Easy to Criticize, Impossible to Replace: Rethinking the Festival

Film festivals are easy to criticize but much harder to imagine away. At a time when works struggle to be discovered, financed, sold and seen, festivals remain among the few spaces where works are selected, celebrated, debated and experienced collectively. Yet their role can no longer be taken for granted. As series have developed their own festivals, and interactive and digital media face similar challenges of visibility and legitimacy, the festival model is already expanding beyond film alone. This session examines what only festivals can still do, how they can renew audiences and protect their independence, and how their models must evolve for them to remain engines of discovery and circulation rather than relics of the industry.

Speakers

Mr. Park Kwang-Su
Chairperson, Busan
International Film Festival,
Republic of Korea

Ms. Iris Knobloch
President, Festival
de Cannes, France

Ms. Tricia Tuttle
Festival Director, Berlinale,
Germany

Mr. Faisal Baltyuor
CEO, Red Sea Foundation,
Saudi Arabia

Ms. Magdalene Reddy
Director, Durban Film Mart
Institute (DFMI), South
Africa

Mr. Shivendra Singh
Dungarpur
Founding Director, Film
Heritage Foundation, and
Director, MANI Festival,
India

Mr. Michaël Marin
CEO, Citia (Annecy
International Film Festival),
France

Ms. Laurence
Herszberg
General Director,
Séries Mania, France

Mr. Cameron Bailey
CEO, Toronto International
Film Festival (TIFF) Canada

Ms. Maialen Beloki
Deputy Director, San
Sebastian Film Festival,
Spain

Mr. Peter Debruge
Director, South by
Southwest Film & TV
Festival, United States

Moderator:
Mr. Rajendra Roy
Chief Curator, Film, MoMA,
United States