Do Film Festivals Really Champion Independent Voices?

Looking at this year's Sundance, and more.

Producer Talia Light Rake from Heavy Shovel Productions went viral last week (at least, in the film production community) with this reel, where she talks about the current state of Sundance, asking the question - are these big film festivals really championing independent voices?

This is a discourse that has been ongoing the last few years at least, and one I myself have been particularly vocal in, if you’ve met me in person; it’s this idea that - as Talia puts it - a lot of the indies that premiere that at some of the biggest film festivals, even though not technically made by a studio, feel as if they are coming from within the system.

I will preface my entire argument now - this entire discourse (which is subjective enough as it is), as well as my newsletter here, is only really about (or should only really be about) a handful of festivals, Sundance more than any other; I would argue this is a bigger problem specifically in the North American independent film industry.

Europe, as a whole, still holds true independent filmmaking to a slightly higher standard, so even the top festivals here, your Cannes, Locarno, Berlinale - whilst also being a seller-buyer marketplace, absolutely do promote and champion true independent filmmaking; I’d argue with no connections or strings pulled, it’s slightly more realistic to get yourself a premiere at Berlinale or Locarno, pending on the type of film of course, than it is at Sundance or SXSW.

I will say, completely honestly - probably 98% of good film festivals - pretty much 245 or your top 250 world festivals - still do hold true independent filmmaking incredibly close to their hearts and maintain that an absolute goal. You can just clearly see this when exploring their programmes, but I can also tell you this myself because I meet with programmers and festival directors, who are 9.9/10 incredible people who love cinema almost more than the filmmakers themselves.

(And the truth is, it’s difficult enough to get into those festivals as a true indie! You might need to build relationships with programmers and sales agents, you might need to already have distributor interest - do you know how tough it is to attach a sales agent or have distributor interest for a £200K indie drama? It’s tough enough out there!)

This discourse is about those other 2% or so (again, taking Sundance as an example). The issue stands: the primary overall goal of Sundance seems to no longer be exhibition and curation of unique voices, but rather being a marketplace for hot products. It’s becoming a seller/buyer showroom and the focus is no longer on discovery of filmmaking. And as unfortunate as it is, there isn’t much that is wrong with this conceptually - there are films that need to be sold, agents need places to exhibit their slates and control PR, and buyers need new films - so of course it makes sense that the biggest festivals have also become the biggest marketplaces.

The problem really is the imbalance - of course there are films that need to be sold and bought, but independent filmmaking is still in the heart of these events, so there needs to be management of both these things.

But then again, does Sundance, as a pillar or independent filmmaking, have a responsibility to curate new work, or should we begin viewing that particular festival, and the few like it, more as an exhibition space for directors and companies further into their careers and progressions?

In my personal opinion, Sundance does have a responsibility to the independent film industry as the cultural hub that it is. However - it’s a subjective matter, if we’re being honest. Once again, conceptually there’s nothing wrong with Sundance focusing on creatives and projects in further stages of ‘success’, but I think that can only be fair if we as a community, but also the festivals themselves, make a clear distinction between curation of true independent indies and curation of independent indies in the 10M$ budgets with A-list cast leading.

You can also see these differences at the events themselves - Sundance had record-low attendance this year (perhaps this will change when the festival moves location) and the entire vibe of the festival is generally more business-focused, with more agents, buyers, and producers around. Again - this is not a bad thing, just a difference we need to note and be transparent about. On the other hand, there are many many festivals, in Europe particularly, that are getting more and more recognition and more and more attendance because they’ve successfully curated true independent exhibition year after year for a long time - Locarno of course, or Karlovy Vary is a great example, or Tallinn, or Sarajevo.

In reality this is a very complex issue, and it’s easy to criticise these events when looking at things black&white, but that’s not the reality. Sundance runs labs and fellowships to develop and spotlight emerging creatives and their stories - is that not, in a way, also curation of truly independent work?

And truth is, I’m hypocritical because SXSW is my favorite festival and it would be a dream to premiere anything there, or at Sundance.

But we have a feature ready for the markets - one I’ve directed, so it’s particularly close to me - and we didn’t submit to Sundance or even attempt conversations with programmers for that festival; it’s not because I don’t like the festival, in fact I love their slate, but I understand that their curation is on a different level and not at all at the true indie level we’re at right now. Am I annoyed about that? Absolutely, but I suppose I understand the logic behind it.

I suppose what I’m trying to say is - it’s all about perspective and understanding. I think the Sundances of the world have a responsibility to clearly brand themselves, so to say. Whether they have a responsibility to curate true indies - as I said, times are changing and that’s subjective (although in my opinion - yes, they do). But I also think filmmakers and producers have a responsibility to understand the industry itself and know what the best - and realistic - place for their film is, whether that film is a true indie or not. We all sometimes get lost in the prestige of it all, but at the end of the day, it’s all about getting your film seen by audiences right, so why would you want to showcase it to the wrong audiences to begin with?