Tuesday Musings 3 - a Bit of a Rant
I'm going to air one of my biggest film festival pet peeves right now. Feel free to go and do something else if you don't want to listen to a grown woman whining and complaining.😒
Most film festivals give awards of some sort or other. There are festivals that are non-competitive and are just there for the screenings, which is perfectly fine, but most give some kind of recognition. And here is where my rant begins and the target is Audience Awards as the sole award given. I understand the logic behind audience choice awards; festivals need to bring in audiences, it's their lifeblood. Now I'm all for that and I certainly don't mind audience awards AS PART OF A COMPLETE SET OF AWARDS, most given by a jury. It's when the audience award is the only award given that I usually decide not to enter. This completely skews the granting of the award in two ways, neither of which considers the merit of the film as a film: it favours the local filmmaker (who can muster up local friends, acquaintances and family members) and also those films with large cast and crew (all of whom will come to the festival). I know audiences like to feel part of the process, and I'm certainly not against the award per se, but please, please, if you're going to give audience awards also give other, juried awards. It's the best of both worlds and everyone wins. Or don't give any awards and just be there for the joy of watching films and meeting filmmakers.
End of rant.
"22 Bones, the complete series" has been selected for consideration in the Spring edition of the Top Indie Film Awards in Japan! Winners will be announced on May 31st.
Most film festivals give awards of some sort or other. There are festivals that are non-competitive and are just there for the screenings, which is perfectly fine, but most give some kind of recognition. And here is where my rant begins and the target is Audience Awards as the sole award given. I understand the logic behind audience choice awards; festivals need to bring in audiences, it's their lifeblood. Now I'm all for that and I certainly don't mind audience awards AS PART OF A COMPLETE SET OF AWARDS, most given by a jury. It's when the audience award is the only award given that I usually decide not to enter. This completely skews the granting of the award in two ways, neither of which considers the merit of the film as a film: it favours the local filmmaker (who can muster up local friends, acquaintances and family members) and also those films with large cast and crew (all of whom will come to the festival). I know audiences like to feel part of the process, and I'm certainly not against the award per se, but please, please, if you're going to give audience awards also give other, juried awards. It's the best of both worlds and everyone wins. Or don't give any awards and just be there for the joy of watching films and meeting filmmakers.
End of rant.
UPDATES!
"22 Bones, the complete series" has been selected for consideration in the Spring edition of the Top Indie Film Awards in Japan! Winners will be announced on May 31st.
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