Festivals and Markets

Catalog description

Beginning with a survey of the historical rise of film festivals as a foundation for understanding strategies designed to merge the creative and business development of emerging filmmakers using their films on the global film festival circuit, this course shifts the traditional festival submission paradigm for those filmmakers with short films, first or second features. Under the premise that filmmakers today are Global Storytellers for a Global Audience, the course examines the interdependent relationship between Filmmakers, Festivals and Audiences as a mechanism to connect the overlapping functions of each. Using VOICE as the starting point for translating the creative language into a top tier marketing language; deconstructing film festival operating systems in general and programming choices specifically, and identifying all elements available to producers to move their film forward to audiences and upward within the industry, the course will culminate in a very practical guide to craft the perfect film festival strategy for this film, and for the next films as well as for the filmmakers themselves. International Festivals examined will include Cannes, Venice, Sundance, SXSW, Seattle, Toronto, Locarno, Berlin, Rotterdam among others.