What makes a good film festival is a question that keeps artistic directors around the world awake at night, or at least it should.
The Abu Dhabi Film Festival (ADFF) is eight years old this year, and the event as it is today is very different from the first edition.
When it began, there were ambitions for ADFF to be the Cannes of the desert, and over the years, after a few upheavals along the way, the festival has evolved, trying to develop the right balance between debuting regional fare and the best films from around the globe.
I’ve been travelling to film festivals since 1999 and I don’t know many people who go to more film festivals than I do each year, or as varied a selection. In the last two months I’ve been to Venice (Italy), Toronto (Canada), Port of Spain (Trinidad and Tobago), Zurich (Switzerland) and Busan (South Korea).
The truth is that there is no single rule of thumb when judging the quality of a festival. Indeed, unlike a maths exam, there is no definitive right and wrong way of organising – and making it even more subjective is the fact that when judging each festival, its unique history, traditions and ambitions should be taken into consideration.
For example, the Venice Film Festival was once one of the traditional “big three” film festivals alongside Cannes and Berlin. In recent years this has expanded to a big five, with the arrival of North American behemoths Sundance and Toronto.
These are the so-called A-list festivals and they are assessed on the number and quality of world premieres they have and celebrities they attract.
The downside of this policy is that there are not enough quality world premieres to go around. Aside from Cannes, it could be argued that all of these festivals are forced to promote a high proportion of duds.
Busan is a curious exception, because although not one of the big five, it is an A list-level festival and has an incredibly important market – yet because the tastes of Asian audiences are very different to those in the West, it has become the de facto place to launch fare from Korea, Japan and China, while also picking up a smattering of world premieres from other regions.
This leaves two options for most of the less high-profile film festivals. Are they aimed at fostering local talent, or do they just aim to fill seats and become “best of the fest” festivals, essentially showing high-profile films seen elsewhere, but asking audiences to pay a premium to see them first, hopefully accompanied by some cast or crew appearances?
This is where Trinidad and Tobago (TTFF) and Zurich (ZFF) differ. Like ADFF, both were launched around a decade ago. TTFF wants to foster talent in the Caribbean, whereas Zurich is not even the most important festival in Switzerland – it leaves the artistic selection to Locarno – but generates column inches of publicity by attracting big-name talent to the festival.
I’m not a big fan of the best-of-the-fest-style festivals, such as Zurich and London. While they offer some glamour, they are often held in capital cities and simply become marketing tools for films that will be hitting cinema screens soon anyway.
I have a huge admiration for TTFF, given that its policy is to programme films from the Caribbean or films that have no local distributor. In effect, audiences know that this might be not just the first chance they get to see a film – but the only chance.
And in showcasing Caribbean films and organising workshops, the festival also fosters and nurtures a local filmmaking culture.
It seems that this year ADFF has headed in a similar direction and arguably the eighth edition is its best yet. There is a host of regional films, and after years of cajoling, the quality of films being made in the region is among the best in the world.
Theeb and Sivas made big impressions at Venice and other festivals, while the regional world premieres are being picked up to play at big European festivals such as Berlin.
The programme of films that have already been seen at other festivals is small, and as a result they are really the pick of the bunch. The other plus is that the films are being shown as the director intended.
It’s become a festival where every film seems to be chosen on its merits and not just because some huge A-list star may walk the red carpet.
That is not only good for audiences, but also for local filmmakers.
artslife@thenational.ae