The Festivals Game
Angela
indieWIRE has a great article about film festivals.
It is hard enough to finish your film in the first place, but now, you have to create some strategy around premiering at the “best” festival you can. It all seems too much, especially when you are making a documentary with limited funds.
A professor of mine at film school always equated the festival dance to the game you play on New Year’s Eve in NYC. Maybe all of you are supremely evolved beings but when I was younger, I would go from party to party to party looking for the “best” option. (What the “best” meant was fairly unclear in actuality and varied from year to year.) Whenever I did that, I would end up standing in uncomfortable shoes in some line outside a crowded club in the freezing cold at 11:59pm hating my life. My professor would always say, “Do you really want to be outside on that line? You know there was some nice small house party you could have gone to at 11pm and you would have been happier.”
The metaphor here, if it is not clear, is that sometimes people wait for the “best” festival and end up turning down perfectly good options. Articles like these are helpful in terms of navigating the complicated film waters but remember, you don’t want to be standing outside in uncomfortable shoes. There are a lot of great festivals out there that may not be as high profile but will treat you well and give your film the reception that it deserves.
Comments
That’s a great point, Angela. The metaphor really works too — I have been that girl in the uncomfortable shoes at midnight before. :)
Posted on April 25, 2007 4:51 PM by Jennifer Gallardo
Thanks Jen.
Posted on April 26, 2007 10:00 AM by Angela Tucker