1946), Edinburgh International Film Festival (1947), Berlin International Film Festival (1951) and others.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival in the UK was established in 1947 and is the longest continually running film festival in the world.

Today there are thousands of film festivals around the world, ranging from high profile to horror festivals. Digital feature film distribution began in 2005, along with the arrival of the world's first online film festival, the GreenCine Online Film Festival.

Most film festivals require filmmakers to pay an entry fee to have their works considered for screening. This is especially commonplace among larger film festivals. However, not all film festivals require an entry fee. Rotterdam Film Festival, for example, does not charge an entry fee to submit work.

The three most prestigious film festivals are commonly regarded to be those of Cannes, Berlin and Venice; these festivals are sometimes called the "Big Three." Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski’s films The Three Colours Trilogy were each made for these festivals, with Blue for Venice, White for Berlin, and Red for Cannes.

I was surprised to learn that there are 3,500 film festivals a year, so it will not be long before you can choose between ten festivals a day.

Why are these festivals so popular? To answer this question we can look at the role model for all film festivals - Cannes. Its awards are highly regarded, it attracts high calibre films for competition and screening, it provides a marketplace for doing deals and it is glamorous location that offers ample opportunity for stars (or wannabe stars) to show off themselves and their latest releases.

Cannes is the perfect combination of showbiz, culture, art, and film finance - everyone is happy except for those of us who can’t find or afford a hotel room within a fifty mile radius of the place.

Cannes began as a small festival in 1946 and for a few years it was possible to bump into and interview stars along La Croisette. Now it gets up to 50,000 visitors and world-wideTV coverage. Its awards are highly respected.

So if you are organising a film festival you need stars to gain publicity, attract audiences and give you the edge over your competitors; but you don’t want these stars to completely eclipse your event either. First of all you have to decide on the prime purpose of your festival. It might celebrate international or national cinema, or a specific genre or theme.

The location of the event is important in terms of providing suitable cinemas, hotels and meeting places within close proximity, and it should be attractive enough to attract festival-goers from far and wide.

Timing is also an important consideration as your festival might clash with others with similar objectives and you might not be able to get the films, crowds, publicity or stars needed to run the event successfully.

On the other hand, with Internet, TV, DVD and the rest of telecommunications technology available you don’t have to drag people to any film festivals at all, but such a radical solution would take all the fun out of seeing films and their stars.