film festival tourism

A film festival can be many things. Originally these events were conceived as trade shows in which producers could show off the best of their films to get press coverage and attract potential distributors. Most of the world’s major festivals still function in this way. Cannes and Venice are only open to press and industry pros. Berlin, Sundance, Telluride and Toronto allow the public, but these events, too, are primarily geared towards business and publicity concerns. The public is invited as an afterthought to provide an audience so that the pros can gauge a movie’s marketability.

The Red Carpet at the Cannes Film Festival