Hi Anthony, I love this thinking and also these festivals should revenue share off the tickets with the film teams. I understand there is no money in the ecosystem from top to bottom, but sharing on even a small scale becomes important for the artists creating the work for audiences.
Great article. I have found that some festivals have done a great job of bouncing back after Covid, and have even grown their audiences and their ability to reach them via social media and other marketing tools. But sadly some festivals that were decimated in funding and staff during Covid are still struggling to attract audiences and afford the staff needed for thorough communication with their invited filmmakers. But I have been telling my clients for years that they can use their festival run as their theatrical release, and some of them have been doing a great job of that, attending and winning numerous audience awards and helping grow their following in ways they never could if they just put their film online.
A comment from Film Transit's Jan Rofekamp: "In the Netherlands in the 70’s I was part of a movement that created a circuit of small locally subsidized cinemas, often run within a local museum or gallery or youth centre, sometimes only screenings in the weekends, slowly but surely they became fully week-programmed screens. By the end of the 70’s and into the 80’s this had become a very serious release circuit for indie cinema and docs. It was called Het Vrije Circuit (The Free Circuit) We had regular meetings in Holland’s centre: Utrecht. There was an association, a board….Distributors and even the film theatres themselves ( they were called Filmhouses) did temp imports to enlarge the movie offering: a group of friends ran in Amsterdam every January: all the Godards we could lay our hands on ( temp import) Latin-American filmweeks, Fritz Lang, the movies.the circuit worked with embassies for filmweeks…we got prints from the UK, from Germany..all on 16mm, sometimes 35mm...today it would be a million times easier to logistically organise.
Although The Netherlands today has also some serious commercial cinemas that play indie films, this Free Circuit ( although it is no longer called thjis name) still today this is were indie cinema and docs get released: a string of small cinemas not linked to big money or theatre groups…it started out of a frustration that indie ( and also Dutch) cinema had no place in the commercial cinema chains… Today I see FB posts of Dutch filmmakers announcing 40 or more screen releases and that is fantastic for a small country like The Netherlands. The number show also that it is not only the big cities….the fundaments for this were laid in the 70’s and 80’s.
The people who started the Rotterdam Film Festival (The unforgettable Hubert Bals) were part of this, they started an indie import film distrubution business called Film International. I ran with some friends Fugitive Cinema Holland out of Amsterdam. The today still active distributor Cinemien also dates from that time period. The below site mentions some of the small film theatres still active ( in Amsterdam) if you read well you see what types of small cinema’s I am talking about. Must say though that the 70’s and the 80’ was quite leftish politically and there was money for cultural events. The winds have changed a bit...also in The Netherlands."
I'm just one data point -- someone who actively uses Letterboxd but is not a power user that writes reviews -- but have noticed myself proudly noting if I saw a movie at a film festival. Thx for the reflection! Long live spaces to convene around a diversity of perspectives and hard won feats in filmmaking.
The festival circuit already is the main distribution of many films but a similar circuit where competition is replaced with curation might be more interesting and viable.
This is great Anthony. Keep up the great work. Not sure if you get my On the Circuit but thought I would mention. https://onthefestcircuit.substack.com/
Hi Anthony, I love this thinking and also these festivals should revenue share off the tickets with the film teams. I understand there is no money in the ecosystem from top to bottom, but sharing on even a small scale becomes important for the artists creating the work for audiences.
Agreed, that should be the ultimate goal.
I think the reverse is also true. Many art houses now present films the way film festivals have; as special events with guests.
Yes, absolutely, particularly the successful ones.
Great article. I have found that some festivals have done a great job of bouncing back after Covid, and have even grown their audiences and their ability to reach them via social media and other marketing tools. But sadly some festivals that were decimated in funding and staff during Covid are still struggling to attract audiences and afford the staff needed for thorough communication with their invited filmmakers. But I have been telling my clients for years that they can use their festival run as their theatrical release, and some of them have been doing a great job of that, attending and winning numerous audience awards and helping grow their following in ways they never could if they just put their film online.
A comment from Film Transit's Jan Rofekamp: "In the Netherlands in the 70’s I was part of a movement that created a circuit of small locally subsidized cinemas, often run within a local museum or gallery or youth centre, sometimes only screenings in the weekends, slowly but surely they became fully week-programmed screens. By the end of the 70’s and into the 80’s this had become a very serious release circuit for indie cinema and docs. It was called Het Vrije Circuit (The Free Circuit) We had regular meetings in Holland’s centre: Utrecht. There was an association, a board….Distributors and even the film theatres themselves ( they were called Filmhouses) did temp imports to enlarge the movie offering: a group of friends ran in Amsterdam every January: all the Godards we could lay our hands on ( temp import) Latin-American filmweeks, Fritz Lang, the movies.the circuit worked with embassies for filmweeks…we got prints from the UK, from Germany..all on 16mm, sometimes 35mm...today it would be a million times easier to logistically organise.
Although The Netherlands today has also some serious commercial cinemas that play indie films, this Free Circuit ( although it is no longer called thjis name) still today this is were indie cinema and docs get released: a string of small cinemas not linked to big money or theatre groups…it started out of a frustration that indie ( and also Dutch) cinema had no place in the commercial cinema chains… Today I see FB posts of Dutch filmmakers announcing 40 or more screen releases and that is fantastic for a small country like The Netherlands. The number show also that it is not only the big cities….the fundaments for this were laid in the 70’s and 80’s.
The people who started the Rotterdam Film Festival (The unforgettable Hubert Bals) were part of this, they started an indie import film distrubution business called Film International. I ran with some friends Fugitive Cinema Holland out of Amsterdam. The today still active distributor Cinemien also dates from that time period. The below site mentions some of the small film theatres still active ( in Amsterdam) if you read well you see what types of small cinema’s I am talking about. Must say though that the 70’s and the 80’ was quite leftish politically and there was money for cultural events. The winds have changed a bit...also in The Netherlands."
https://www.yourlittleblackbook.me/en/movie-theatres-in-amsterdam/
I'm just one data point -- someone who actively uses Letterboxd but is not a power user that writes reviews -- but have noticed myself proudly noting if I saw a movie at a film festival. Thx for the reflection! Long live spaces to convene around a diversity of perspectives and hard won feats in filmmaking.
The festival circuit already is the main distribution of many films but a similar circuit where competition is replaced with curation might be more interesting and viable.
This is great Anthony. Keep up the great work. Not sure if you get my On the Circuit but thought I would mention. https://onthefestcircuit.substack.com/