While it is true that film festivals need to be studied in greater detail and with more systematic rigor, it is no longer possible to maintain that there are not any comprehensive studies of film festivals available. The studies collected under the subcategory “1.1 a) Film Festival Theory” offer a solid introduction to the emerging field of film festival research, and constitute essential reading for anyone with an interest in film festivals. Due to the constraints of our format, we are limited to some brief introductory remarks. For more elaborate introductions we refer to Dina Iordanova’s editorial in the Film International special edition on film festivals (2008), Dekalog 3: On Film Festivals (2009) edited by Richard Porton, and the Film Festival Yearbook series.
As one of the first critical studies of film festivals, Bill Nichols’ article “Global Image Consumption in the Age of Late Capitalism” (1994) takes up a central concern of film festival research, the local/global dynamics: “Never only or purely local, festival films nonetheless circulate, in large part, with a cachet of locally inscribed difference and globally ascribed commonality. They both attest to the uniqueness of different cultures and specific filmmakers and affirm the underlying qualities of an ‘international cinema’” (Nichols 1994: 68). Media anthropologist Daniel Dayan introduced a second recurring theme in his study of the Sundance Film Festival: the engagement of distinctive groups with diverse interests. He described the festival as a set of divergent performances (by filmmakers, distributors, festival organizers, journalists, the audience etc.) and argues it is not limited to visual display, but above all a “verbal architecture” that is “made up of different versions, relaying different voices, relying on different sources of legitimacy” (Dayan 2000: 52). Several studies have attempted to make festivals’ versatility understandable. Julian Stringer (2003) explored film festivals as institutions, festival nations, festival cities, festival films and festival communities in his dissertation, developing theoretical approaches to fit each new angle. Kenneth Turan (2002, section 1) and Marijke de Valck (2007) tackled the diverse festival phenomenon with case studies that respectively take geopolitical, business and cultural/aesthetic perspectives. Thomas Elsaesser (2005) and Janet Harbord (2002, section 3) offer valuable insights into festivals’ temporal and spatial dimensions. Other threads running through all festival theories include the festival network as an alternative distribution system, core-periphery relations, festival programming as agenda setting, value addition and distinction, spectacle, and the festival as a media event.
Archibald, David, and Mitchell Miller, eds. (2011). “The Film Festival Dossier.” Screen 52:2 (2011): 249–285.
Archibald, David, and Mitchell Miller (2011). “The Film Festival Dossier: Introduction.” Screen 52:2 (2011): 249–252.
Bazin, André (2009). “The Festival Viewed as a Religious Order.” Dekalog 3: On Film Festivals. Ed. Richard Porton. London: Wallflower. pp. 13–19.
Burgess, Diane (2008). “Negotiating Value: A Canadian Perspective on the International Film Festival.” PhD Thesis. Vancouver: Simon Fraser University, School of Communication. <http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/bitstream/1892/10514/1/etd4165.pdf>. (24. Mar. 2010)
Dayan, Daniel (2000). “Looking for Sundance: The Social Construction of a Film Festival.” Moving Images, Culture and the Mind. Ed. Ib Bondebjerg. Luton: Univ. of Luton Press. pp. 43–52.
De Valck, Marijke (2010). “De rol van filmfestivals in het YouTube-tijdperk.” Boekman 83 (2010): 54–60.
De Valck, Marijke (2007a). Film Festivals: From European Geopolitics to Global Cinephilia. Amsterdam: Amsterdam Univ. Press.
De Valck, Marijke (2007b). “As Vária Faces dos Festivais de Cinema Europeus [The Multiple Faces of European Film Festivals].” A Indústria Cinematográfica Internacional: Europa. Ed. Allessandra Meleiro. São Paulo: Escrituras Editora. pp. 213–241.
De Valck, Marijke (2006). “Film Festivals: History and Theory of a European Phenomenon that Became a Global Network.” Dissertation. Amsterdam: Univ. of Amsterdam, ASCA. (2006).
De Valck, Marijke (2003). “Nové objevení Evropy. Historický přehled fenoménu filmvých festivalů [The Reappearance of Europe. A Historical Overview of the Film Festival Phenomenon.]” Iluminace 15:1 (2003): 31–51.
De Valck, Marijke, and Skadi Loist (2009). “Film Festival Studies: An Overview of a Burgeoning Field.” Film Festival Yearbook 1: The Festival Circuit. Eds. Dina Iordanova, and Ragan Rhyne. St. Andrews: St. Andrews Film Studies. pp. 179–215.
Elsaesser, Thomas (2010). “Filmfestival-Netzwerke: Die neue Topografie des europäischen Kinos.” critic.de Nov. 25, 2010. <http://www.critic.de/special/thomas-elsaesser-filmfestival-netzwerke-die-neue-topografie-des-europaeischen-kinos-3237/>. (27. Nov. 2010)
Elsaesser, Thomas (2005). “Film Festival Networks: The New Topographies of Cinema in Europe.” European Cinema: Face to Face with Hollywood. Amsterdam: Amsterdam Univ. Press. pp. 82–107.
Ethis, Emmanuel (2002). Avignon, le Public Réinventé: le Festival sous le Regard des Sciences Sociales. Paris: La Documentation Française.
Ethis, Emmanuel, ed. (2001). Aux Marchés du Palais: Le Festival de Cannes sous le Regard des Sciences Sociales. Paris: La Documentation Française.
Evans, Owen (2007). “Border Exchanges: The Role of the European Film Festival.” Journal of Contemporary European Studies 15:1 (2007): 23–33.
Fischer, Alex (2009). “Conceptualising Basic Film Festival Operation: An Open System Paradigm.” PhD Thesis. Gold Coast, QLD: Bond University, School of Humanities. (Dec. 2009). <http://epublications.bond.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1076&context=theses>. (15. Sep. 2010)
Harbord, Janet (2009). “Film Festivals-Time-Event.” Film Festival Yearbook 1: The Festival Circuit. Eds. Dina Iordanova, and Ragan Rhyne. St. Andrews: St. Andrews Film Studies. pp. 40–46.
Iordanova, Dina (2011). “The Resources: Necessary Groundwork.” Film Festival Yearbook 3: Film Festivals and East Asia. Eds. Dina Iordanova, and Ruby Cheung. St. Andrews: St Andrews Film Studies. pp. 189–195.
Iordanova, Dina (2010). “Mediating Diaspora: Film Festivals and ‘Imagined Communities’.” Film Festival Yearbook 2: Film Festivals and Imagined Communities. Eds. Dina Iordanova with Ruby Cheung. St. Andrews: St. Andrews Film Studies. pp. 12–44.
Iordanova, Dina (2009). “The Film Festival Circuit.” Film Festival Yearbook 1: The Festival Circuit. Eds. Dina Iordanova with Ragan Rhyne. St. Andrews: St. Andrews Film Studies. pp. 23–39.
Iordanova, Dina (2008). “Editorial (Special Issue on Film Festivals).” Film International 6:4 (2008): 4–7.
Iordanova, Dina with Ruby Cheung, eds. (2010). Film Festival Yearbook 2: Film Festivals and Imagined Communities. St. Andrews: St. Andrews Film Studies.
Iordanova, Dina with Ragan Rhyne, eds. (2009). Film Festival Yearbook 1: The Festival Circuit. St. Andrews: St. Andrews Film Studies.
Jost, Jon (2010). “The Big Circus.” Undercurrent 6 (2010). <http://www.fipresci.org/undercurrent/issue_0609/jost_circus.htm>. (19. May. 2010)
Jungen, Christian (2009). Hollywood in Canne$: Die Geschichte einer Hassliebe, 1939-2008. Marburg: Schüren.
Koven, Mikel J. (2008). “Film Festivals as Spaces of Meaning: Researching Festival Audiences as Producers of Meaning.” The Worcester Papers in English and Cultural Studies 6 (2008). <http://www.worc.ac.uk/documents/MK_Issue6_2008.doc>. (19 Jul. 2009)
Loist, Skadi, and Marijke de Valck (2010). “Thematic Bibliography on Film Festival Research – Update: 2009.” Film Festival Yearbook 2: Film Festivals and Imagined Communities. Eds. Dina Iordanova, and Ruby Cheung. St. Andrews: St. Andrews Film Studies. pp. 220–258.
Loist, Skadi, and Marijke de Valck (2010). “Film Festivals / Film Festival Research: Thematic, Annotated Bibliography: Second Edition.” Medienwissenschaft / Hamburg: Berichte und Papiere 91 (2010). <http://www1.uni-hamburg.de/Medien//berichte/arbeiten/0091_08.html>. (19. May. 2010)
Lutkehaus, Nancy C. (1995). “The Sundance Film Festival.” Visual Anthropology Review 11:2 (1995): 121–129.
Mazza, Carmelo, and Jesper Strandgaard Pedersen (2008). “Who’s Last? Challenges and Advantages for Late Adopters in the International Film Festival Field.” Creative Encounters Working Papers 16. Institut for Interkulturel Kommunikation og Ledelse, Nov. 2008. <http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7782>. (29 Jun. 2009)
Mezias, Stephen, et al. (2008). “Much Ado about Nothing? Untangling the Impact of European Premier Film Festivals.” Creative Encounters Working Papers 14. Institut for Interkulturel Kommunikation og Ledelse, Sep. 2008. <http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7781>. (29 Jun. 2009)
Muhammad, Amir (2010). “Festivals with Alexis (Mostly without Balut).” Undercurrent 6 (2010). <http://www.fipresci.org/undercurrent/issue_0609/muhammad_alexis.htm>. (19. May. 2010)
Nichols, Bill (1994). “Global Image Consumption in the Age of Late Capitalism.” East-West Film Journal 8:1 (1994): 68–85.
Peranson, Mark (2008). “First You Get the Power, Then You Get the Money: Two Models of Film Festivals.” Cineaste 33:3 (2008): 37-43. | Reprinted in Dekalog 3: On Film Festivals. Ed. Richard Porton. London: Wallflower, 2009. pp. 23-37. | Translated: “Erst kommt die Macht, dann das Geld.” Revolver: Zeitschrift für Film 21 (2010): 116-131.
Porton, Richard, ed. (2009). Dekalog 3: On Film Festivals. London: Wallflower Press.
Rangan, Pooja (2010). “Some Annotations on the Film Festival as an Emerging Medium in India.” South Asian Popular Culture 8:2 (2010): 123–141.
Reichel-Heldt, Kai (2007). Filmfestivals in Deutschland: Zwischen kulturpolitischen Idealen und wirtschaftspolitischen Realitäten. Frankfurt am Main: Lang.
Rhyne, Ragan (2009). “Film Festival Circuits and Stakeholders.” Film Festival Yearbook 1: The Festival Circuit. Eds. Dina Iordanova, and Ragan Rhyne. St. Andrews: St. Andrews Film Studies. pp. 9–39.
Roddick, Nick (2009). “Coming to a Server near You: The Film Festival in the Age of Digital Reproduction.” Film Festival Yearbook 1: The Festival Circuit. Eds. Dina Iordanova, and Ragan Rhyne. St. Andrews: St. Andrews Film Studies. pp. 159–167.
Rüling, Charles-Clemens (2009). “Festivals as Field-Configuring Events: The Annecy International Animated Film Festival and Market.” Film Festival Yearbook 1: The Festival Circuit. Eds. Dina Iordanova, and Ragan Rhyne. St. Andrews: St. Andrews Film Studies. pp. 49–66.
Segal, Jérôme (2010). “Film Festivals.” European Arts Festivals: Cultural Pragmatics and Discursive Identity Frames. Ed. Liana Giorgi. EURO-FESTIVAL Project. pp. 150–221. <http://www.euro-festival.org/docs/Euro-Festival_D3.pdf>. (20. Jan. 2011)
Segal, Jérôme (2008). “Film Festivals.” European Public Culture and Aesthetic Cosmopolitanism: Main Report. Ed. Monica Sassatelli. Report completed in the framework of the EURO-FESTIVAL project. (30 Oct. 2008) pp. 111–118. <http://www.euro-festival.org/docs/Euro-Festival_D1_MainReport.pdf>. (27 Feb. 2009)
Stringer, Julian (2003). “Regarding Film Festivals.” Dissertation. Indiana University, Department of Comparative Literature. (Aug. 2003)
Taillibert, Christel (2009). Tribulations festivalières: Les festivals de cinéma et audiovisuel en France. Paris: Harmattan.
Torche, Stéphanie (2008). “Les logiques économiques et culturelles dans les festivals de films: Analyse et représentation.” Dissertation. Fribourg: Université de Fribourg, Faculté des Sciences économiques et sociales. (Dec. 2008)
Wong, Cindy Hing-Yuk (2011). Film Festivals: Culture, People, and Power on the Global Screen. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ. Press.
(Last updated: 18 August 2011)