Although film festivals’ core business is screening films, many festivals also facilitate “the business” of cinema. Arguably, the big international film festivals – Cannes, Berlin, Toronto etc. – owe a great deal of their prestigious and influential position in the festival network to the success of their market activities and services for the industry. Art cinema, world cinema and independent cinema increasingly depend on the nodes of the festival network for financing, sales, promotion and traffic (Biskind 2004; Perren 2001). But even medium-sized and small (international) festivals can play important roles in national or regional industries, offering, for instance, networking opportunities for professionals, training for filmmakers and/or entry points into the transnational flows that define today’s film culture.
In the subcategories listed below a variety of publications is collected. The diversity of audiences addressed by these works – academic, professional and institutional/governmental – points at a widespread recognition of the vital role film festivals play in media industries worldwide.
5.1 Markets and Funds
5.2 Distribution
5.3 Service Guides for Professionals
5.4 Studies / Reports Related to Film Festival Research
5.5 Festivals as Organizations
Biskind, Peter (2004). Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of the Independent Film. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Davis, Darrell William and Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh (2008). “Festivals, Events and Players.” East Asian Screen Industries. London: BFI. pp. 140–164.
De Valck, Marijke (2013). “Sites of Initiation: Film Training Programs at Film Festivals.” The Education of the Filmmaker in Europe, Australia, and Asia. Ed. Mette Hjort. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 127–145.
De Valck, Marijke (2014). “Supporting Art Cinema at a Time of Commercialization: Principles and Practices, the Case of the International Film Festival Rotterdam.” Poetics 42 (2014): 40–59.
Iordanova, Dina (2010). “From the Source: Cinemas of the South.” Film International 8:5 (2010): 95–98.
Iordanova, Dina (2015). “The Film Festival as an Industry Node.” Media Industries 1:3 (2015): 7–11. <http://www.mediaindustriesjournal.org/index.php/mij/article/view/98>. (2 Feb. 2015)
Lacasse, Germain (2015). “Le Festival comme lieu d’un cinéma populaire: le cas du Festival de cinéma international en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (FCIAT).” Synoptique 3:2 (2015): 29–48. <http://synoptique.hybrid.concordia.ca/index.php/main/article/view/82>. (12 Mar. 2015)
Martínez-Ruiz, María Pilar, Ana Isabel Jiménez-Zarco, and Augustín Álvarez-Herranz (2011). “Film Festivals: A Holistic Communication Tool for the Film Industry.” African Journal of Business Management 5:5 (2011): 1951–1957.
Moine, Caroline (2013). “La Fédération internationale des associations de producteurs de films: un acteur controversé de la promotion du cinéma après 1945.” [“The International Federation of Film Producers: a controversial player in the promotion of films after 1945.”]. Le mouvement social 243 (2013): 91–103.
Moine, Caroline (2011). “La FIAPF, une Fédération de Producteurs au coeur des relations internationales après 1945.” [“The FIAPF, a Federation of Film Producers at the Heart of International Relations after 1945.”] Les producteurs: Enjeux créatifs, enjeux financiers. Eds. Laurent Creton, Yannick Dehée, Sébastien Layerle, and Caroline Moine. Paris: Nouveau monde éditions. pp. 249–266.
Oubiña, David (2009). “La vocación de alteridad (festivales, críticos y subsidios del nuevo cine argentino).” Historias extraordinarias: Nuevo cine argentino, 1999-2008. Ed. Jaime Peña. Madrid: T&B Editores. pp. 15–24.
Perren, Alisa (2001). “Sex, Lies and Marketing: Miramax and the Development of the Quality Indie Blockbuster.” Film Quarterly 55:2 (2001): 30–39.
Sun, Yi (2015). “Shaping Hong Kong Cinema’s New Icon: Milkyway Image at International Film Festivals.” Transnational Cinemas 6:1 (2015): 67–83.
Thévenin, Olivier (2012). “Le cinéma d’auteur au Festival de Cannes à la S.R.F. et à la Quinzaine des Réalisateurs.” [“The auteur cinema at Cannes in SRF and the Directors’ Fortnight.”]. Territoires contemporains 3 (2012). <http://tristan.u-bourgogne.fr/CGC/publications/Festivals_societes/O_Thevenin.html>. (20 Aug. 2013)
Vallejo, Aida. “IDFA’s Industry Model: Fostering Global Documentary Production and Distribution.” Documentary Film Festivals Vol. 2: Changes, Challenges, Professional Perspectives, edited by Aida Vallejo and Ezra Winton, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, pp. 23–53.
Vallejo, Aida. “L’impact Économique Des Festivals De Cinéma: Entre La Communauté Cinéphile Et L’industrie Audiovisuelle.” [The Economic Impact of Film Festivals: Between the Cinephile Community and the Audiovisual Industry]. Les cahiers de Champs Visuels, 14/15, 2017, pp. 61–98.
(Last updated: 3 March 2022)