Over the past 20 years or so, film festivals have beget more film festivals like rabbits on alkyl nitrates...
...Of all the chatter about how festivals can save independent film, why don't any of the festivals seers implement the most obvious solution? Pay the fucking filmmakers. Let's call it the 35% rule: 35% of earned revenues at film festivals should go directly back into the pockets of filmmakers. It's not an arbitrary number. Typically this is the percentage of gross box office revenues (though it's often higher) which are remitted to the rights holders in the theatrical market.
The contemporary international film festival circuit is, primarily, an exhibition circuit. Hoity-toity notions of curatorial independence and prestige rapidly break down when one analyzes the way films flow from the major festivals through the speciality and B-level fests down to the smallest of local events. For example, over 85% of the documentaries that premiered at Sundance 2012 went on to play five or more film festivals. Several played more than 20 festivals. That's exhibition, not curation....
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a straight-forward solution to a chronic problem?