Dekalog 3: On Film Festivals

In an increasingly 'event-driven' cultural environment, film festivals are now regarded as indispensable. Yet are festivals such as Cannes, Sundance and Toronto being sabotaged by their own success? Do they truly serve the needs of cinephiles, as well as the larger public? These are among the questions explored in essays, memoirs and impassioned polemics by a distinguished array of critics and programmers. This timely anthology begins with the first appearance in English of Andr? Bazin's 1955 essay 'The Festival Viewed as a Religious Order'. After this backward glance, a cluster of essays examine the ongoing tension between market-oriented 'business festivals' and festivals devoted to the needs of local audiences. A series of case studies assess the shifting fortunes of Asian film festivals (Hong Kong, Pusan), exemplary, cinephilic festivals (Vienna, Kino Otok, Trieste) and the fate of one catastrophically mismanaged festival (Bangkok).