CINÉMA VÉRITÉ? MEET VIRTUAL CINEMA

Our awards editor on the second COVID-19–era festival season

By Jack Smart

DEAR MOVIE BUFFS,

You’re seeing a buzzy new film before most audiences get to…and the only audience is you. The smell of popcorn is drifting from…your microwave. The event begins not at a specified time and place but… by the click of your remote, whenever you feel like it, right in your home. It’s your very own virtual version of a film festival! And by this point in the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s an experience that industry types have become used to.

(“Godzilla vs. Kong,” “Dune,” “The Green Knight”) to crowd-pleasers designed for a theatergoing experience (“A Quiet Place Part II,” “Candyman,” “No Time to Die”).

The summer of 2021 has felt like Hollywood is at a crossroads. Behind us is last year’s awardwinning, intimate filmmaking that emerged amid the chaos, while ahead lies an aspirational return to a more typical film season. It’s been a period of shaky rollouts of those blockbusters I mentioned, many of which opted for a release both in theaters and on corresponding streaming platforms. This experimental phase has made box office revenue data an even more dubious way of assessing a project’s success than it already was (not to mention Scarlett Johansson’s unprecedented move of suing Disney for breach of contract over its dual release of “Black Widow”).

Maybe that’s where festivals can come in, providing a throughline between 2020 and 2021; if “Nomadland” can successfully ride Venice and Toronto premieres to top Oscar wins, and Netflix, Apple, and Neon can make record-breaking fest acquisition deals, all in the middle of a deadly pandemic, there’s hope that this season’s more prepared contenders can generate the buzz and recognition they deserve.

Whether film distributors, press, and award voters see this fall’s festival programming in crowded theaters or from their couch, I believe the moviemaking ecosystem will survive—and maybe even thrive. Sundance’s

Most of the festivals that kick off film awards season this time of year are currently putting together partially or entirely virtual programs. The Toronto International Film Festival, which in 2020 led the charge of recalibrating premieres to what I called “moviegoing experiences, just without the ‘going,’ ” is offering this year’s attendees remote and in-person options. As pandemic safety precautions continue to change on a waitand-see basis, industry events are smart to favor flexibility— and accessibility—as a year of virtual fests proved that fans and filmmakers everywhere can and will join in the fun.

From my standpoint, the upcoming 2021–22 film awards season may be characterized as a response to 2020–21, which prioritized weathering a pandemic while figuring out how to recognize and reward still great (albeit more modest and independent) moviemaking. The lineup of the 2022 Oscars is still anyone’s guess. But considering how many blockbusters were pushed from last season to this one in hopes of appearing on the big screen, it’s safe to predict that bigger, showier fare will populate awards shortlists far more than usual—from movie musicals (“In the Heights,” “Dear Evan Hansen,” “West Side Story,” “Tick, Tick…Boom!” and the musical-esque “Respect”) to sci-fi and fantasy spectacles “CODA” and “Hive” may follow in the footsteps of last season’s breakthroughs “Minari” and “Promising Young Woman,” while any of the recent Cannes highlights (“Annette,” “The French Dispatch,” “Blue Bayou,” “Titane,” and more) could be this year’s “Parasite.” Keep an eye on the announcements from Academy Awards bellwether Telluride, which was one of the pandemic’s casualties last year. And as always, the audience award winners and buzzy premieres from the Toronto International Film Festival are bound to inform the imminent awards race; the last six best picture Oscar winners all screened at the festival.

Change is the only constant, so I’ll keep checking in on the state of the industry, dear Backstage readers. Expect awards editor dispatches from TIFF—or, rather, “from” the fest, aka my living room. I’m off to get popcorn.

Sincerely,

Jack

Justin Chon and Alicia Vikander in “Blue Bayou”

Submit to Scrutiny

Festival programmers and organizers on their best tips for filmmakers

By Jack Smart

SO, YOU’RE A FILMMAKER WITH A COMPLETED PROJECT READY FOR

the big screen. Congratulations! Now it’s time to figure out the next step: submitting to film festivals. Whether you’re an established filmmaker with distribution already lined up or a newcomer hoping to find the right audience for your film, festivals are a crucial aspect of the moviemaking industry. To get you started, we asked programmers from Sundance, TIFF, and more: What should filmmakers keep in mind when submitting their projects to film festivals? (For even more advice, check out the Behind the Fest series on backstage.com/magazine, which features in-depth interviews with organizers and founders of festivals around the world.)

Find a story worth telling.

“We don’t program along thematic lines, but our program does reflect what’s preoccupying our cohort of global artists. They also reflect work that’s getting financed and made, and how the independent filmmaking community is imagining and creating its own future. When we encounter something new—a new voice, a new perspective, a new approach to storytelling—we know that we’ve found something special to support and share with our festival audiences…. Independent film is both a craft and an art form, and it takes hard work and discipline and a willingness to take risks. Ultimately, you have to focus on finding a story worth telling and a vision for how to do so—and then stay true to them.” —Kim Yutani, director of programming, Sundance Film Festival

Reach out to festival programmers for advice.

“It’s important for filmmakers to not be shy about writing to programmers. I meet some people who say, ‘I don’t want to bug anybody,’ but that’s our job. My job is to help you navigate this world. It’s to find new voices, so every year there are. We need to put them together because there are some exciting stories. I think it’s important for people to reach out because it’s key, and we are a community. Sometimes people think, Oh, you guys are so busy. But we want to work with filmmakers and support filmmakers, because that’s actually what we do…. We’re all working together, and it is a wider community.” —Diana Sanchez, senior director of film, Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF)

Consider submitting to smaller festivals.

“When submitting to festivals, do your research. Look at the programming of that festival and think, Would my film belong here? Don’t blow [your] submission budget on the A-list festivals and ignore the smaller ones, where your film probably has a better chance of being accepted.” —Kevin Monahan, artistic director, Boston Underground Film Festival

Audio can make or break your submission.

“Challenging and innovative submissions catch our attention. When evaluating submissions, we are checking the normal boxes of technical proficiency—audio is so important—as well as narrative consistency. In particular, for us, we are looking for stories that dive deeper into identity, and in particular the unique multicultural identity of being [part of the] Asian diaspora. This doesn’t mean only dark, dramatic explorations, but also joyful, funny, and romantic moments. We’d love to see more genre work coming from the community as well. While we started as a film festival, much of our programming aims to

meet Asian diaspora storytellers wherever they are.” —Wynton Wong, programming manager, Asian American International Film Festival

Familiarize yourself with the festival’s “vibe.”

“We give each and every film entered into our festival equal and full consideration. Your film will be reviewed by two different people from our enthusiastic cadre of AAFF volunteers—folks who love and attend the festival and can’t get enough of the films we show. They are on the lookout for the AAFF vibe, range, and visual and philosophical aesthetic. We are an experimental and avant-garde festival, so we are looking for films that push the medium beyond the mainstream techniques, subject matter, and aesthetics.” —Leslie Raymond, executive director, Ann Arbor Film Festival (AAFF)

Don’t make something you assume festivals might want.

“In terms of submitting to festivals and making sure that you stand out, it’s important to trust your own voice and your unique experience. We see a lot of films that don’t work because people tried to make something they thought everyone else would like, or they tried to kind of edit themselves, or they think something will be perfect for Tribeca. But they should make something that’s perfect for them. And that’s the stuff that we really do respond to, that has personality and uniqueness.” — Cara Cusumano, director and vice president of programming, Tribeca Film Festival

Consider what your film offers or teaches audiences.

“We throw a wide net, in fishing parlance. We allow and are willing to cultivate visions. One of our areas is called ‘independent visions.’ We have no issues walking outside the normal parameters. And we do! We are willing to look at films that teach us something—either teach us something technically or storywise, because of course it’s all about the storytelling—or a lot of it is. Something that stretches our limitations…that makes us stand in other people’s shoes. I think that’s really a big part of it. And not just trying to understand the human story, but perhaps to understand different ways of

Robert De Niro at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival

presentation.” —Mark Famiglio, co-founder and president, Sarasota Film Festival

Know which festivals encourage new filmmakers.

“The one thing that we definitely look for is the perspective—even if a film may be a bit rough around the edges, but it has really clear insight into the LGBTQ experience, and really speaks to what we think our audiences will look to. There’s also, of course, emerging LGBTQ artists that may not have screened anywhere else. We definitely take [that] into consideration, because we understand the robust platform that NewFest has to launch careers.” —Nick McCarthy, director of programming, NewFest

Organizers often prioritize talent over perfection.

“We’re trying to discover, expose, and promote filmmakers at their first or second film…. We want every type of filmmaker and every type of budget represented in the lineup. So even if a film has maybe some weakness here and there but we see talent there, we try to do the right thing…. When you have an opportunity, you evaluate it—one, two, three—and you take it. If you have a good movie, that movie is going to make it regardless of what you’re going to do. If that movie was meant to have a life, that life will explode sooner or later.” —Marco Ursino, executive director, Brooklyn Film Festival