Some of you missed Saturday's story about the divorce between TLA -- producer of the Philadelphia Film Festival -- and its board, The Philadelphia Film Society (PFS). Citing irreconcilable differences, the TLA and PFS have split and the city will have two movie extravaganzas. The TLA-run CineFest will continue to be held in Spring and PFS-run Philadelphia Film Festival will be held in Fall, beginning October 2010.
Many cities have multiple film festivals (New York has Gotham, New York Film Festival and Tribeca). Movie geekdom runs pretty deep here, and there is a devoted -- and voracious -- base for all things cinematic in the region. Because of this, I'm guessing the city can support two international film fests. What I like about the New York Film Festival is its small and select nature (usually two dozen titles) and the filmmaker Q & As. What I like about the Toronto Film Festival is the world premieres and the sense that the entire city is taking time off to go to the movies. What I like about Telluride is that its one long weekend and filmmakers are in attendance and the discussions (both formal and informal) are very rich.
I'd like to hear your thoughts. Are you a Philadelphia Film Fest regular? What do you like about it? Not like? What kinds of movies and related events would you like to see? Are your movie needs being served?
I liked the older philly festival that had extraordinary international films that would rarely get released here and the independent films that had Q+A. A smaller festival is better.— romes666- The recent Philly Film Festivals have been way too commercial and mainstream, with the foreign offerings being of the Ritz 5 foreign film world, decent and quality films but what's already 52 weeks of the year at Ritz 5 and Ritz Bourse. The Festival should be more special and adventuresome and reach out to the films that will never make it to Philadelphia at all. A symptoms of lack of a soul was this past year's absence too of early classic film presentations, which had often come via silent film with live music accompaniment. Suffice it to say that our Festival has long lost spirit of its origins when the extraordinary Linda Blackaby got things rolling and was let go in the worst arts administration decision that any cultural non-profit has ever made in Philadelphia history. We need to turn this discussion into a more public one beyond this blog. I'd like to see a critical, public discourse about the future of the festivals premised on critiques of its past, recent presentations. So cheers on to Carrie to carry this into the print pages of the Inquirer and this blog, and to invite lots of reader feedback as we are about to face a two festival town with hardly a clue about what their mission or plans are--let's give them both a mission! Jonathan Stein— jstein
- Carrie, you echoed my very sentiments about the New York, Toronto and Telluride film festivals - all different, all satisfying. Yes, New York is small and selective. It's actually possible for a diehard buff to see everything screened. Yes, Toronto is huge and bustling and, like you, I appreciate that all the commercial theaters in the city donate their theaters and actively participate. And, yes, Telluride, also small, is a long weekend vacation (Labor Day weekend) devoted to moviegoing. At that festival, one keeps bumping into the same people over and over again, until they become friends, and the critics and filmmakers who attend are always (and unusually) accessible. I, for one, wish one of Philly's two fetes could be more like Telluride. One more thing: Jonathan Stein is right. This blog is invaluable to Philadelphia moviegoers.— Pash
- This year the Phila. Film Festival did have too many films that you could wait and see cheaper at the Ritz. The worst thing was after I paid to see Tyson I found out there was a FREE promotional screening a few days later. The lack of Hong Kong action films this year was particularly appalling. Danger After Dark was completely focused on horror films, while ignoring some great martial arts films coming out of Tailand. I think the city can support two festivals as long as they are smaller with a more narrow focus on the types of films they will show. If one festival wants to focus on more mainstream films, they need to get the movie stars to come in order to generate some extra excitement.— abolden
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