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.
Iordanova, Dina (2010). “From the Source: Cinemas of the South.” Film International 8:5 (2010): 95–98.
Perren, Alisa (2001). “Sex, Lies and Marketing: Miramax and the Development of the Quality Indie Blockbuster.” Film Quarterly 55:2 (2001): 30–39.
(Last updated: 17 August 2011)