What’s the use of film festivals?

Between event, routine and utopia – a local determination*
a panel discussion at the Film Festival Hamburg 6th Octobre 2017
Click here for a recording of the event (discussion language German)
Film festivals concern us all… Filmmakers screen their works, experience direct feedback. Others do business. Film critics report. Financiers and editors seek the aesthetics and themes of tomorrow.
But we are all viewers, and look forward to exciting, irritating, relevant films – and to exchange.

Our question: what is the purpose of film festivals? What is their task, here and now, their place in this landscape that we call “cinema”? What can film festivals achieve and what do they actually achieve in fact? Whom do they benefit and under what conditions do they emerge? Does the festival boom represent opportunity or menace? And what role do film festivals actually play for the film sector?

Talk by:
Tanja Krainhöfer, Strategy consultant and media scholar
Guests:
Barbara Albert, Director and producer
Thorsten Frehse, Managing Director, Neue Visionen Filmverleih GmbH
Michael Hack, Managing Director, Woche der Kritik
Dr. Skadi Loist, Research assistant (Postdoc) at the Institute for Media Research at the University of Rostock
Moderation:
Rüdiger Suchsland, Film crittic, filmmaker and cultrual activits
Organiser:
Crew United in co-operation with the Hamburg Film Festival
Venue:
Filmfest Hamburg – Festival Tent, Allende-Platz (opposite Abaton Cinema), 20146 Hamburg