This week Film Festival Secrets got a facelift: the main site and the blog are now consolidated here at filmfestivalsecrets.com. I’ll be retiring the blogspot.com blog and working to refresh the extras pages.
There’s still some work to be done but I’m happy to be working on a single platform with a new look, thanks to designer/web guru Roger Tinch, aka @cinevegas. If you’re looking for help in the graphic design or web site construction department, I highly recommend Roger’s work. (He also designed the cover for the print edition of Film Festival Secrets.)
I’m currently in Memphis, Tennessee for the Indie Memphis film festival. The festival staffers have kindly invited me to speak on two of their “Café Conversation” panels. Both talks take place outside the Malco Studio theater at the Festival Café tent. The events are free to the public so even if you weren’t planning to attend the festival itself (and you should), you can stop by and soak up a little knowledge without spending a dime.
I would say that only three of the ten “insights” are ideas that haven’t been flogged to death in the indie film press over the last couple of years, but there are a couple of interesting quotes in there if you can wade through the redundant muck.
Every town has a film festival, there are film festivals of every possible genre, every possible niche that you can think of. And so now we’re kind of entering this world where nontraditional distribution platforms are starting to emerge and film festivals are definitely coping with and struggling with that new world. There’s real fear, I think, of obliteration. People think that technology will obliterate anything that came before it and I don’t believe that at all. I do think that film fess have to recalibrate, reboot, what their role is and why they’re important beyond simply promoting a sponsor’s product or beyond being a good junket for a few celebrities prior to the theatrical release of a big film. – Christian Gaines, Withoutabox
Trevor Groth is taking over the reins as Director of Programming for the Sundance Film Festival effective immediately. Groth takes the position after John Cooper, who previously held the position, was appointed Director of the Sundance Film Festival following the departure of longtime event head Geoff Gilmore to the Tribeca Film Institute in March.
No word yet on how this will affect Groth’s duties as Artistic Director of CineVegas.
IFP (formerly known as the Independent Feature Project) is on the hunt for a new Community Manager, someone with a strong background in marketing and web savvy.
Full-time position available immediately for high energy, organized individual with managerial, marketing and web experience. Must have excellent project management and strong social media expertise – this includes managing forums and online communities for at least 3 years and/or maintaining successful blog for at least 2 years.
BASIC DUTIES
The Community Manger is responsible for building an online presence for IFP and its publications and programs. Their primary job will be the maintenance and continuity of information about the organization both internally and externally, acting as a strong community advocate who represents the organization online and off, working to build IFP brand awareness in both directions. They will be in charge of all membership management, online content development and design, and management and marketing of IFP publications, programs and events. The position reports directly to IFP’s Deputy Director and works closely with IFP’s Programming staff members and Gotham Awards Producer.
indieWIRE announced last week that it will be maintaining a guide to film festivals on its site. Presumably this will be a more formal effort to present information on particular festivals than its usual practice of simply covering festivals as they occur. Not that the coverage in and of itself was a bad thing, but it could be difficult to get a sense of indieWIRE’s overall view of the festival world.
indieWIRE is rolling out a cross section of North American and international film festivals listings with dates and links to iW coverage when relevant. Big events such as Cannes, Toronto, Sundance and Berlin are listed along with other large fests as well as regional and specialty festivals. This list will continue to evolve and we hope it will be a useful guide for filmmakers, film fans and industry. We also plan to add further features to the list, so please check back in the coming weeks and months.
To get to the guide, hit “Quicklinks” on the indieWIRE navigation bar and select “Film Festival Guide.”
This recent surge of job switches was not set off by any single fracture within independent film (where a number of top distributors have closed their doors) or inside the festival world (which is suffering its own shakeout, with numerous festivals shutting down). But the moves do underscore how volatile the festival world has suddenly become and how programmers foresee leaner and more focused events in the months ahead.
“There’s been more news in the independent film festival world in the last three weeks than I can recall ever happening in my life,” says Nancy Schafer, executive director of the increasingly prominent Tribeca Film Festival, whose eighth annual get-together runs in New York from April 22 to May 4.
Says Trevor Groth, a veteran Sundance programmer who also serves as artistic director for the up-and-coming Las Vegas CineVegas Film Festival, marking its 11th edition this summer: “It’s indicative of what’s happening in the indie world — there’s a lot of change going on.”
If you’re one of the lucky few, uh– thousands headed to South by Southwest in Austin next month, please stop by the Southby Bookstore in the Austin Convention Center on Sunday, March 15th at 1:30 p.m. Go ahead, mark your calendar, I’ll wait. Bring along your copy of Film Festival Secrets or buy a fresh copy from the bookstore and I’ll sign it on the spot.
I’m really looking forward to this year’s SXSW – they have a strong program this year and it’s always fun to meet the filmmakers and tech types who come into Austin for this surreal celebration of entertainment, music, and technology.
If you’re planning to attend SXSW interactive but think you might want to dip your toe into the waters of the film side of things, Agnes Varnum just posted a great article entitled A Geek’s Guide to SXSW Film. (Did you know there are films that your Interactive badge will get you into even if you don’t have a Gold or Film Badge? It’s true!) Also useful is Jette Kernion’s guide to SXSW film venues over at Slackerwood.
And finally, if you’re lucky enough to be a filmmaker with a film in the program, here’s a series of articles just for you: Last minute filmmaker tips for SXSW.
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I would say that only three of the ten “insights” are ideas that haven’t been flogged to death in the indie film press over the last couple of years, but there are a couple of interesting quotes in there if you can wade through the redundant muck.
indieWIRE 
The LA Times examines the 
If you’re one of the lucky few, uh– thousands headed to 