Film festivals towards a hybrid form: Challenges and opportunities

• Autor(a) principal: Papadopoulou-Melea, Eleni
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10071/26265
• topic: Film festival; Inovação Innovation; Tecnologia digital -- Digital technology; Hybrid event; Crise -- Crisis; COVID-19; Festival de cinema; Evento híbrido

Beginning after WWII film festivals have created their own network and ecosystem and they have proved themselves as vital nodes of the film industry. Although the systematic academic research on film festivals is at its early stage, the crisis of covid-19 posed new challenges to both organizers and researchers. The aim of this study is to document the reactions of festival organizers to that crisis, identify how digital technology contributed to that process and recognize factors that affect the process. Also, attention has been paid to the influence that hybrid form had on the film festival product, thus the atmosphere and the experience of a film festival. To answer these questions, six in-depth interviews with festival organizers were conducted. These organizers are involved in the management of seven different festivals, which also have been analysed through secondary data. The analysis has shown that internal factors had a significant influence on organizers reaction to the crisis, while external factors also determined to a high degree the strategy that festivals will follow. The necessity of digital technology introduction and hybridity in festivals’ delivery didn’t extinguish the festival atmosphere but created a different one. The study suggests that there are positive ramifications and opportunities of the hybrid form but, while the crisis is ongoing, it is yet to find out how the film festival industry will use the new know-how in a post-covid era.