Saturday, May 30, 2015

Festivals that won't allow reviews - A question for the filmmakers

I have to throw this question out to all of the filmmakers who crisscross Unseen and see how you feel about this-

As you know I try to provide coverage of as many films and festivals as I can. If I don’t provide coverage it’s usually a matter of not being able to fit in watching a film or doing a piece. I know that small films and festivals need publicity, often any publicity.

I know that films use the festivals to get the word out on their existence. But recently I’ve been asked by a couple of festivals not to run reviews of the films playing. Ideally these festival PR people want me to go and cover events (difficult when they are not nearby) but not to go into detail on the films I see in press screenings or on screeners supplied by them. I've been I could write them up if I went to the screenings, otherwise no.

Tangentially there have been a couple of smaller festivals where the PR people have been helpful in offering to get me material for the festival but have said to me "I can't help you getting access to the films"

If you're a filmmaker and a festival tells me they don't want the films screened reviewed what should I do?

Likewise how do you suggest I do end runs around unhelpful PR people who won't help me get to films and filmmakers?

No comments:

Post a Comment