Film Festivals: History, Theory, Method, Practice

257 Pages·2016·4.512 MB·English

by  Marijke de Valck, Brendan Kredell, Skadi Loist (eds.)

Film Festivals
The last decade has witnessed an explosion of interest in film festivals, with
the field growing to a position of prominence within the space of a few short
years. Film Festivals: History, Theory, Method, Practice represents a major addi-
tion to the literature on this topic, offering an authoritative and compre-
hensive introduction to the area. With a combination of chapters specifically
examining history, theory, method, and practice, it offers a clear structure and
systematic approach for the study of film festivals.
Offering a collection of essays written by an international range of estab-
lished scholars, it discusses well- known film festivals in Europe, North
America, and Asia, but equally devotes attention to the diverse range of
smaller and/or specialized events that take place around the globe. It provides
essential knowledge on the origin and development of film festivals, discusses
the use of theory to study festivals, explores the methods of ethnographic and
archival research, and looks closely at the professional practice of program-
ming and film funding. Each part, moreover, is introduced by the editors,
and all chapters include useful suggestions for further reading.
This will be an essential textbook for students studying film festivals as part
of their film, media, and cultural studies courses, as well as a strong research
tool for scholars who wish to familiarize themselves with this burgeoning
field.
Marijke de Valck is Associate Professor in the Department of Media and
Culture Studies at Utrecht University. She is a well- known specialist in film
festival studies and author of Film Festivals: From European Geopolitics to Global
Cinephilia (2007). She co- founded the Film Festival Research Network and is
co- editor of the book series Framing Film Festivals.
Brendan Kredell is Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies at Oakland Uni-
versity. His research focuses on media and urban studies, an area in which he
has published widely. He received a Fulbright fellowship for his work on
culture- led urban redevelopment and the Toronto International Film
Festival.
Skadi Loist is a lecturer and postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for
Media Research of the University of Rostock. She co-f ounded the Film Fes-
tival Research Network and serves as member of the Steering Committee of
NECS. Her research interests include film festivals, queer cinema, and media
industries. She has worked with the Hamburg International Queer Film Fes-
tival since 2002.
Film Festivals
History, Theory, Method, Practice
Edited by Marijke de Valck,
Brendan Kredell and Skadi Loist
First published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 Marijke de Valck, Brendan Kredell and Skadi Loist
The right of Marijke de Valck, Brendan Kredell and Skadi Loist to be
identified as the authors of the editorial matter, and of the authors for
their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections
77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
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explanation without intent to infringe.
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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ISBN: 978-0-415-71246-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-415-71247-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-63716-7 (ebk)
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Contents
List of illustrations vii
List of contributors viii
Foreword: the film festival and film culture’s transnational essence xi
DINA IORDANOVA
Acknowledgments xviii
Introduction: what is a film festival? How to study festivals
and why you should 1
MARIjKE DE VALCK
Part I
History 13
Introduction 15
BRENDAN KREDELL
1 Making film history at the Cannes film festival 18
DOROTA OSTROWSKA
2 Film festivals in Asia: notes on history, geography, and
power from a distance 34
jULIAN STRINgER
3 The film festival circuit: networks, hierarchies, and
circulation 49
SKADI LOIST
Part II
theory 65
Introduction 67
MARIjKE DE VALCK
vi Contents
4 Contingency, time, and event: an archaeological approach
to the film festival 69
jANET HARBORD
5 Publics and counterpublics: rethinking film festivals as
public spheres 83
CINDY HINg- YUK WONg
6 Fostering art, adding value, cultivating taste: film festivals
as sites of cultural legitimization 100
MARIjKE DE VALCK
Part III
Method 117
Introduction 119
SKADI LOIST
7 Being there, taking place: ethnography at the film festival 122
TOBY LEE
8 On studying film festival ephemera: the case of queer
film festivals and archives of feelings 138
gER ZIELINSKI
9 Positionality and film festival research: a conversation 159
DIANE BURgESS AND BRENDAN KREDELL
Part IV
Practice 177
Introduction 179
BRENDAN KREDELL
10 Seeing differently: the curatorial potential of film festival
programming 181
ROYA RASTEgAR
11 Affective labor and the work of film festival programming 196
LIZ CZACH
12 The “festival film”: film festival funds as cultural
intermediaries 209
TAMARA L. FALICOV
Index 230
Illustrations
Figures
8.1 Poster of the Q! Film Festival, jakarta 139
8.2 Poster of identities—Queer Film Festival, 2009
(Vienna) 143
8.3–8.6 Screengrabs of Frameline festival trailer. Co- directors
Bill Weber and David Weismann 144
8.7 Logo of Queer Lisboa festival, Lisbon 146
8.8–8.11 Screengrabs of MIX NYC 2009 trailer 148
8.12–8.13 Festival poster of Mezipatra Queer Film Festival,
2009 149
8.14–8.16 Side by Side Festival logo and posters for the St.
Petersburg 2011 and Moscow 2012 festival editions.
Designer Dasha Zorkina 150
8.17 Poster for Q! Film Festival 2007, jakarta and Bali 151
8.18–8.23 Screengrabs of Miami gay and Lesbian Film Festival
2007 trailer 152
8.24 25—A Brief History of the Festival 154
table
12.1 Select characteristics of notable film funds 222
Contributors
Diane Burgess teaches Arts Studies in Research and Writing at the Univer-
sity of British Columbia. She received her PhD in Communication from
Simon Fraser University. Her research and publications focus on inter-
national film festivals, national cultural policy, and the discursive construc-
tion of festival circuits. From 2000 to 2005, she was the Canadian Images
Programmer for the Vancouver International Film Festival.
Liz Czach is Associate Professor in the Department of English and Film
Studies at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. She researches
and publishes on home movies and amateur film, Canadian and Quebec
film, and film festivals. She was a film programmer at the Toronto Inter-
national Film Festival from 1995 to 2005.
Marijke de Valck is Associate Professor in the Department of Media and
Culture Studies at Utrecht University. She is a specialist on film festival
studies and author of Film Festivals: From European Geopolitics to Global
Cinephilia (Amsterdam University Press 2007). She co- founded the Film
Festival Research Network and is co-e ditor of the book series Framing
Film Festivals for Palgrave Macmillan.
tamara L. Falicov is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of
Film and Media Studies at the University of Kansas. She specializes in
Latin Amer ican film industries. She is co-e ditor of the book series Framing
Film Festivals for Palgrave Macmillan.
Janet Harbord is Professor of Film at Queen Mary, University of London.
Her work crosses the disciplines of film studies, art history, visual culture,
cultural studies, and anthropology. Her publications include The Evolu-
tion of Film (Polity 2007), Simon Starling (Phaidon 2012), and a book about
giorgio Agamben and film archaeology, Ex- centric Cinema (Bloomsbury
Academic 2016).
Dina Iordanova is Professor of Film and Director of the Institute for global
Cinema and Creative Cultures (IgCCC) at the University of St Andrews
in Scotland. She has published extensively on film festivals, and, through
Contributors ix
her engagement with festival- related projects, advanced development of
the field. She has often been a guest and served on juries at festivals around
the globe.
Brendan Kredell is Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies at Oakland Uni-
versity. His research focuses on media and urban studies, an area in which
he has published widely. He received a Fulbright fellowship for his work
on culture- led urban redevelopment and the Toronto International Film
Festival.
toby Lee is an artist and scholar working across video, installation, drawing,
and text. She holds a PhD in Anthropology and Film and Visual Studies
from Harvard University, and is Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies at
NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Skadi Loist is a lecturer and postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for
Media Research of the University of Rostock. She is co- founder of the
Film Festival Research Network and serves on the Steering Committee of
NECS. She has worked with the Hamburg International Queer Film Fes-
tival since 2002. Her research interests include film festivals, queer cinema,
and media industries.
Dorota Ostrowska is Senior Lecturer in Film and Modern Media at Birk-
beck College, University of London. Her research covers European media
studies, film festivals, and the history of film and media production. She is
working on the cultural history of the Cannes film festival. Her publica-
tions include Reading the French New Wave: Critics, Writers and Art Cinema
in France (2008).
roya rastegar is the Director of Film Programming of the Los Angeles
Film Festival. She received her PhD from the University of California,
Santa Cruz. Since 2005 she has engaged in curatorial work across film and
art. She participated in the programming of a range of festivals, including
Tribeca, Sundance, and the Santa Cruz Woman of Color Film Festival.
Julian Stringer is Associate Professor in Film and Television Studies at the
University of Nottingham. He has published widely on film festivals, East
Asian cinema, Hollywood, and transnational filmmaking. He edited Movie
Blockbusters (Routledge 2003), and co-edited New Korean Cinema (Edin-
burgh University Press 2005), and Japanese Cinema (Routledge 2015). His
monograph on film festivals will appear with Palgrave Macmillan.
Cindy Hing- Yuk Wong is Professor of Communication in the Depart-
ment of Media Culture at the College of Staten Island, City University of
New York. Her work has dealt with film festivals, grassroots media, and
transnational and diasporic media. She is author of Film Festivals: Culture,
People, and Power on the Global Screen (Rutgers 2011) and co-author of
Global Hong Kong (Routledge 2005).