Our understanding of today’s film festivals and the contemporary international film festival circuit is tied to our knowledge of festival histories. Geopolitical interests held the first wave of (European) film festivals in a tight grip until the mid-1960s. The articles and books in this subcategory analyze certain parts of festival history in detail, such as the Fascist influence over the Venice Film Festival in the late 1930s (De Valck 2007, section 1.1), the Cold War agenda of the Berlin Film Festival (Fehrenbach 1995) and politically informed (programming) practices in Eastern Europe (Iordanova 2006; Karl 2007; Kötzing 2007a, b; Moine 2007). Although political agendas are discussed as powerful forces driving and shaping festivals, they are also shown to intersect with cultural objectives, economic interests and specific (inter)national historical circumstances. Other studies in this bibliography often also include historical passages or allusions to the formative role national legitimization played in the emergence of film festivals (Kuhlbrodt 2005, section 6.1). Attention has been devoted to the study of festivals as counter-public sphere, in particular for specific communities (see sections 9.1, 9.1.1, and 9.1.2 on queer and women’s film festivals). Finally, the question of political interventions is addressed in studies dealing with specific national cinemas. For example, censorship is central to the discussion of Iranian cinema by Azadeh Farahmand (2002, section 6.4).
Archibald, David, and Mitchell Miller (2011). “From Rennes to Toronto: Anatomy of a Boycott.” Screen 52:2 (2011): 274–279.
Fehrenbach, Heidi (1995). “Mass Culture and Cold War Politics: The Berlin Film Festival of the 1950s.” Cinema in Democratizing Germany: Reconstructing National Identity after Hitler. Chapel Hill/London: Univ. of North Carolina Press. pp. 234–259.
Gallinari, Pauline (2007). “L’URSS au festival de Cannes 1946-1958: un enjeu des relations franco-soviétiques à l’heure de la « guerre froide ».” 1895: Revue de l’Association Française de Recherche sur l’Histoire du Cinéma 51 (2007): 23–43.
Gourmelen, Arnaud, and Ralph Eue (2010). “Die Stunde Null der Cinephilie: Das Festival du Film Maudit (1949) und das Rendez-Vous de Biarritz (1950).” Recherche Film und Fernsehen 7+8 (2010): 58–71.
Gregor, Ulrich (2008). “Filmfestival-Chronik des Jahres 1968: Berlin, Cannes, Venedig, Knokke.” Recherche Film und Fernsehen 3 (2008): 36–38.
Haase, Jürgen, ed. (2010). Zwischen uns die Mauer: DEFA-Filme auf der Berlinale. Berlin: Berlin Edition im Be.bra Verlag.
Iordanova, Dina (2006). “Showdown of the Festivals: Clashing Entrepreneurships and Post-Communist Management of Culture.” Film International 4:5 (2006): 25–37.
Karl, Lars (2007). “Zwischen politischem Ritual und kulturellem Dialog: Die Moskauer Internationalen Filmfestspiele im Kalten Krieg 1959-1971.” Leinwand zwischen Tauwetter und Frost: Der osteuropäische Spiel- und Dokumentarfilm im Kalten Krieg. Ed. Lars Karl. Berlin: Metropol. pp. 279–298.
Kötzing, Andreas (2007a). “Zeigen oder nicht zeigen? Das ‘Prinzip der Selbstnominierung’ sozialistischer Filme auf der Leipziger Dokumentarfilmwoche.” Leinwand zwischen Tauwetter und Frost: Der osteuropäische Spiel- und Dokumentarfilm im Kalten Krieg. Ed. Lars Karl. Berlin: Metropol. pp. 299–316.
Kötzing, Andreas (2007b). “Filmfestivals als historische Quelle.” Deutschland Archiv: Zeitschrift für das vereinigte Deutschland 40:4 (2007): 693–699.
Moine, Caroline (2009). “Une Allemagne malgré tout? Le festival international du film documentaire de Leipzig, 1955-1990.” Une Europe malgré tout, 1945-1990: Contacts et réseaux culturels, intellectuels et scientifiques entre Européens dans la guerre froide | Cultural, lntellectual and Scientific Contacts and Networks among Europeans during the Cold War | Kulturelle, intellektuelle und wissenschaftliche Kontakte und Netze unter Europäern im Kalten Kriege. Eds. Antoine Fleury, and Lubor Jílek. Bruxelles; Berlin; Frankfurt/M: P.I.E. Peter Lang. pp. 297–316.
Moine, Caroline (2007). “Blicke über den Eisernen Vorhang: Die internationalen Filmfestivals im Kalten Krieg 1945–1968.” Leinwand zwischen Tauwetter und Frost: Der osteuropäische Spiel- und Dokumentarfilm im Kalten Krieg. Ed. Lars Karl. Berlin: Metropol. pp. 255–278.
Moine, Caroline (2005). “‘Le fascisme ordinaire’ de Mikhaïl Romm au festival de Leipzig (1965).” Caméra politique: Cinéma et stalinisme. Ed. Kristian Feigelson. Theorem. 8. Paris: Presse Sorbonne nouvelle. pp. 228–239.
Pisu, Stefano (2008). “L’Unione Sovietica alla Mostra internazionale d’arte cinematografica di Venezia (1932-1953).” ["The Soviet Union at the Venice International Film Festival (1932-1953)."] PhD Thesis. Cagliari, Italy: Universita’ degli Studi di Cagliari. (2008). <http://veprints.unica.it/67/>. (01. Dec. 2011)
Stein, Gabby (1997). “Censorship and the Film Festival.” Cinema Papers no. 118 (July 1997): 58–59.
(Last updated: 26 April 2012)