Throughout the coming weeks, NYWIFT will sit down with members of the film and television community for a look at how the global COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the industry, particularly those who work in the indie and art house world. And how women are adapting, evolving, and growing creatively. If you would like to share your story please contact us at communications@nywift.org. We are compiling a NYWIFT Emergency Resource Directory on our homepage – please continue to check back as we update it with the latest information.
By Heidi Philipsen
Film festivals are hurting during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well. I interviewed the female leaders behind the Film Festival Alliance – a collaborative global community for mission-driven film festivals – to learn more about how they are not just coping, but evolving through the challenges.
Lela Meadow-Conner, Executive Director, and Barbara Twist, Director of Membership, shared their thoughts.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your organization?
Film festivals are unique, place-based cultural traditions rooted in communities gathering. Historically, this means gathering in-person to watch movies, meet filmmakers, and come together around our shared love of cinema. For now, however, festivals are forced to postpone, cancel, or quickly reimagine themselves as an online gathering. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the film festival industry, with more than 180 regional and national festivals already affected by postponement or cancelation. For our Fall festivals, they face uncertainty of a virus resurgence, overcrowding of the calendar, and an economic toll.
How are people/businesses/films affected by the social distancing?
Many of our Film Festival Alliance member organizations have already suffered economic impacts, from a reduction in sponsorships, loss of ticket revenue from festival or year-round events, and a downtick in submission fees as filmmakers are unable to complete their films. Our festivals are diverse in geography, budget, and scale; yet regional film festivals are a majority constituency for the FFA. While all of our festivals are affected, our regional festivals will suffer greatly. Many of these festivals operate with 1-3 (or all-volunteer) staff and each year feels like a start-up as [they] finish one festival only to [immediately] begin fundraising for the next year’s festival.
What are some of the way the Film Festival Alliance has been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, but is coming up with “out of the box” solutions?
For many Americans, regional festivals are their gateway to independent film and filmmakers. Sure, those films might land on a streaming service, but with the cluttered landscape of SVOD, how will they ever make those discoveries? It cannot be stressed enough how important the festival circuit is to both filmmakers and audiences. For many filmmakers, playing at and attending festivals around the country, networking with other filmmakers, and connecting with new audiences is a critical part of their distribution plan.
We want to highlight our festivals who are diving in and reinventing themselves overnight. Did you hear about the Ann Arbor Film Festival who hosted their 58th Festival through live-streaming on Vimeo? Or about the Oscar-qualifying Aspen ShortsFest who ran their 2020 festival online? These festivals are working hard every day to bring people together and showcase the myriad ways these successful organizations solve the same problems. We’ve found with many different efforts that there isn’t really a one-size-fits-all solution to many of our day-to-day challenges.
What are ways in which the public can help?
COVID-19 will have an impact on the film festival of the future. When will audiences want to gather in a dark room? When will filmmakers be ready to travel? When will local economies be able to provide the financial means to sustain their cultural arts entities? Will festivals of the future be a hybrid of in-person and online? It’s too soon to tell, but in the meantime, if your local film festival means something to you – as an audience member, as a filmmaker, as someone with pride of place – make a small donation, attend a virtual screening they’re hosting or simply reach out and let them know that they’re important to your quality of life and you’ll support them upon their return.
Learn more about Film Festival Alliance at www.filmfestivalalliance.org.
And follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Related Posts
Meet the New NYWIFT Member: Meryl Jacobs
Welcome to NYWIFT, Meryl Jacobs! Driven by a lifelong passion for the arts, Meryl Jacobs creative professional has built an inspiring career spanning advertising, Broadway stage management, and post-production as an award-winning video editor and business owner. Embracing challenges with optimism, she believes in the power of self-belief and continuous growth. After returning to New York post-pandemic, she launched her own company, Gotham Edit Inc., confident in the value she provides to clients. Among her proudest achievements are collaborations with Universal Pictures, a corporate branding reel for Tumi, and a recognized PSA for the City of Los Angeles on senior scams. Grateful for every opportunity, she remains dedicated to creating impactful work that helps others. Read on to learn more about her fascinating career!
READ MOREMeet the New NYWIFT Member: Pia Mechler
Welcome to NYWIFT, Pia Mechler! Pia Mechler, born and raised in Germany with German, Chilean, and Polish heritage, is a versatile actress, writer, and director. Studying film in Denmark and beginning her acting career in Berlin, she took her skills to the UK and then New York City in 2010, where she also took up directing. Pia wrote, directed, and starred in the web series Almost Settled and made her feature directorial debut with Everything is Wonderful, which premiered at the Thessaloniki Film Festival and was a finalist at the Chelsea Film Festival. Her latest project, Black Hole, which she wrote to address the challenges of female aging and ageism from a humorous perspective, is currently on its festival tour. Read on to discover her inspiring international background, her dedication to her projects, and her process when it comes to making films.
READ MORENYWIFT Member Spotlight: Myrta Vida
Myrta Vida is an award-winning writer and independent filmmaker specializing in features, shorts, documentaries, and stage productions. She serves as a producer at 3DMC, the production company behind the John Cassavetes Award-winning feature Premature (2019) and the Sundance Award-winning hybrid documentary The Infiltrators (2019). Since 2010, Myrta has worked as a story consultant and script doctor for independent filmmakers worldwide. A proud Army veteran from Puerto Rico, she earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Missouri-St. Louis and completed a conservatory program in screenwriting at the New York Film Academy, both with summa cum laude honors. Additionally, she holds a certificate in sketch comedy writing from the Upright Citizens Brigade and was a 2022 Fellow with Third World Newsreel. Get to know her in our latest interview!
READ MOREHow to Decide Which Screenwriting Contests to Submit To
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of screenwriting competitions out there — so how do you decide which ones are worth your time and money? As the co-founder of Moonshot Initiative, a nonprofit that works toward gender equity in film and television, NYWIFT Member Katrina Medoff has been on the other side of the application process. Her team reads hundreds of submissions a year for the Moonshot Pilot Accelerator and their newest program, the Moonshot Feature Accelerator. They know that their applicants poured their time, talents, and energy into their scripts, and that every fellowship submission means putting more time and money into your career. So it’s important to carefully consider which labs and contests to prioritize. If you’re ready to submit your feature film screenplay or TV pilot script to screenwriting competitions, here’s how to determine which labs, fellowships, and contests would be a good fit.
READ MORE
Comments are closed