The goal of Film Fest Connect is to bring audiences to film festivals--and festivals to audiences--in any way they're able to connect. Films have the power to educate, enlighten, and embolden communities. They can bring about change, positive and negative, personal and social, local and global, in ways no other form of media is able to do. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that roughly fifty percent of the human brain is hardwired to process visual information. This is THE medium for reaching people.
What's The Point?
A good movie can change lives. Some have changed the world.
But paradigm-shifting films are rarely industry blockbusters from the moment they leave the studio. Some never will be. Film festivals, then, provide audiences with a unique opportunity to see films that might otherwise be seen by very few--or not at all. Audiences (audies, in Twitterspeak) can use the power of social media and direct conversation to share, or even create, a popular culture "moment in time".
If you love the thrill of a festival atmosphere...
If you believe in the transformative power of film...
If you can't wait to lord it over your friends that you asked Steven Soderbergh, during a panel Q&A, what he thinks about streaming films online; or that you sat 20 feet away from Liam Neeson in a theater and got his autograph; or that you think you've just discovered the next Kathryn Bigelow...
This is the site for you.
For filmmakers, film festivals offer opportunities to gauge audience reaction, score a distribution deal, gain enough notoriety to fund future projects, and connect in a very personal way with the people who love (and, sometimes, hate) their work. Film is an impersonal medium in so many ways. Festivals offer the chance to communicate, confront, and connect with all the immediacy and humanity good films--and filmmakers--deserve.
Follow, Follow, Follow, Follow...!
Become part of that humanity and follow Film Fest Connect as we highlight the Best Fests in the West in 2011. Anything west of the Rockies is fair game (AK, HI, WA, OR CA, ID, NV, AZ, UT, and possibly WY, MT, and CO).
Follow Film Fest Connect on Twitter. Help build your film festival social network through our Film Fest Connect Facebook page. Share what you know about the festivals in your area. Give us your best tips and tricks, tell us your horror stories, share some pictures. FFC can't possibly be everywhere at once--we need all the boots on the ground that we can get!
Promoters are welcome to send more information on film events for inclusion in future posts (for now, please use the comments section). Respect our readers (be kind, don't spam) and we'll be happy to honor your event with coverage. If you have already sent us your links through Twitter, we'll be keeping up with you.
Plans are afoot to kick off the official launch of FFC at the Sundance Film Festival, beginning on January 24th. (The festival itself begins on the 20th.) Once FFC is launched, we'll stop stretching our legs and take off running. Join us.
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