The Changes Caused: How Film Festivals And Digital Media Have Expanded The

Film Industry

Written by: Phelan Warren

Table of Contents:

Introduction……………………………………………………………… 3

The Evolution of Film Festivals…………………………………………. 7

The Many Faces of Film Festivals……………………………………….11

The Film Industry Takes Notice………………………………………….15

Film Festivals Enter The Digital World………………………………….21

Conclusion………………………………………………………………. 40

Bibliography…………………………………………………………….. 43

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The Changes Caused: How Film Festivals And Digital Media Have Expanded The

Film Industry

During the course of this paper, I will explore how the film festival system has influenced

the film industry (i.e. distribution, publicity, brand, prestige) over recent years, focusing mainly

on the smaller, independently funded films as opposed to big studio funded blockbusters.

Additionally, I will discuss the role of digital media, for instance the expansion of Internet and

social media, and how it has played a key role in the promotion of the festivals and the films

that festivals show. Furthermore, I aim to show that there is a definite correlation between the

dramatic rise of the number of film festivals around the world to the increase in production and

popularity of independent films and how this interrelates with the new digital technology

available today.

Moreover, I will touch on the characteristic of a majority of film festivals that gives

smaller films lead by lesser know directors the chance to have their hard work shown and, if all

goes well, the opportunity to have their film picked up and released by a major or independent

film distributor. Not to mention in some instances, if a film is accepted and screened during a

festival, they can then become eligible to be nominated for an Academy Award (Academy of

Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 2014). Now, with the addition of the Internet and digital

media, there are more ways filmmakers can submit their film to be seen around the world. This

exposure would have been practically impossible before the Internet due to the lack of financial

capital needed to fund such a project.

Film Festivals have changed a lot through the years as well as vary from festival to

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festival. Some look for specific types of films, while others want a little bit of everything. The

exponential growth of the number film festivals launching in the early 2000’s and into the

2010’s is fascinating to see as well as looking behind the statistics to discover the reasons for

this growth (Folllows, 2013). This trend of new film festivals can be seen as the result of the

introduction of new and cheaper digital formats that simplifies many areas in putting on a film

festival. One of which is promotion and marketing to get the word out about the festival along

with what films are being shown. Correspondingly, this leads to more ways to accept, exhibit,

experience the films chosen for a festival.

Now with social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, many film festivals today

have embraced this new idea of direct marketing through these types of websites to take

advantage of the new potentiality, Information shared on social media websites can be

transformed and passed along to the specific festival followers who have their own group of

contacts who then can share the information to their friends and other liked-minded people.

Thereupon creating an ever expanding labyrinth of new possible patrons to ones’ festival

(Koehler, 2009). Having a greater reach to film festival attendees, gives a greater chance for

smaller festivals looking for very specialized types of films, along with the opportunity to

attract their targeted market. For example, festivals like the “Strange Beauty Festival” in

Durham, North Carolina, looks specifically for the “strange beauty of experimental short films”

(Hooley, 2013).

According to David Sterritt, in his 2010 article “Film Festivals- Then and Now” he states,

“The only requirement for film-festival organizing is an ability to intuit what the free market of

cinema enthusiasm will currently bear” (Sterritt, 2010). Basically expressing that if there is an

unfulfilled market or wanted genre of film festival, there is a good chance that void will be

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filled rather promptly. Nevertheless, “despite the diverse range and aims of festivals...” when it

comes down to the core of what it is that drives film festivals, it is to “...share in common a

devotion to the art of cinema” (Wong, 2011).

With the increase of technology constantly changing and evolving, the film world has

been forced to keep up and, mostly, this has been in beneficial ways that have greatly reduced

cost through out the industry. For example in 2014, filming a movie on actual celluloid film has

become almost a thing of the past with filmmakers opting for cheaper and more efficient digital

cameras and high preforming computer editing programs (Hanson, 2004).

Moreover, there is a lot that goes on with putting on a film festival. First there is setting up

the parameters of the specific festival. For instance, what types of film submissions will be

accepted (i.e. Shorts, Documentary, Feature), how long the festival should last, what time of

year would be the best time to run it, and so on. All of this comes down to the other important

side of a festival, which is the significance of the economics of a film festival and the money

needed to fund them. In the sense of practicality, this probably is the most important side for

putting on a film festival and the most popular way to get the money needed to run a festival is

through financial sponsorship which is followed closely by ticket sales of festival attendees

(Follows, 2013). Although today, the evolution of the Internet has continued to expand with

new ways to find money through the addition of crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter and

Indiegogo. These websites are places where both film festivals and filmmakers alike can go, to

reach out to the online world to try to raise money for their projects creating a whole new

audience of supporters and patrons (Sørensen, 2012) (Jackman, 2013) (Zhang, 2012).

Similarly, film submission websites, most notably, Withoutabox.com, which was bought

by online film website, Internet Movie Database (IMDB) and their parent company Amazon in

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2008, has greatly influenced how films are submitted to festivals due to the convenience of

having the ability; for festivals to automatically have all there submissions already organized

online while greatly shortening the selection process and for the filmmakers to be able to apply

to multiple festivals around the world in just one visit (Swanson, 2008). Many users on both

sides say it takes hours off the submission process as well as steadily boosting the amount of

films submitted each year (Carpenter, 2009). Having this as a result, gives filmmakers and

festivals more time to promote and raise funds. Film enthusiasts have also followed independent

filmmakers and film festivals online, with the ease of using search engines to find out when

certain films will be premiered or released and at what festival or venue. Advancement in

Internet technology has also lead to a new form of film festival, the online film festival. Many

well-known established festivals like the Toronto International Film Festival and Sundance

Film Festival in Park City Utah, have already found great success of online versions of their

main festival (Watson, 2004). The online extension is a less expensive way to reach a much

greater audiences of interested film viewers worldwide. For example, the Sundance Online Film

Festival “received over 3.3 million hits” when it was launched all the way back in 2001

(Sundance Institute, 2014). With this increase of technology, it has become much easier and

cheaper to start, run, maintain and participate in a film festival.

In the paragraphs to follow, I will explore deeper into all areas discussed above. Starting

with a look into the history of film festivals and answering the questions, how film festival

came about and how they have evolved over the years?

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The Evolution of Film Festivals

Film Festivals have been around from the early days of cinema. Starting with the

beginning of the Venice Festival during pre- World War II and the fascist rule of Italy (La

Biennale di Venezia, 2014) then continuing into the start and rise of The Festival of Cannes in

1946. The Venice Film Festival, the first known film festival, started as part of the Venice

Biennale arts festival in 1932, which celebrates, then and now, not only cinema but art,

architecture, dance, music, and theatre. The Moscow International Film Festival came about

soon after in 1935 but did not become a regular event till the end of the Second World War

when a majority of festivals began to spring up all over Europe over the next couple decades.

For instance, the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 1947 and the Berlin International

Film Festival in 1951 were established during this time. Film Festivals then began expanding

across the Atlantic Ocean and into North America starting in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s

with the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1957 and the New York Film festival in

1963 (Festival Focus, 2014).

Interestingly, film festivals did not become a global phenomenon till the 1970’s when it

became a way to not only appreciate films as bodies of art but also as way to boost tourism and

make money (Ruoff, 2012). This expansion was most likely due to that fact that festivals were

not always structured and run in the same ways that they are today. Through out the years

festivals have morphed and continued to change along with the ways of the time.

For instance, in the early era of film festivals, the festivals were produced as “showcases

of national cinemas, which meant that nations were invited to submit one or more films to the

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competition program of the festivals, the exact number being determined by factors like the

country’s annual film production, its size and — less democratically — its political weight” (de

Valck, 2012). Having this type of structure did not allow festival organizers the ability to select

the films that they personally wanted. Instead that task was given to the individual nation’s

government, usually the nation’s ministries of culture or national film funds. The only country

not to use its government to choose their selections was the United States, who gave the job to

the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) which was an organization formed of film

producers who acted on the concern of the American film industry and not so much about the

perceived culture uniqueness of the United States, which a government body might find is more

important to consider.

During this period, the films screened, were not necessarily chosen due to their artistic

vision or the idea of the director as an auteur but more as a way of visually representing and

expressing a country’s personality. Moreover, festivals and its films were heavily swayed and

manufactured by international politics and diplomatic disputes. As Marijke de Valck explains in

her essay, “Finding Audiences for Films: Programming in Historical Perspective”, “At festivals,

cinema was regarded as a cultural product that could be considered an expression of a national

identity. Government involvement in the selection of festival entries underlined the recognition

of film as a national good, while downplaying aesthetic criteria such as formal innovation or

stylistic experiment” (de Valck, 2012).

The ways festivals were run began to change after the 21st Cannes Film Festival in 1968.

Protests erupted during the international festival due in part to worldwide student protests and

anti-Vietnam War demonstrations. All came to a head on the 18th of May 1968, when

filmmakers François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard and others demanded the festival be cancelled

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for that year in response to the surrounding unrest (Grey, 2008). Furthermore, they wanted to

have the festival structure change entirely where the focus was switched onto the work and the

artists behind it. The festival did end up closing early that year and amazingly that next year,

“an alternative festival for up-and-coming filmmakers called Director's Fortnight was instituted,

an idea that was eventually incorporated into Cannes itself. Four years later, it was decided that

the festival rather than the country of origin would choose the films” (Stone, 2008). This major

change acted as the first domino to fall and shape the way most of the film festivals worldwide

are managed today. During this time is also when new themed or more specialized festivals (i.e.

Short films, Documentaries) started to appear since the government was not involved as much,

leading to greater freedom in what festival organizers wanted do.

Since the people who were now choosing and making up the festival programs were

cinephiles and film enthusiast themselves, festivals did indeed become more focused on the

cinematic work and not as much on how it would benefit the films’ country of origin

international relations. Not to mention, these changes lead to a major transitional period that

made festivals huge platforms for independent cinema and as cultural gatekeepers. Money has

always been a major factor in the running of a festival however, it was not until this transition

that festivals really needed to find a way to support themselves since not as much money was

coming from the government or government affiliates. This in turn has lead to the growing

feeling that many festival coordinators come to feel. That feeling being an “attest to the

presence and influence of film as business, and festival organizations need to account for their

spending and present proof of popularity to stakeholders that fund and sponsor the events” (de

Valck, 2012).

Today, festivals have become an interesting enigma of Hollywood business and the

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acclaim of cinematic visionaries participation in the art of independent films. “Thee art/auteur

frame has proven to be very persistent, not least because the labels are media-friendly. Where

Hollywood relies on actors to sell films, festivals are in the business of showcasing directors;

spotting new talents and staging mediatized premieres of established auteurs” (de Valck 2012).

Ever since the modern idea of a film festival was put into practice, the dynamic between

preserving cinema as art while staying in the good graces of the film industry has led to the

variety festivals out there and where they want to be on that spectrum.

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The Many Faces of Film Festivals

There are a multitude of ways to put on a film festival. One can be to show a wide range

of genres and many films at a time, like the World Film Festival in Montreal that screens more

than 400 films each year, where festival attendees could not possibly see every film on offer

(Losique, 2014). Or one can put on a festival that screens just a few films, like the New York

Film Festival (NYFF) who hopes for all attendees to see most if not all of the films on the

program. According to Richard Peña, the festival director from 1988 to 2012 of the New York

Film Festival, has been organized the same way since it was established in 1963, showing

between 25 to 30 films a year (Peña, 2012).

How organizers want to focus their festival differs and greatly effects their audience

experience and ability to find sponsorship. Do they want to be the shiny jewel of the industry

and be surrounded by the “glitz and glamour” that Hollywood can offer? Or is the festival’s

focus on finding new and upcoming talent? Both goals are perfectly fair points of direction but

both serve very different purposes. If one wants the attention of the mainstream media and

major film studios, the structure of the festival would need to be very straight forward with the

needed sense that the films being shown should be taken seriously so that the industry people

who attend know what they will be getting their self into and how this might affect their all

important “image”. For instance a film festival like the International Random Film Festival in

Europe is an annual festival that is organized “in a randomly selected location, on a random

opening date [and] awards are given out randomly.” The random awards participants receive

awards not knowing the meaning of the honor until they are presented to them and the awards

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have names like, ‘The Spoon’ and ‘The Running Turtle’ (Ward, 2012). That is not saying that

there is anything bad or inferior about how this festival is run or is structured, it is just not a

type of festival that would attract the Hollywood elite due to its unpredictability.

Often many festivals have multiple goals to achieve, like discovering new talent as well as

attracting top end professionals but to successfully discover new talent, one also needs the

publicity to make that new talent break out into the industry. In many cases that could also mean

breaking the festival into the industry along with it. Where a festival decides to put it’s focus on

determines and expresses the festivals goals and priorities. “Festivals either celebrate film as an

art, affirm different kinds of identity via film, facilitate the marketing of films, or often, indeed,

some combination of these” (Ruoff, 2012).

Film Festivals are a place where new and unique stories can be seen, many of which

include the minorities and nationalities that are otherwise rarely or not all represented inside the

major studio system. For example, in the LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender)

community, “queer film festivals are still the places where community representation is the

central factor around which festivals and their programming revolve” (Loist, 2012). A larger

range of stories, like those seen at LGBT festivals, have become more available to be seen in

mass markets but their representation is dwarfed in comparison to, if you will, “straight” and

“mainstream” cinema. These festivals, including those that focus on under represented

nationalities, give a greater opportunity for these stories to be seen and experienced around the

world.

Similarly, there are many festivals dedicated to specific types or genres of films that are

not usually as widely seen and appreciated. Types of films such as short films, animations, and

documentaries style films (Giżycki, 2012). Film festivals like the Hiroshima International

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Animation Festival and International Short Film Festival Oberhausen in Germany are perfect

examples, showing just animated submissions and films that are forty-five minutes or less.

When choosing a festivals program and structure, festival organizers also have to decide

how to advertise to the public and determine who is the festival’s target audience. In other

words, each festival assembles its own ultimate participant. For instance, the Flaherty Film

Seminar is a festival in some sense, but different in regards to other festivals. Filmmakers do not

submit films but our sought out by the programmer. The Flaherty seminar is also unique in that

you cannot purchase tickets for individual showings but only for the whole week program.

Additionally similarly to the highly regarded Telluride Festival in Colorado, the Film Seminar

does not publish which films are being screened beforehand. So attendees have no idea what to

expect until the lights dim and the films starts (Ruoff, 2012).

There is such a wide variety of film festivals out there and so many different ways an

event can be put on to be centered around cinema. When it comes down to it though, the main

functions of a festival remain the same. “Film festivals function within and help produce a

number of temporalities in relation to film culture. They constitute a place of the ‘after’ — of

restorations, tributes, retrospectives — where pieces of the vast archive of still-extant film texts

are reconstituted and reconfigured for the present. Festivals are also places of the ‘now’ —

giving a sense of ‘what’s happening in film’ across cultures and geographical

boundaries affording a sense to their attendees of flows, currents, trends — contemporary

moments that call and respond to each other, of fashions and styles that merge and fade away”

(Schamus, 2012). In other words, James Schamus describes, how film festivals not only express

appreciation of the past lives of film but also celebrates the present and the future motion

pictures.

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Due to the greater accessibility to film equipment and the World Wide Web, individuals

from poorer and more remote areas of the world have the chance to go behind the camera and

create a film, which might not have been possible before. This makes film festivals major

contributors to “global film culture, to the life of film festival host cities, as well as the success

of individual films and filmmakers…” (Czach, 2004). Not only do film festivals proliferate

world cinema, a good percentage of them have special categories highlighting their own

national cinema. For instance the ‘Deutsches Kino’ at the Berlin Festival (Berlinale, 2014)

honors greatness in German Films. These special country specific categories, LGBT festivals as

well as the new and poor directors that are able to participate, shows how the expansion and

availability of film festivals provide a platform for exposure of films from many undiscovered

and under represented cultures and social economic strata.

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The Film Industry Takes Notice

As I have already touched on above, the film industry and filmmakers use film festivals as

an initial launching pad into the public sphere. Film festivals have become a ‘mecca’ of sorts for

independent cinema because they act like artistic and publicity channels that have the ability to

push the film or filmmaker in the right direction. Having a film screened at a certain festivals

can greatly improve the chances of industry recognition since the entrainment business is all

about who knows whom and who has the possibility to make money or some kind of profit. The

more prestigious the event, the more chance to get the attention of the people in the business

who can make a difference in a new promising career. For instance the ‘Palme d’Or’ award at

Cannes is regarded as the second most prestigious award in the world of cinema, second only to

the Academy Awards (Sterritt, 2010). There is also a large range of cliental and attendees of

film festival from all areas of the business. Receiving the Palme d’Or or any other recognition

will not only give one a greater probability of getting the attention of Hollywood and

Independent studios but also that of the sales agents, film producers and talent scouts. Who are

people that are well connected and able to spread the information about a film and a filmmaker

to others (O’Murchu, 2013).

Nevertheless, submitting a film to a festival does not guarantee the film will become a

success. There are various elements in making a successful film (i.e. good script, finding the

right audiences, media coverage, amount of money available) but the more a film is able to be

seen by more and more people, the better odds it has for someone “important” to see it and take

notice, which can lead to the right steps towards possible success. Besides in some sense,

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filmmakers make films to be seen and if a film is not seen, in theory, it can result in it not

existing. Film Festivals have been a great opportunity for films to be seen for many years.

In today’s already competitive market, the advancement of the Internet has only increased

the competition and options for promoting a project. The same thing goes for film festivals

themselves. Promotion, in someway, is the only way festivals are able to get the films they are

presenting out to the public. Film festivals, especially A-list ones, have become events where

media frenzy has become commonplace. The press media mania has now become integrated

into the cycle of the film festival world. The amount of press coverage a film festival has can

greatly affect not only their public image but also how much attending, from a financial point of

view, is worth for filmmakers, studios, and others. Going to a film festival costs money and one

has to weigh whether it makes sense to travel to take part in the festivities. What’s more, the

higher amount of people who attend for each film only increases the expenses. However if the

ones who do attend and use the festival to their best advantage, the more revenue there is in the

creative economy of not only the film industry but film festivals themselves.

To illustrate, a single photo of a film’s star or director taken on the red carpet can get that

specific movie a great amount of “free” publicity and interest, something that can be worth

millions if executed and published in the right way and in the right places. To get that

photograph to the right places (i.e. popular film publications, online media websites,

entertainment news television shows), studios, film producers, or whoever is in charge with

funding the project has to take into account how much it would cost to attend a certain festival

and that is after the fee to submit the film. They also have to take into account the funds needed

for the accommodation, press kits, airfare, transportation while at the festival and so on. With

that said, if a festival can give the submitted and accepted film enough attention, the attention

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along can make going to the festival worth while.

The more extensive press coverage a festival can generate, the more it will attract not

only topnotch films but also high-end sponsors. Therefore, increasing a festivals budget,

audience reach, prestige, and not to mention, industry influence.

Liz Czach points out in her essay, “Film Festivals, Programming, and the Building of a

National Cinema” “The festival circuit and festival screenings function to gather potential

critical, public, and scholarly attention for individual films and directors. While sales, foreign

distribution deals, and the interest of talent agents are some of the hoped-for outcomes of

festival exposure, those films and directors regularly represented in festivals are also likely to

garner something else — critical capital” (Czach, 2004).

Premiering a film is a major part of increasing a film festivals’ critical capital. Since a big

component to a festival is exhibiting films, notably ones of excellence and with little to no

previous exposure. This makes being able to advertise that a number of the films being shown

that are either world premieres or European premiere et cetera, very important. “A festival

premiere bestows an aura on movies, temporarily conferring on film the status of a unique art

work… The quantity of film premieres by established directors help define the significance of a

film festival in the pecking order of the international circuit (Ruoff, 2012). Creating majority of

festivals’ media attention through the films they are premiering and the amount of premieres

they have, “Festivals usually aim for international or national premieres because timeliness

secures interest and media coverage in this era of the “attention economy” (Loist, 2012). Many

media outlets just focus particular attention on the films that are world premiers. Leading to a

lot of competition between festivals to be the ones to acquire the first showing of a film. The

competition makes programing a film festival a lot more involved than having “the festival

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director simply choosing the films they want to show. Even the most powerful festivals —

Cannes, Toronto, Venice, Berlin, Sundance — engage in delicate negotiations with filmmakers,

distributors, and sales agents to secure the rights to premiere new works. Furthermore, agents

and distributors, not festival programmers, determine in great measure the programming options

of secondary festivals” (Peranson, 2008). Determining which festivals secures a certain film

comes down to the availability of the film in regards to the timing of the festival dates that year

and how distinguished a festival is. "Well established festivals always get first choice on titles

as distributors or sales agents will be confident that the film is going to be seen by a large

number of people” (Giles, 2001).

Festival parties, or galas as they like to call them, can become just as important in winning

a premiere of a film. This is because the after film parties are where a lot of the business and

networking happens. It gives a chance for filmmakers, actors, and producers to mix with film

buyers, agents, and critics. James Schamus, former CEO of Focus Features, elaborates this side

of film festivals in an interesting and colorful way in his essay, “See Here Now: Festival Red

Carpets and the Cost of Film Culture” saying, “Most critical, academic, and even industry

attention gets focused on what happens between the cover, so to speak, of the festival — which

films get bought, which films get prizes, which films get the most critical love. The ‘galas’ are

considered mainly as necessary diversions, if not necessary evils — often incongruous

appendages adding a dollop of showbiz hype to the otherwise important business of nurturing

serious cinema” (Schamus, 2012).

Stepping away from the business side of film festivals, attending a film festival is

suppose to be about the entire experience of taking in the high quality films along with

the atmosphere that the festival provides. An experience that is different and distinctive

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then watching a film in any other place. “Film festivals are not simply exhibitors,

generating revenue on concession stands and throwing a print on a screen, they are there

to create a living environment where the experience of seeing a film matters. Where there

is dialogue and engagement, where word of mouth can be a powerful force for a film’s

future” (Hall, 2013). It can be difficult for festivals not get too wrapped up in the

Hollywood business side of things after all that is the side that makes the money and

brings in the promotion. “Maintaining a balance between independent programming

ideals and professional management standards is a precarious business for cultural

organizations. When the scale tips the wrong way, festivals may find themselves opting

for films that will please their audiences instead of challenging, persuading and helping

them to sample new fare” (de Valck, 2012). Henceforth, giving way to a new type of

patron, a patron that is getting ever more used to being able to do what they want, when

they want to, a patron that has become a part of the almost limitless world of the digital

age. Interesting, thinking back to the early days of cinema all the way through to the

beginning of the 1960’s, going to see a film was a common but also a social and public

event since it was the only time someone might be able to catch that particular picture.

Moreover, back in the day, “going to the cinema was perceived as an ordinary and natural

event for all kinds of people. But at the same time, entering into the cinema's space could

also be presented as exciting since a physical sense of the cinema's glamour was also

retained…” (Geraghty, 2000). Besides, there was not that opportunity to watch a film in

the comforts of your home. It was not until the invention of the television, unless an

individual was rich enough to have a home theater, that kind of privacy, the kind that we

have in abundance today, was able take place. Nowadays, film festivals keep alive that

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social element of experiencing a film in a collective manner, making going to the cinema

an exclusive and unique event. Subsequently, in the modern era, much of the social

activity appears to be becoming exceedingly prevalent virtually through digital

technology.

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Film Festivals Enter The Digital World

Advancements in technology has forced many business’ and organizations to update how

they run their company and even how they think, in hopes to keep their business running

prosperously. Unfortunately, “many companies fail to adapt to an evolving environment,

especially when that evolution is caused by technological change, which can threaten their very

survival in the process…Some companies do, however, manage to survive, or even prosper,

despite a radical change in their business environment” (Pangarkar, 2014). It is the ability to

adapt and think progressively that will keep companies from becoming another casualty of the

change of times. The film and film festival world is no different in regards to having to keep up

with new ways the world lives.

Digital and social media is one of the main types of new technologies that the industry

has had to adapt to and understand the new technological savvy public. Over the last decade or

so, technology has creped its way into basically every part of a person’s life. From the

enormous expansion of the Internet, the popularity of smartphones and to the increased use of

social media, people nowadays seem to be always connected to countless other people (i.e.

friends, family, acquaintances, strangers) as well as to a massive amount of information.

Interestingly, going back ten to twenty years this was not the case and if people back then were

told how dependent we have become to the Internet, they would mostly likely be in disbelief or

even ask what the Internet was. The concept of the World Wide Web was know then and have

been around and used for many years now but until this last decade, it was a lot less popular or

common to spend hours connected online as it is today. In Figure 1, it shows how dramatically

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Figure 1: This graph visualizes the steady increase of Internet Users around the world over the last two decades. Source: (Internet Live Stats, 2014)

the amount of Internet users have grown in the last twenty years from a small percentage of the

worlds populations to almost three billion people which is around 40% of the worlds population

(Internet Live Stats, 2014). Furthermore, the popularity of Wireless Internet or WiFi did not

catch on until the early 2000s, which made people accessing the Internet tied to a desk and

forced to use slow dial-up. It was only when the general public accepted and eventually became

accustom to Wireless Internet did the world of social media and concept of smart phones prevail

and become a feasible approach to connect to others and everything the cyber world has to

offer.

Today, people can constantly access their email, and social media pages in almost any

location they have cellular signal via their smart phone or tablet. Moreover, it is apparent that

society is using the Internet in much greater doses now then ever before and this jump up on

usage becomes clear considering an ever increasing percentage of the population, the younger

generation, are growing up having not known a world without wireless internet or computers for

that matter (Oblinger and Oblinger, 2005). This means that these young people have lived

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Figure 2: The graphs about shows the percentage of all social media Internet users followed by the percentage of each

age group. Source: “Pew Research’s Internet & American Life Project Tracking Surveys 2005-2013. Spring Tracking

Survey. April 17 — May 19, 2013. N= 1,895 Adult Internet Users Age 18+. Interviews were conducted in English and

Spanish and on landline and cell phones. The margin of error for results based on all internet users 15 +/- 2.5 percentage

points”; Search Engine Journal (Jones, 2013).

with their online personas and now social media for almost as long as they have lived with their

offline selves. This revelation of sorts puts into context, why there is such an importance on

online social communication and is especially stronger with the ‘youth’ age market with 89% of

18 to 29 year olds are social media users (Bullas, 2013). When you look at even the younger

generation, the percentage only gets bigger. In 2013, 93% of all 5-15 year olds in the United

Kingdom used the Internet (Ofcom, 2013). When looking at the graphs in Figure 2, they all

seem to have very similar trends by showing an increase in percentage of Internet Users

participation in social media in all age groups. It is staggering to have over 60% of all Internet

23

Users, since 2010, adopting social media into their lives. When putting the numbers from Figure

1 and the percentages from Figure 2, that calculates to over 1.2 billion people; a number that is

growing by the second.

These numbers and statistics shows how important it is for businesses of all types to look

at who their current target audience is as well as who their future customers are going to be and

how these customers prefer to get their information or interact with businesses. With the

continuing progress in technology, it gives individuals and organizations easier access to

expand their reach with the ability to share pictures, messages and videos all around the world.

Moreover, with the use of social media, people are now able to connect with a whole group of

people that, without it, would most likely not of have the chance to interact.

That all the more goes for smaller countries and less developed areas around that world,

like little island towns that, due to their location, are isolated from the rest of the world. When

one of these island towns is given access to the Internet, they are then instantaneously linked to

the rest of the Internet Users on the globe and are now able to contribute to them millions upon

millions of online conversations as well as participate in various events. This includes becoming

a part of a online film community or keeping up with what is happening at film festivals around

the world and even gaining the ability to submit a film to a festival.

When focusing specifically on film festivals and how they have decided to break into this

relatively new digital world, they have had to look to at all the stages of putting on a festival due

to the fact that most, if not all, areas have been affected. That means reevaluating how a film

festival should function from the ground up. Including developing a new festival submission

process, how films are viewed, and how accepted filmmakers and festival staff deal with the

media. For example, when attending a large to moderate size festival, there tends to be a good

24

amount of press in attendance (which could be in the thousands for mega-festivals like Cannes).

When the media and press arrive they are given an assortment of things so that they can better

cover the films as well as the festival. These assortment usually include a range of items like,

“press kits, photo sets… promotional items, gift bags, soundtrack CDs, printed screenplays and

the like” (Schamus, 2012). Most of which is or will able to be distributed by way of the Internet,

which will greatly cut filmmakers and festival budgets. 

Nowadays, if an organization or company cannot be found online it is as if it does not

exist. So because that, it has become common practice for a festival to have its own website

complete with information about the festival, how it came about and how to become a part of

the festival either as a filmmaker, volunteer, or sponsor. An even more recent addition to

festival websites is having links to their specific social media pages. Which are usually

displayed prominently on the Home page on the website.

Today there are many different social media websites but it is safe to say the film festivals

tend to mainly focus on the top two social media sites out there, that being Twitter and

Facebook. This is probably due to the fact that they are the ones to grow in popularity first and

have the biggest user database. Although, as social media has evolved, more organizations have

begun to use a variety of social media websites and smart phone applications due to the fact that

each one can be used to their advantage in a distinctive way. With that, it is micro-blogging site,

Twitter, that has become the clear favorite with film festivals overall. Despite the fact that both,

Twitter and Facebook, are great places to get information to a great amount of people,

“Facebook, from a festival’s standpoint, is walking (and) Twitter is sprinting” (Koehler, 2014).

The reasoning behind this is due to the fact that different social media sites tend to attract

different people and audiences. Facebook is usually where users share information and pictures

25

to their friends and family. This can have a limited area of reach if ones inner circle does not

include the right people needed for promotion.

Twitter, on the other hand, is where many film festivals and film studios have focused

their social media campaigns due to its quickness and ability to have information seen by

millions. Twitter has grown exponentially since it first started in 2006 and in just about eight

years can claim to have two hundred and seventy-one million “monthly active users” and over

550 million “registered users” from around the world with five hundred million Tweets sent out

each day (Twitter, 2014). Alex Billington makes an interesting insight about Twitter and its

association with the film festival world in his article, “Tweeting Cinema: Covering Film

Festivals in the Age of Social Media” saying, “Nowadays, film fans all over the world are

watching the festival from Twitter. They want to know what films are getting good buzz, and

they want to know what all of us think the moment a film ends…. All they need are reactions

from trusted sources - and Twitter is the first place to find those reactions because it's so quick

to get them out. Then they can decide on their own if they want to see the film and have their

own thoughts. Maybe they'll see it and hate it, or love it, and will have something to say about

it, driving more interest in independent cinema which is healthy for this industry's progress”

(Billington, 2014).

In the last few years, Twitter has become so integrated into the film festival world that, “if

you were working for a festival and had a Twitter account, you were suddenly a de-facto part of

the festival’s publicity and marketing operation” (Koehler, 2014). Moreover, Twitter has

become a way where users can use their tweets, “almost as if this (it’s) the next evolution in

cheering, or booing, a movie. The feeling to respond (with applause, verbal acknowledgment, or

even silence) when a film ends is natural. It's part of being alive. It has evolved along with

26

technology in this modern day. Nowadays when we react, it involves a message in tweet form, a

sentence, a simple thought, something to sum up our feelings as we're feeling them” (Billington,

2014).  The concept of being able to instantly send out a point of view about seemly anything,

from how professional the festival staff is to what films are worth seeing, to millions of people

is why social media has become so integrated with the entertainment industry.

Figure 3: Shows growth of Social Media growth from the start of Facebook. Source Search Engine Journal (Jones,

2013).

Newer forms of social media have been working its way into the film festival scene, with

the explosion of trendy smartphone applications that put emphasis on the visual side of

communication and company’s marketing committees have also taken notice. According to the

2013 CMO survey, put on by Duke University, found that currently 8.4 percent of marketing

27

budgets are going towards social media marketing (Adweek, 2013). That number is looking to

increase by over three percent in the next year and leap to twenty percent in the next five years

(Adweek, 2013). Instagram is a smartphone application that is all about visual communication.

It lets its users be the photographers giving them the ability to take a photo or very short video

(three to fifteen seconds) with their hi-tech phones and instantly share their distinctive square-

shaped pictures, similar in shape to older types of pictures (i.e. Polaroid), with their followers.

An added Instagram feature is the filters that are available to use to give the photo the specific

look the individual is looking for. These unique features only add to its allure and popularity.

According to social analytics company Simply Measured, Instagram can boast 150 million users

with 40 million photos being uploaded daily (Finn, 2013). Over 14.5 billion photos will be

uploaded each year. Social media gives companies a new way to connect with their audience

because it gives them a chance to interact directly with the consumer and being able to use these

more visual platforms have only given them another way to do so. For example, organizations,

including those in the film industry, have started to use Instagram to highlight events happening

soon and to start a buzz about a party or premiere. Using ‘tags’ or ‘hashtags,’ (#) as some

networks call it, has become popular on many social networks, like Flickr, Twitter and

Instagram, as a way to organize pictures and ideas (Sun and Bhowmick, 2009).With the use of

“hashtags” and the ability to “tag” other users has only made it easier for non-followers to come

across a festival or festival goer’s “tweet” or Instagram photo.

When looking at Figure 3, it shows that all various versions of social media are on the

rise. There are multiple explanations for this sharp increase but one of the reasons is the

interactive nature of social media. Having the ability to contact different celebrities, companies,

organizations etc., directly and being able to get an instant response from that person or

28

business makes it a novelty that people have come to enjoy. Additionally, “with the shift

towards more participatory creative cultures, it can be expected that audiences will demand a

greater say in festival programming practices. This could imply that festivals need to

incorporate social media to create an environment with ample feedback loops”(de Valck, 2012).

Meaning that today with the help of social media, festival coordinators and promoters are not

the only ones getting the word out about their festival but, “festival audiences and filmmaking

guests are deploying Tumblr, Snapchat and Vine to record their memorable festival moments.

They also just happen to be providing the festivals with publicity and marketing boosts without

those festivals’ staffers lifting a finger” (Koehler, 2014). Likewise, television and film studios

have had to strategize how to best work with and adjust to the commotion around this new

media force by making this modern form of publicity work in their advantage instead of against

them.

Correspondingly, popular online streaming video platforms are changing the ways in

which we consume visual media. Video-steaming websites like Netflix and Amazon Prime

provide costumers with hours upon hours of films and television shows (mostly online but also

through DVDs directly mailed to subscribers) for just a small monthly fee. Websites like these

are increasingly becoming a struggle for festivals due to the fact that people have become

accustom to being able to watch what they want, when they want and where they want. The

capability to be everywhere at anytime is not possible for a traditional film festivals, providing

the given nature and structure of a festivals being an event that people travel to, to experience it.

In the same fashion, “the proliferation of DVDs has led to the (often mistaken) belief that even

the dearest things… will eventually be found on Netflix” (Peña, 2012). This brings about

another problem for festivals on the account that people who would like to see a film being

29

shown at a festival but might otherwise choose to not to go in favor of watching it later when it

becomes available to stream online. This can be the case even if the film may never become

available online or anywhere else for that matter.

Another popular trend, that is very similar in away to Netflix and can even be seen as just

another version of the same thing is, watching newly released films on video-on-demand (VOD)

either through cable or online (with smart televisions or attachable devices such as Apple TV).

Watching video-on-demand programing is a relatively new phenomenon, rising in popularity in

a similar time period as social media. In the past though, some people had looked down on

VOD since it can be easily mistaken for the older, Pay-per-view television, which is where

viewers pay to view the live airing of a program where the selections available mostly consists

of either, adult programing, straight to video “b-movies” or high end boxing matches. You

would not usually find the latest, biggest blockbusters or the Academy Award winning films

like with most video-on-demand. With improvements on the side of service provided by cable

providers and advancements in technologies like digital video recorders (DVR), which can

record live television so viewers can watch the show later, leading people even more accustom

to watching exactly what they want. With the popularity of VOD and DVR systems has

persuaded cable companies to increase the available collection of television shows and movies

for their customers to watch. This collection also includes a growing number of independent

films.

With films becoming more available through many different mediums, film festivals have

to figure out how they are going stay current and keep their audience. So instead of fighting the

change, many festivals have chosen to embrace it and make the transition part of their expertise

by helping filmmakers along with other ways, possibly better ways, to distribute their film.

30

Furthermore, “film festivals are marketing partners and audience builders, platforms from

which filmmakers can and should be launching an integrated campaign for their VOD and

ancillary distribution strategy. We live in world where, aside from the biggest studio films,

theatrical exhibition is a loss leader for the long tail of VOD and home video revenues” (Hall,

2013).

The digital metamorphosis brings up countless questions in regards to distribution and an

audience becoming accustom to getting personal niche content available to them. As discussed,

“an urgent matter for festival directors today is how to respond to the digital age. Do festivals

need to expand into the virtual realm, opening YouTube Channels, hosting online festivals, and

offering year-round video-on-demand access via cable or Web-based portals? (de Valck, 2012). 

It would seem through that the answer is yes to all of the above. For by the same token, free

video streaming websites, like YouTube and Vimeo, are only continuing this adjustment for the

film and festival industry in a big way. YouTube and websites similar give practically anyone

the capability to upload a video of nearly anything. The amount new videos appearing on the

site is mind-boggling with 100 hours of video is upload every minute that passes in real time

and in one month, 6 billion hours of videos are watched (Hart, 2014). In March 2013, it was

reported that YouTube attracts “one billion active users each month and if the site were a

country would be the third largest in the world” (Reuters, 2013). With numbers like that, it

makes sense that many filmmakers and film festivals, have been drawn to YouTube as a way to

get information, in the form of videos, about their projects out to the public by even posting

short films. It is also another easy way to share with the public about a movie or festival event

in hopes they will become interested and pass it along.

The sheer volume of content uploaded to YouTube exemplifies how many options people

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have to entertain themselves, keep their attention and distract them from other things outside of

the digital world. All in all constructing an individual user that is in control and used to

switching to something completely different if one becomes bored. It is difficult to say whether

or not the immediate quality of the Internet has made people lazy or have lessened their

attention spans but what you can note is that the Internet is here and is being integrated into the

public’s lives more and more every year. It is safe to say that the Internet and all that comes

with it is not going away anytime soon. Which in turn leads an open market that film festival

should and have begun to fill. By using society’s desire for instant gratification and the love of

the Internet, there have been many online festivals appearing all over cyberspace. For instance,

the Viewster Online Film Fest, which is in its third year, offering cash prizes and gives online

viewers free access to films along with the chance to vote for which films the festival jury

should award (Viewster, 2014). Likewise, more established festivals have developed their own

online side projects like the Tribeca Film Festival’s Tribeca N.O.W.. An opportunity that the

Tribeca Film Festival’s website describes as a program “that will discover highlight, and

celebrate New Online Work from independent storytellers who choose to create and share their

work in the online space” (Tribeca Film Festival, 2014).

By now it can go with out saying the film industry as a whole is going through its own

digital revolution and one that is not focused entirely on the Internet. The revolution I speak of

is focused on the film industry decision to transition into an all-digital medium. This is an

evolution that entails a majority of movie theaters having to switch from celluloid film

projectors to digital ones. A process that is not cheap but is seen as a wise investment for the

future. Especially considering that many of the films today are not shot with celluloid film

anymore. In fact major studios have even put money forward to help cinemas with this costly

32

renovation due to the mutual benefits for them and the cinemas (Alimurung, 2012). This is

important from the point of view of film festivals due to the fact that many festivals rent out or

have a partnership with a cinema or cinemas for the length of that year’s festival and would

need a theatre that can accommodate the format of the films being screened.

It is amazing to think that in the last fifteen or so years, most films have changed from

primarily making films with analog technology to today where we are mainly capturing images

digitally with digital video cameras and even in some cases, smart phones. A switch like this

alters a lot that goes into wanting and actually making a movie. There are still filmmakers out

there that have stayed loyal to the traditional way of filmmaking but with the amount of

positives that comes with digital filmmaking, it looks like using actual film to make a movie

will continue its way in becoming a dying art form. In fact, presently, “most film productions

exist in the digital world, allowing those without budgets and studio support to do work they

never before could have dreamed of doing” (Locke, 2013). Even more recently, digital

technology have become so advanced that even many highly regarded projects have been film

with the use of DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) cameras that many photographers use to take

high quality still photograph with and is able fit comfortably in one hand. Which makes for less

equipment needed for a production.

This major switch from celluloid to digital filmmaking comes down to, as many things do,

to the great amount of money saved when using digital formats of filmmaking. It is said that a

single print of a film using the standard 35mm celluloid film can cost more than £1,500. When

you add in distribution of a major worldwide film released that is then multiplied by the tens of

thousands. Which equals to quite a large number. Comparatively, to produce a copy of a digital

film can cost just around £150 and can be sent out to a theater on a compact hard drive reducing

33

shipping cost on top of it. “The lower cost makes simultaneous worldwide releases more

feasible, which in turn reduces the risk of piracy” (Allen, 2011).

Figure 4: This chart demonstrates the incline of the total amount of film festival in the United States over the years

starting in the 1950’s when film festivals began appear in the country. Source: (Wikipedia, 2014) (Face to Face,

2014).

The ability to film with digital video has been around since the late 1980’s and started to

become increasingly popular between 1998 and 2001 (Grieveson and Wasson, 2008). Although,

it was really only until the huge success of James Cameron’s cutting edge, Avatar, in 2009, that

made digital filmmaking the main format of today, which was filmed with state-of-the-art

digital three-dimensional camera. When looking at in rise in digital filmmaking, it is interesting

to see how it is comparable to the rise of the amount of new film festivals starting each year in

34

the world. For example, when the New York Film Festival opened its doors in the 1960’s, it was

Figure 5: A graph illustrating the increase of film submissions over the last four years to the Sundance Film

Festival. Source: Cultural Weekly (Leipzig, 2014).

know has ‘the Festival’ since it was the only festival running in the city. Today, there are more

than 63 film festivals held annually in New York City alone. In Figure 4, the graph presents the

escalation of the amount of overall film festivals in the United States from the 1950’s to the

2010’s. There are two obvious upsurges during the sixty plus years. One of which appears

during the 1970’s, when the modern film festival became the way of the trade. The second

upsurge occurs during the mid 1990’s to early 2010’s. This can possibly be caused by of the

growing popularity of the Internet around the same time but one can only speculate.

Additionally, there has been a similar increase in the amount of submissions festivals have

been receiving each year. As can be seen with this information, one can infer that with the

decrease in the amount of money that is needed to fund a film, along with an increase interest of

35

filmmakers wanting to participate in film festivals that the two are associated to the rise in

desire to start and fund film festivals.

Richard Peña discusses this development in regards to the New York Film Festival by

saying that, “since the advent of digital production equipment, we have been inundated with

films of every conceivable variety. In my first year at the New York Film Festival, we received

fewer than 800 entries; in 2010 we received more than three times that many for every corner of

the globe” (Peña, 2012). The chart in Figure 5 shows the rise in films submitted over the last

four years to the Sundance Film Festival, a leader when it comes to exhibiting and promoting

independent cinema. The increase in the amount of total films submitted in 2010 verses 2014 is

just over 2,400 films with the amount of films being accepted only increasing from 183 total

films in 2009 to 185 in 2014. When looking even further back into Sundance’s history the

number of films submitted in recent years is staggering. For in just ten years before in 2005,

there was only 6,500 total film submissions (2,485 features, 3,389 shorts) and going back

another ten years, that number drops down to only 325 features submitted (Sundance Institute,

2014).

Another explanation for the growth in film submissions could be related to the fact that

more and more students are deciding on majoring in film studies and filmmaking at university.

In 2011, 4,800 prospective students to the University of Southern California’s film program that

only had space for 300 students and that was over double of the previous years applicants at

2,800 (Cieply, 2011). Similar instances can be seen at universities all over the United States.

With this more people are actively pursuing a career in filmmaking by spending money to

educate themselves on the topic it can be said that there would be more films produced that have

a good chance of being submitted to a film festival.

36

Following suit, the submission process for festivals have transitioned into the digital age

with most of the films being submitted online and many screeners (a version of the film meant

to be used by festival employees to watch the submitted piece of work) are now being streamed

and watched online either sent in as a link which leads to the film that is posted privately to

previously talked about video streaming websites like Vimeo or YouTube. It is important to

note that one of the biggest rules for most of the notable festivals is that the films accepted to a

festival are not allowed to be available to the public either online or any other way (i.e. DVD).

This demonstrates how imperative it is today for filmmakers (or at least one person on their

team) to become substantially more comfortable with the computer and have a considerable

understanding of how the internet works, including privacy settings and so on.

Another difficulty that technology and the Internet have changed is through financing.

One of the biggest problems for a making a movie and running a festival is getting the money to

cover all expenses. “To circumvent these problems, creative founders have recently employed a

new source of finance – so-called crowdfunding – by tapping the “crowd” instead of specialized

investors. Crowdfunding helps entrepreneurs adopt new approaches of undertaking

entrepreneurial projects and managing ventures, which in turn leads to new forms of business

development in which the “ordinary” crowd gets more closely involved in these firms, as active

consumers, investors, or both” (Belleflamme, Lambert and Schwienbacher, 2013) In other

words, with crowdfunding websites, the public is not only capable of promoting a film festival

or film on their own with their personal profiles but they also have the means to be a

contributing member to the funding of a production being a film or a film festival. The idea

behind crowdfunding is very similar to most other fun-raising events but instead of having to

attend a specific night to put money in the pot, all can be completed online with participants

37

receiving prizes or gifts depending on the amount given. The two major websites, previously

named, are Kickstarter and Indiegogo. There have been cases and stories where these attempts

to raise money has been quite effective, especially in the last couple years. One of those stories

being that The Mumbai Film Festival was saved from immediate closure due to a successful

campaign on one of the many crowdfunding websites after their main sponsor fell through. In

order for the 16th edition of the festival to commence in October 2014, organizers were in need

of over $800,000. Many donors came together including ones from Bollywood community as

well as other film festival organizers to raise the funds making the show able to go on as

scheduled (Ramachandran, 2014). This then had made The Mumbai Film Festival a true

community event being finances by regular people who enjoy the festival. Many independent

films have used crowdfunding of pay for their films that give another interesting take on film

production today. Meaning that the roles of the getting the money raised for the production,

which is usually a film studio and the producers, are changing especially if filmmakers can cut

out the middle man leading to less time and money worrying about administration and more

time and money focused on creating. Furthermore, struggling filmmakers are not the only ones

turning to crowdfunding to help with making a film. Well-know actor, Zach Braff turned to

Kickstarter to fund his film, Wish I Was Here (Child, 2013). Although he did get backing from a

more traditional financial backer after starting the online operation, what it demonstrates is that

filmmakers from all sides of the spectrum can and are using the Internet in even more ways.

As touched on in the beginning of this paper, the site Withoutabox.com has become a

major part of the running of many festivals. They have done that by simplifying the process on

both sides. They provide the service of connecting filmmakers from all around the world to film

festivals all around the world and film festivals with filmmakers. On the Withoutabox

38

information page, they boast that their website “maintains listings of more than 5,000 film

festivals and competitions worldwide; with more than 900 of these festivals use[ing]

Withoutabox to receive and manage submissions electronically” (Withoutabox, 2014). There

are mixed feelings about Withoutabox but it does seem to be the way a large percentage of film

festivals and filmmakers have chosen to find each other.

39

Conclusion

The tools and business of producing a film have dramatically changed within the past

fifteen years. It continues to quickly evolve to integrate new digital formats for filming and

editing, which subsequently adds new vectors of distribution into the market of film festivals

and digital streaming. This ultimately is greatly beneficial for the film industry as it opens up

film production to many more people and leads to more ways to exhibiting film to a much

larger global audience.

This paper is simply a snapshot of the transition and solely speculates by using existent

data on what is currently occurring and the possible directions the future can bring. By

using analytics, statistics and other data, I deciphered how film festivals have transformed

through out the years focusing particularly on the effects of the introduction of modern

day technology and social media. Through this data I discover similar trends that

correlated between all areas (i.e. Increase in amount of film festivals, expansion of the

Internet, increased popularity in social media, growth in digital filmmaking and

distribution). Fundamentally, this demonstrates how dramatic the reduction in costs has

been in relation to the expansion of the Internet and digital media.

While researching, I found that all in all, there is not a lot of research in regards of film

festivals. This was a surprising finding since they are such a staple in the motion picture

world. Not to mention, “film festivals are crucial exhibition circuits, because they

nurture independent films, showcase national cinemas, and bring international films to

40

ever-increasing audiences” (Ruoff, 2012).

Through my analysis on the subject, I found that, for the most part, festivals

individually kept track of their own numbers and document their own history. It has not

been until recently that a handful of people in the entertainment industry and film

academics have begun to explore the trade in-depth and bring the information of all the

festivals together which is important to further understand and appreciate the role of a

festival. In addition, “the study of film festivals allows us to understand complex global

relationships of film cultures through the historical development and contested hierarch

of films, filmmakers, film languages, themes, and places” (Wong 2011). It goes without

saying that there is definitively a great amount more to examine about film festivals,

including their place in the film industry, as cultural gatekeepers and how they bring the

two together.   

By and large, while uncovering some intriguing knowledge that has lead me to wonder

what the future may hold. Will the Internet and social media continue to climb and delve

into modern lives? How will film festivals and cinemas continue to lure audience

members to their seats? In the years to come, will all film festivals merely become part of

cyberspace? Then again, why do traditional film festivals still seem to be getting more

popular? Is it because they are one of the few opportunities in today’s society to

experience film in a social setting and to converse with those who share a similar interest

in regards to filmmaking and if so, will this continue to be a draw? Or does it in part have

to do with the growing amount of university students heading to school to study film and

filmmaking ensuing a bloated field with limited areas to exhibit their work? All that is for

sure is that these questions are only a few questions raised with others materializing just a

41

rapidly as the continuously expanding Internet. The key to the future is continuing to

bring together all topics aforementioned and by having them all seamlessly and

simultaneously working with each other will lead to a higher chance of extending their

well being. Especially emphasizing that “integrating long tail awareness for films is a big

part of the future, and festivals whose organizations can capitalize on social media, local

partnerships and integrated support for driving revenue opportunities to VOD and other

platforms can play a major role in supporting artists over the long term” (Hall, 2013). In

the light of everything that has happened in the last eighty or so years, it would seem that

the film festival will keep on persisting being a place for film to be appreciated and

filmmakers to gain recognition no matter how advanced technology becomes in the days

to come.

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