304 members signed-up
The Film Festival Academy launched in New York
Our first event was successfully delivered at the start of the New York Film Festival's 50th edition. This was a dedicated exploration of New York film programming specifically for New York audiences; and a second session that involved a detailed interrogation of film festival form.
News
12th October, News
Missed the inaugural event in New York City? View the full report here
The Film Festival Academy held its first event at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, 27th/28th September 2012; sessions focused on the two themes of New York-specific film programming, and film festival form.
10th October, News
Columbia University Press offer 30% discounts off film studies books to Film Festival Academy members
Film Festival Academy members can claim a 30% discount off all Film and Media Studies titles published or distributed by Columbia University Press!
6th October, News
Laurent Crouzeix, festival director, joins the Film Festival Academy Advisory Board
We are delighted to announce that Laurent Crouzeix, one of the organisation and programming team behind the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival – the most important short film festival in the world – has...
30th September, Events
The Film Festival Academy launched in New York
The themes of our first event in New York were: New York film programming, looking at the various institutions – festivals, cinemas, museums, galleries – involved in programming specifically for New York audiences; and an...
23rd September, News
Mitch Levine, leading film festival consultant, joins the Film Festival Academy Advisory Board
We are delighted to announce that Mitch Levine, founder of The Film Festival Group – a global consulting firm for festivals, distribution companies and the independent film world, specializing in startup strategies, strategic...
22nd September, News
Film Festival Form: A Manifesto
Filmmaker, festival programmer, film critic, and maverick provocateur Mark Cousins challenges us to think again about the increasingly uniform forms in which film festivals – are organised, arguing that festival organisers...
Publications
Marijke de Valck
Film Festivals: From European Geopolitics to Global Cinephilia
Focusing on the world's most famous festivals – Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Rotterdam – Film Festivals tells the story of a phenomenon that began in the midst of geopolitical disputes in war-torn Europe...
Testimonials
'Do Film Festivals need an Academy in this day and age? The answer is, resoundingly, yes! A complex mixture of the professional and the cultural, the economic and the cinephilic, film festivals today are increasingly complex beasts – and no festival is an island unto itself. Connected in a tight web of international exchanges, comparisons and manœuvres, festivals are all about giving value to particular films or particular types of films – and finding, or creating, the audiences for them. The new Film Festival Academy is ideally placed to integrate the already widely scattered field of researches, discussions, trainings and co-operative interrelationships occurring within and between the literally thousands of film festivals in the modern globe. It is a new world on every level – from the challenge of projection formats to the politics of curating – and the Film Festival Academy will open the doors to it.'
'The Film Festival Academy offers a much needed interchange of views between filmmakers, festival programmers and academics doing research on film festivals. That this interchange takes place not in the academy but at festivals themselves will be a huge boon to film festival scholarship and to an important sharing and deepening of the perspective of those interested in not only theorizing but also intervening in the continued growth of these events which play such a crucial part in the disseminating of a global cinema and in the breaking down of commerical barriers.'
'The Film Festival Academy has a great potential to become a truly valid platform for creative film festival professionals willing to share knowledge and experience on a collaborative basis. This initiative should be welcomed with enthusiasm and excitement.'
'To focus on film festivals, not in opposition to but in articulation with critical and scholarly thought, is what world cinema needs in order to be understood in all its complexity. The Film Festival Academy deserves our applause and support for providing, for the first time, a common platform for festival professionals, critics and passionate spectators.'
'The new Film Festival Academy initiative is to be very much welcomed by all film festival professionals and anyone interested and involved in the increasingly central role played by film festivals in the international cinema industry; this is definitely the right thing at the right time and promises to be an exciting and important development that will be of great service to all of us working in the film festival arena.'
'The Film Festival Academy has my full support. It is amazing that in a market overflowing with all kinds of professional training it has taken until today to come up with a simple and great idea: high level opportunities for the exchange of ideas and programmes for learning more about the complex art and the technical skills of running a film festival. Anybody who has participated in any of the rather dubious endeavours that were made in this field before will appreciate the non-profit approach of the Film Festival Academy; anybody who knows its founders will trust their professional knowledge and personal integrity. I will support the Film Festival Academy in every possible way.'
'The creation of the Film Festival Academy is a very important step in the ongoing process of consolidation and exchange on the European festival scene. I wish all possible success to this important initiative.'
'The inauguration of the Film Festival Academy brings important and long overdue attention to film festivals as cultural locations for the traffic in filmmaking, from glitterati events with red carpets, to those that shed light on human rights abuses, to the world-building projects of activist communities.'
'The enormous growth of film festivals – in number, location, diversity, and artistic influence – is accelerating by the day. But not until now has their importance to global culture been matched by an organization with the cinematic acumen, media savvy, networking skills, and expert leadership needed to provide top-level support, training, information, and connectivity for participants in all areas of festival activity, from programmers and publicists to filmmakers, academics, and critics. The arrival of the Film Festival Academy is the most exciting development in years for moving-image professionals everywhere.'
'The unswerving positive response from film festivals, professionals and academics regarding the launch of the Film Festival Academy comes as no surprise. Sharing between academia and industry is essential in developing highly-trained film professionals and we look forward to the collaboration between film schools, film institutes, festivals and other film industry partners through this unique platform.'
'The role of the film festival in today's digital world is constantly being re-evaluated and debated, but it's clear that film festivals are still as relevant and important as they have ever been. The Film Festival Academy should provide an important focus for the rich and diverse amount of film festivals in the world while giving festival practitioners an important outlet for networking and collaboration.'
Members
Martin Botha
Scholar/Writer/Critic, South Africa
Linda Blackaby
Festival Consultant, USA
Mark Thimijan
Film Programmer, USA
Festival news
14th May
Review: Happy as Lazzaro - Cannes 2018 – Competition
CANNES 2018: Alice Rohrwacher is back in Cannes’ Main Competition with an uneven, but wildly interesting, story based on true events that proves she is only just getting warmed up as a storyteller
14th May
New Portuguese tax rebate incentive to be introduced at Cannes - Industry – Portugal
The brand-new incentive aims to attract international shoots to the country
13th May
Review: Bergman: A Year in a Life - Cannes 2018 – Cannes Classics
CANNES 2018: Jane Magnusson presents a warts-and-all Ingmar Bergman coverage of the year 1957, during which our (anti-)hero achieved many things, at least some of them destined for greatness