The past decade has seen a remarkable shift in the role of film festivals. Once primarily venues for film premieres and meeting places for film professionals, they are increasingly becoming spaces for cultural participation and community-building. This shift has been driven by changing film-viewing habits, the (digital) transformation of the distribution landscape, growing competition for viewers’ attention and broader social changes accelerated by the pandemic.
As a result, many festivals have begun to reconsider their curatorial practices, develop audience engagement strategies and introduce new technological tools and participatory formats to attract new audiences. Although they seek to reach different groups and vary considerably in profile, the need for festivals to connect with one another and form international networks has become increasingly clear. What challenges do they address together? What audience development strategies are they devising to build communities that extend beyond the time and place of the festival event?
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