From: email suppressed
Date: Fri Mar 10 2006 - 11:48:49 PST
"Dismissing all festivals as the same is like saying all museums are
the same."
I'm glad you compared Museums to film festivals. lets frame it another
way. Museums are there to support the work of art and artists don't
have to pay the musems in order to have their work shown.
In film, the filmmakers & videomakers are ask to financially support
the festivals, and the festivals only screen a tiny amount of work that
is submitted. Further, an individual filmmaker has no way of knowing if
their work will be looked at, let alone by a qualified judge, or that
they will be contacted by the festival regarding the acceptance or
rejection of their submission.
The festivals do a lot of whining about how much it costs to run these
things, but a promotor / manager / fund raiser worth their salt should
be perfectly able to cover their costs in other ways and run an
economicly efficient event. If they can't they should stand down and
let a better fundraiser / manager take their place.
Festivals rely on filmmaker fees because its easy money which is far
more appealing than in taking a good look at the level of comunity
support for their events. If enough financial resources can not be
gleaned from the comunity in which the festical takes place then that
fesstival should probably be allowed to die.
Film festivals are not a necessity, there are probably far too many
festivals in the US as it is, and only a tiny number of festivals are
able to provide any real benefits to the fimmakers. If we filmmakers
were more selective in our applications we might play a positive role
in killing off the many worthless festivals out there.
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For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.