Transitional Film Festival Experiences: Strategies of Resilience in Light of Technological Transformations

Abstract

For the past few decades, film festivals have not only been instrumental in the distribution and promotional process of films; they have also been influential agents in film culture. Festivals function as physical sites for professional and business interactions, and exchanges of knowledge and practices; and they provide films with additional layers of meaning, value, and context, setting trends and agendas that go beyond their role as exhibitors. Nevertheless, recent technological changes, such as digitisation and the increasing availability of films and cinema-like experiences through the provision of different platforms and mediums in our daily life, position festivals on the verge of a crucial point that may determine their future existence. Festivals, therefore, are impelled to acknowledge and prepare for a technological shift that could endanger their current hegemonic and successful position. I will suggest that these circumstances urge festivals to find ways to adapt, and therefore, to form and develop new strategies that will enable them to sustain their relevance, status, appeal, and the exclusivity of the experiences they offer. What strategies do festivals use in order to maintain the singular experience they offer? And what new kinds of festival experiences does this produce? I will argue that the changing modus operandi of festivals leads, in turn, to the creation of new types of festival experiences. Thus, this thesis endeavours to explore this shift further by discerning the methods that festivals are using to sustain their activities in the digital age, and to analyse the types of experiences that they are consequently moulding.