There are lots of film festival around the world in every month. It seems to be good for the directors and actors to contest the award. Originally it is for honouring the potential and good filmmakers. But nowadays we have seen lots of film poster that full of awards. It seems like film festival becomes more business.
First of all we have to know more about the film festival. The essential of organizing the film festival is being able to attract new films to screen each year. The more prestigious your festival is, the more filmmakers will submit their film. Film festivals will attracts the investors also. When the film festivals becomes famous and it will make the filmmakers to put their film to show on the film festivals. The investors comes overseas will find some movies to play on their country. At least the filmmakers gets moneys even they cannot get the awards. But it becomes a way to sell the film to forgeign countries nowadays. The film still put on the film festival to contest the award but the focus of those normal filmmakers is finding the foreign cinemas to help them profit , or finding the potential investors to help them to make the new movie in the future.The markets, film funds, international co-production negotiations always the importance for filmmakers. They have to keep earning money for their life and the new movies in their mind.
But there is not only the “business film festival”. According to the journal of NECSUS(2013), “The business functions that smaller festivals have are important in a much different way. These functions do not register when we go in search of the usual exponents of the business festival.” It also said that typically no sales agents at audience festivals and no distributors; there are no film funds nor is there an international media presence in the smaller film festivals. We can see that there are less business elements in smaller film festivals. And there are some special film festival that for specific topics like the cult film festival, independent film festival, brand new film festival…etc. This could encourage more filmmakers to contest the award – even though the award is not big compare to the Berlin Festival or Toronto Festival and so on.
And those small film festival could be useful for business also. See , it is about money and profit again with the awards. The title of award will be use for promotion and making more box office. But in my opinion that it won’t discourage filmmakers and the art element is parreall with the business model of those film festivals. Business model is essential for the movie that it can support the filmmakers keep producing. And no matter the awards is big or small, it still encourage the filmmakers that is the honor for their hardworking.
references
The seismic shift in the world of film festivals. (2016, May 01). Retrieved November 23, 2017, from https://stephenfollows.com/the-revolution-in-film-festivals/
Sondervan, J., & DeCuir, G. (2013, Nov 9). Jeroen Sondervan. Retrieved November 23, 2017, from https://necsus-ejms.org/the-business-of-audience-festivals-calgary-international-film-festival-2012/
Zephyrite 