Dina Iordanova suggests grouping festivals with a certain political aim as “social concern festivals” (Iordanova 2009: 31). Others have labeled this group of festivals expressly “activist film festivals”. This group encompasses festivals such as disability film festivals, environmental/green film festivals, globalization film festivals, human rights film festivals, festivals against human trafficking, etc.
As the scholarship concerning film festivals and activism has differentiated considerably, we have separated out dedicated sub-pages. Please follow the links below.
9.2.d.1 Disability Film Festivals
9.2.d.2 Environmental Film Festivals
9.2.d.3 Human Rights Film Festivals
9.2.d.4 Indigenous Film Festivals
9.2.d.5 Mental Health Film Festivals
A list of articles and books dedicated to festivals and activism in borader terms follows here below.
Breyfogle, Sarah. “Stories from the Margins: The Practicality and Ethics of Refugee Film Festivals.” Frames Cinema Journal, no. 13, 2018, framescinemajournal.com/article/stories-from-the-margins-the-practicality-and-ethics-of-refugee-film-festivals/.
Cable, Umayyah. Cinematic Activism: Film Festivals and the Exhibition of Palestinian Cultural Politics in the United States. PhD Thesis, University of Southern California, 2016.
Crosby, Alexandra. “’It’s Not Just About the Films’: Activist Film Festivals in Post-New Order Indonesia.” Activist Film Festivals: Towards a Political Subject, edited by Sonia M. Tascon and Tyson Wils, intellect, 2017, 181–195.
Davies, Lyell. “Not Only Projections in a Dark Room: Theorizing Activist Film Festivals in the Lives of Campaigns and Social Movements.” Frames Cinema Journal, no. 13, 2018, framescinemajournal.com/article/not-only-projections-in-a-dark-room-theorizing-activist-film-festivals-in-the-lives-of-campaigns-and-social-movements/.
Davies, Lyell. “Off-Screen Activism and the Documentary Film Screening.” Activist Film Festivals: Towards a Political Subject, edited by Sonia M. Tascon and Tyson Wils, intellect, 2017, 39–57.
Iordanova, Dina. “Film Festivals and Dissent: Can Film Change the World?” Film Festival Yearbook 4: Film Festivals and Activism, edited by Dina Iordanova and Leshu Torchin, St Andrews Film Studies, 2012, pp. 13–30.
Iordanova, Dina, and Leshu Torchin, editors. Film Festival Yearbook 4: Film Festivals and Activism, St Andrews Film Studies, 2012.
Kerns, Susan Santha. “From Calling ‘Action’ to Community Action: The Milwaukee Film Festival’s Conversation Series.” Synoptique, vol. 3, no. 2, 2015, pp. 101–13. synoptiqueblog.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/8-susan-santha-kerns-from-calling-e2809cactione2809d-to-community-action-the-milwaukee-film-festival_s-conversation-series.pdf.
Kishore, Shweta. “Reframing the Margin: Regional Film Festivals in India, a Case Study of the Cinema of Resistance.” Activist Film Festivals: Towards a Political Subject, edited by Sonia M. Tascon and Tyson Wils, intellect, 2017, pp. 159–79.
Owen, David. “Bristol Palestine Film Festival: Engaging the Anactive, the Aroused and the Aware.” Activist Film Festivals: Towards a Political Subject, edited by Sonia M. Tascon and Tyson Wils, intellect, 2017, pp. 139–58.
Paramaditha, Intan. “Q! Film Festival as Cultural Activism: Strategic Cinephilia and the Expansion of a Queer Counterpublic.” Visual Anthropology, vol. 31, 1-2, 2018, pp. 74–92. doi:10.1080/08949468.2018.1428015.
Picard, David. “The Festive Frame: Festivals as Mediators for Social Change.” Ethnos, 2015, pp. 1–17. doi:10.1080/00141844.2014.989869.
Pócsik, Andrea. “Surveillance. Secret Police Film Festival: Budapest, Oct. 21 – Dec. 2, 2015.” Apparatus: Film, Media and Digital Cultures in Central and Eastern Europe, no. 2, 2016, doi:10.17892/app.2016.0002.14.
Richards, Stuart. “’Would You Like Politics with That?’: Queer Film Festival Audiences as Political Consumers.” Activist Film Festivals: Towards a Political Subject, edited by Sonia M. Tascon and Tyson Wils, intellect, 2017, pp. 229–45.
Roy, Carole. “‘Why Don’t They Show those on TV?’: Documentary Film Festivals, Media and Community.” International Journal of Lifelong Education, vol. 31, no. 3, 2012, pp. 293–307. doi:10.1080/02601370.2012.683610.
Sharpe, Erin K. “Festivals and Social Change: Intersections of Pleasure and Politics at a Community Music Festival.” Leisure Sciences, vol. 30, no. 3, 2008, pp. 217–34.
Tascon, Sonia M. “Watching Others’ Troubles: Revisiting ‘The Film Act’ and Spectatorship in Activist Film Festivals.” Activist Film Festivals: Towards a Political Subject, edited by Sonia M. Tascon and Tyson Wils, intellect, 2017, 21–37.
Tascon, Sonia M., and Tyson Wils, editors. Activist Film Festivals: Towards a Political Subject, intellect, 2017.
Tascon, Sonia M., and Tyson Wils. Introduction. Activist Film Festivals: Towards a Political Subject, edited by Sonia M. Tascon and Tyson Wils, intellect, 2017, pp. 1–17.
Thornley, Davinia. “imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival: Collaborative Criticism through Curatorship.” Activist Film Festivals: Towards a Political Subject, edited by Sonia M. Tascon and Tyson Wils, intellect, 2017, 199–212.
Torchin, Leshu. “Networked for Advocacy: Film Festivals and Activism.” Film Festival Yearbook 4: Film Festivals and Activism, edited by Dina Iordanova and Leshu Torchin, St Andrews Film Studies, 2012, pp. 1–12.
Wils, Tyson. “Refusal to Know the Place of Human Rights: Dissensus and the Human Rights Art and Film Festival.” Activist Film Festivals: Towards a Political Subject, edited by Sonia M. Tascon and Tyson Wils, intellect, 2017, pp. 121–37.
Winton, Ezra, and Svetla Turnin. “The Revolution Will Not Be Festivalized: Documentary Film Festivals and Activism.” Activist Film Festivals: Towards a Political Subject, edited by Sonia M. Tascon and Tyson Wils, intellect, 2017, 81–103.
(Last updated: 20 January 2021)