I’ve Got Issues With Film Festivals

May I offer a first principle that could fuel a further list?

there are wheels within wheels, but at the center of it all….

What do you call it when you love something so much you can’t be satisfied with the way they are? We are told that we shouldn’t want to change what’s broken, but what if what is special and unique about the thing, will always be at risk, if they don’t adapt and change for the better.

Let me explain myself further please.

If you offered me an all-expense paid vacation to do or go anywhere, my first instinct will always be to go to a film festival, and probably one of the ones that premiere what the industry believes are the top — or at least the most anticipated —films (although the festivals of classic and restored films also rank high on my #MostDesired lists).  But that doesn’t mean I am satisfied with the state of film festivals. Far from it in fact.

I get particularly aggravated when I think there is a simple fix that can improve things for most participants and yet I don’t see it being adopted or necessarily even embraced. To me the roots of my aggravation come from the fact that I think the embrace of utopian thinking versus the strictly pragmatic kind of thought is the only moral option. We have to think utopian because we must know where we want to go. We must be asked to dream wildly and consider the widest options. Reductive thinking is usually — and falsely — justified on pragmatic grounds, and this is the root cause of much of what ails us. We don’t put enough experiments out there. We aren’t willing to fail, even when such failures are minor and using failure is how we best can learn and improve. We don’t even have the dreams that can help guide us to a more satisfying course.

As important as the principles of Fail Better, Reject The Status Quo (and the Tyranny of Competition & Measurement), Dream Utopian (And Wildly), and Embrace The Mystery, and Dive Into Devotion are, when it comes to the Film Festivals, I think they need to embrace another principle if they are ever going to get their shoes on straight.

If festivals embraced a semi-radical level of transparency they would lead us to many new solutions. They should publish their footprints on the effects they nurture. They should publish the principles that guide them. Can I think this out with you further please?

Join me in this morning ponder of what Total Transparency can do to help elevate the film festivals, will you?