Rethinking Film Festivals in the Pandemic Era and After (Framing Film Festivals)

This is an open access book. This edited collection aims to document the effects of Covid-19 on film festivals and to theorize film festivals in the age of social distancing. To some extent, this crisis begs us to consider what happens when festivals cant happen; while films have found new (temporary) channels of distribution (most often in the forms of digital releases), the festival format appears particularly vulnerable in pandemic times. Imperfect measures, such as the move to a digital format, cannot recapture the communal experience at the very core of festivals. Given the global nature of the pandemic and the diversity of the festival phenomenon, this book features a wide range of case studies and analytical frameworks. With contributors including established scholars and frontline festival workers, the book is conceived as both a theoretical endeavour and a practical exploration of festival organizing in pandemic times. Marijke de Valck is Associate Professor of film and media studies at Utrecht University, Netherlands, where she co-directs the master program in film and television cultures. Her research deals with film festivals, transnational media cultures, media industries, and art cinema. Her publications include Film Festivals: From European Geopolitics to Global Cinephilia (2007), the co-edited Film Festival: History, Theory, Method, Praxis (2016) and Art and Activism in the Age of Systemic Crisis: Aesthetic Resilience (2020). She is co-founder of the Film Festival Research Network, co-editor of Palgraves Framing Film Festivals series and co-editor of the festivals review section in NECSUS. Antoine Damiens is a Research Associate at York University, Toronto, where they recently completed a MITACs Accelerate Postdoctoral Fellowship. His research examines the politics and history of film festivals, queer film/video, and minoritized archives. Their first book, LGBTQ Film Festivals: Curating Queerness, was published in 2020. Antoine Damiens co-edits, with Marijke de Valck, the Film Festival Reviews section in NECSUS. Acknowledgements Contents Notes on Contributors List of Figures List of Tables Chapter 1: What Happens When Festivals Can’t Happen? Pandemic Scholarship: Documenting and Thinking Through an Ongoing Crisis Rethinking Film Festivals in the Pandemic Era and After Bibliography Part I: Contaminated Circuits: Covid-19 and the Festival Ecosystem Chapter 2: Stopping the Flow: Film Circulation in the Festival Ecosystem at a Moment of Disruption Continuous Uncertainty Distribution: Circulation on the Circuit Curators and Festival Organizers Markets Sales Agents Distributors Filmmakers Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 3: Scarcity, Ubiquity, and the Film Festival After Covid Scarcity and Ubiquity Changing Strategies of Risk Avoidance Looking to the Past (of Newspapers) to See the Future (of Festivals) The Post-Covid Outlook Bibliography Chapter 4: Locating Buzz and Liveness: The Role of Geoblocking and Co-presence in Virtual Film Festivals Geoblocking and Locating Film Festival Space Networked Co-presence: Geofencing and Value Creation Rethinking Festival (Studies) Futures Bibliography Chapter 5: Film Festivals on the Small Screen: Audiences, Domestic Space, and Everyday Media Media and Domestic Space in the Post-Broadcast Era Addressing the Home: Reconfiguring the Public in Private Spaces Reconfiguring the Time of the Audience Remediating Audience Participation Conclusion: Reframing the Film Festival Audience Bibliography Chapter 6: Finding Allies in Pandemic Times: Documentary Film Festivals and Streaming Platforms Case Study I: DAFilms Doc Alliance, DAFilms, and Film Festivals: Collaboration and Reciprocity Searching for Partners During the Pandemic: The 2020 Calendar Modes of Collaboration with DAFilms: Partnerships, Identity, and Belonging Case Study 2: Tënk Tënk and Film Festivals, a Constitutive Link 2020, the Covid Year: Revisiting the Alliance Return to the Original Equilibrium of the Alliance Conclusions Bibliography List of Interviews Chapter 7: Chilean Film Festivals and Local Audiences: Going Online? Chilean Festivals Under Covid-19 Live Events and Hybrid Strategies Festivals Moving Online Digital Literacy and Gatekeeping Practices The Paradox of Online Access Tactics for Engaging Audiences Online Conclusions: The Future of Going Online Bibliography List of Websites of Film Festivals Cited Part II: Experimenting on the Frontlines: Innovative Responses to the Crisis Chapter 8: Vidéo de Femmes Dans le Parc: Feminist Rhythms and Festival Times Under Covid Insistent Ephemerality: VFP as Feminist Festival Practice VFP @ 29: Creative Solutions to Online Exhibition Outdoor Cinema and Sociability in Montreal Conclusions Bibliography Chapter 9: Curating Our Own Space: A Conversation on Online Queer Film Exhibition and Adult Queer Cinema Chapter 10: Cinephilia, Publics, Cinegoraphilia: Surveying the Short-Term Effects of Covid-19 on Community-Based Festivals in Toronto Covid in Ontario: A Timeline Canada’s Arts Funding Ecosystem Cinegoraphilia and Toronto Festivals Toronto Outdoor Picture Show Toronto Queer Film Festival Conclusion: TOPS and TQFF in 2021 and Beyond Bibliography Chapter 11: Film Festivals in Taiwan: Lurking on the Periphery Pandemic Preparedness in Taiwan Taipei Film Festival: Where Government Is a Stakeholder When Update Failed Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival: The Chinese-Language “Oscars” Taiwan Cinema Amid the Pandemic Future Landscape of Taiwan Cinema Bibliography Chapter 12: Precarity, Innovation, and Survival in the Indian Film Festival Sector Film Festivals and the Pandemic Film Festivals After the Lockdown KASHISH: “The World Must See Us in Our Splendid Colors” KASHISH Virtual 2020 Embracing the Global Kriti Film Club and the Lockdown Film Festivals South Asian Feminist Film Festival The Rising Gardens Film Festival Rethinking Community at Rising Gardens Refusals: The Kolkata People’s Film Festival Is the Future Hybrid? Bibliography Chapter 13: Curating as Care: La Semaine de la Critique and the Marrakech International Film Festival in the Age of Covid-19 The Difference Between Film Programming and Film Curating Semaine de la Critique in the Age of Covid-19: Taking Care of Movies The 2020 Marrakech International Film Festival: Canceling the Festival, Developing the Atlas Workshops Curating Films as Caring for Films and Communities Bibliography Part III: Never Waste a Good Crisis: (Re)imagining Festivals After the Pandemic Chapter 14: Toward Decolonized Film Festival Worlds African Screen Worlds: Decolonizing Film and Screen Studies Film Festival Film (2019) From Cosmetic Appropriation to Deep Decolonization Reorienting Film Festivals Blueprints for Decolonial Film Festival/Curatorial Practice Turning over a New Leaf Bibliography List of Survey Participants Chapter 15: Festivals, Covid-19, and the Crisis of Archiving A Few Elements of Context: Archiving Pre-digital Festivals “If It’s Not on Paper, It Doesn’t Exist At All”: Unintended Consequences of the Digital Revolution Archiving Festivals Organized During the Covid-19 Pandemic Bibliography Chapter 16: Greening Film Festivals Blue Skies Heavy Clouds Green Futures Final Remarks Bibliography Index