Well, the term manifesto certainly has a few ideas attached to it. All the same, what a truly interesting and informative read! Though we have already thought of the theme for our festival – and not to brag but it seems we have already ticked Cousins’ criteria to building a festival – it still is a confidence boost to know that we are on the right track, and building something that is unique in the the sea of others.
My favourite quote – and there were quite a few – was the urge to consider ourselves “storytellers and stylists” and to “challenge [ourselves] to do things differently”. Ultimately, we are storytellers. It is our job to create something new from what is being submitted. Sure, we aren’t (for the most part) created the films that will ultimately be screened, but it is our duty to do them justice and add to their essence rather than take away from it. The film festival is about the stories, not about us. Moreover, our whole ethos relies on us doing it differently. Films wouldn’t be underground/overlooked if other festivals had screened them or commended them. It is up to us to seek out the bold and the new and show it to the world.
And once again, Setting Up A Human Rights Festival has brought us golden advice, this time centred on how we can market ourselves and publicise why we are doing what we are doing, and how we plan on doing it well. I think this was a particularly timely word of advice, mainly because I don’t think many of us have done this kind of thing before. Talking about yourself is always daunting, but if we structure our information well – as the reading suggests – the job shouldn’t be as difficult as it may first appear.
References:
Kateřina Bartošová, Hana Kulhánková & Zuzana Raušová, “Knowing Yourself and Your Audience: Programming a Human Rights Film Festival” in Setting Up a Human Rights Film Festival (Links to an external site.) , vol. 2, Human Rights Film Network, Prague, 2015, pp. 27-46.
Mark Cousins, “Film Festival Form: A Manifesto (Links to an external site.)“, September 2012.