Film festivals in an urban context ‘Cork city flooded by festivals?’

Film festivals in an urban context

‘Cork city flooded by festivals?’

By

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Film festivals in an urban context

Examination of the roles and functions of film festivals, and policy evaluation as an approach to analyse how Irish (local) cultural policy contributes to the emergence/marginalization of film festivals as heterotopic festival

spaces with cultural significance.

Jantien Slettenhaar

s1626108

jantien.slettenhaar@gmail.com

Master’s thesis: Arts, Culture and Media

Specialisation in Arts Policy and Management / Film

First supervisor: dr. Q. L. van den Hoogen Second supervisor : dr. A. Van Noortwijk

August, 2014

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Table of contents

Preface 4

Chapter One: Introduction

o Section 1.1: Problem definition 5

o Section 1.2: Methodology 7

Chapter Two: Theoretical framework (Film festivals, urban spaces and social impact)

o Section 2.1: The film festival and its roles and functions. 11

o Film festivals: Defining the film festival 12

o Film festivals: Historical overview 12

o Film festivals: The film festival’s functions 13

o Film festivals: The international film festival network 14

o Film festivals: Academic perspectives 16

o Film festivals: Film festivals and the city 17

o Film festivals: The future of the film festival 19

o Film festivals: Conclusion 20

o Section 2.2: The film festival and its relation to the city. 21

o The host city: Arts festivals in their context 21

o The host city: Cultural tourism 22

o The host city: ‘Festival tourism’ and urban policy 23

o The host city: The commodification of culture 24

o The host city: Defining social capital 26

o The host city: The Heterotopic festival 28

o The host city: The four E’s model for policy evaluation 28

o The host city: Conclusion 31

Chapter Three: Policy context (Cultural policy in Ireland)

o Section 3.1: The Developments in Irish Cultural Policy. 34

o Cultural policy: From enlightenment to economic impact 34

o Cultural policy: The role of the Irish government 35

o Cultural policy: The Arts Council’s strategies 40

o Cultural policy: The Irish local authorities 43

o Cultural policy: Conclusion 44

Chapter Four: Case study (Analysis of Cork city):

o Section 4.1: Cork city flooded by festivals? 46

o The arts: Cork city Context 46

o The arts: European Capital of Culture 2005: a shift in cultural policy 48

o The arts: The festivalisation of Cork 52

o The arts: Two film festivals, one city 53

o The arts: Cork city’s Arts and Cultural Strategy 2011 and beyond. 58

o The arts: Conclusion 62

Chapter Five: Final conclusion

o Conclusion 64

Literature 66

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Preface

This thesis marks the end of my Arts, Culture and Media studies and the study period at the University of Groningen. Over the course of this study I have had the opportunity to attend a wide variety of lectures and seminars and this enabled me to expand my academic knowledge. The past years have brought me an abundance of interesting and valuable moments and I learned a lot. I have had a lot of support on this journey and I would like to thank the people that have helped me to achieve this.

Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisors dr. Quirijn van den Hoogen and dr. Annelies van Noortwijk for their knowledge and advise. Special thanks go to dr. Quirijn van den Hoogen as my first supervisor for all the proofreading, understanding and constructive feedback during the writing-process. Your expertise on the subject has enabled me to improve the end-result and my writing skills as well, many thanks. And I would like to thanks dr. Annelies van Noortwijk as my second supervisor for the inspiring lectures that helped to shape my ideas for this thesis. Also, I would like to thank Lips and Malou and all my other friends who made the time in Groningen an amazing time.

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Chapter 1

Introduction

This chapter provides the introduction to the topic and problem definition of this thesis. It sets out an elaborate view on the research and analysis approach, and presents the main research question. Furthermore, it sets out the corresponding sub questions and the relevant concepts that served to answer the questions.

1.1 Problem definition

Every year a good variety of cultural festivals take place all over the world, which includes film festivals. Film festivals are well known events and the amount of festivals has globally grown very fast in the last decades (De Valck, 2007). Festivals have different roles and functions, but artistic value is the main reason of existence for festivals and a necessary condition for a flourishing film festival circuit. In contrast, recent academic literature on film festivals critical notes on a decreased interest in cultural and artistic considerations on behalf of (local) authorities. This is in line with Getz’ (2009) assertion that “public policy pertaining to festivals and other planned events is generally fractionalized.. not comprehensive.. and fails to integrate events effectively with all the relevant policy domains”, as he argues that policy-makers often see festivals as a mainly economic assets to promote the host city (cited in Quinn, 2013:4). With the start of the 21st century, arts festivals in Ireland start to proliferate as well. While the proliferation includes a development of the cultural sector, studies on Irish festivals show that this mainly applies to economic benefits. According to Quinn (2013) policy-makers increasingly become aware of the possibilities of arts festivals to function as venues for attracting tourists and for city promotion. What does this mean for the artistic mission festivals try to carry out and to what extent do economic rationales take over the artistic objectives in (local) cultural policy?

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Therefore, I think there is a substantial need to examine Ireland’s cultural policy, with a specific aim at arts festivals. As it appears the main problem of the decreased interest in artistic value is an imbalance in (local) policy and, specifically in Ireland, a lack of research on the evaluation of (local) cultural policy. As such, the sustainability of the film festival circuit, in terms of artistic value and creativity, should be studied. Furthermore, in my opinion a focus on the impacts of film festivals on their environments would provide an interesting perspective to examine affairs that are currently at stake in Ireland. The affairs contain political and social issues, such as the social exclusion and marginalized identities in urban spaces. More so, it seems the Irish society still struggles with issues and underlying problems derived from past times. Because of this, it is important to examine if, and how, arts festivals can contribute to the diminishment of stigmas. Therefore, attention should be assigned to the effects of festivals on social inclusion and cohesion in urban areas. Inherent to the festival’s ability to hold cultural significance, is the festival’s potential to enhance social capital. Arcodia and Whitford (2008) state that festival attendance or participation in the organisation of a festival can contribute to the increase of social capital of communities. Nevertheless, in order to enhance the visitors’ potential to gain social capital, the festival needs to perform certain cultural activities to fulfill and maintain its artistic mission.

For this thesis it would be too much to include the whole aspect of the impact of arts festivals. Therefore, I will attempt to situate the Irish film festival as an actor within a framework. In doing so, I will look at the interdependent relationship between arts festivals and host cities. Cork city, as self-appointed festival capital of Ireland, will serve as the case study for an inquiry into its cultural policy and festival scene. The roles and functions of film festivals, the artistic mission and the extent of integration of artistic rationales in the city’s cultural policies will be examined. The thesis endeavours a holistic approach, with a specific aim to reflect to what extent consistency between the goals of film festivals and policy rationales exists. However, statements on the effects of the policies are restricted, as I am aware it is impossible to measure concrete causal effects. Sachs Olson’s merged framework will serve as a model to analyse the interdependent relationships, whereas, at the same time, I will also scrutinize the model itself to question whether it is suitable for further research in this field. She argues for the re-thinking of festivals as potential urban laboratories with cultural significance and introduces the term heterotopic festival as an (2012).

In general, the focus on the economic benefits of culture is understood as a commercialisation of the cultural sector, which often coincides with a change of rationales in cultural policy. In Ireland cultural policy started to become more economized since the beginning of the 2000s (Quinn, 2005a). For this reason, I expect that Irish film festivals, in the context of interdependency with policy agendas, are currently forced to secure themselves a position in the festival circuit by predominantly commercial means. Therefore, in connection to the aforementioned assumptions, the main research question in this thesis reads as follows:

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This will happen on the basis of literature on (film) festivals, cultural policy and impact studies, as well as official policy documents. The focus is specifically on one city, Cork city, because a research into the film festivals and local cultural agendas of the other three main cities in Ireland would be too much for this thesis. The decision for an analysis of Cork City as the case study is based on the fact that two annual film festivals take place within only a month after each other, whereby the emergence of the newest festival, IndieCork Film Festival, can be seen as a response to the already existing festival, Cork Film Festival.

The aim of the thesis is to outline the developments in Irish (local) cultural policy in order to discuss the integration of film festivals in the urban regime in a more detailed manner. As well as to see if the new concept of IndieCork Festival, as the most recent film festival in the city, holds potential as a future model for film festivals, perhaps even as a heterotopic festival with urban significance.

1.2 Methodology

To be able to answer the main question of this thesis recent developments on film festival literature need to be explained. Therefore, I applied literature review and analysed secondary data. The thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter one consists of the introduction to the research topic and the methodology. Then, chapter two sets out the theoretical framework, followed by the political context of Ireland in chapter three and the case study analysis of Cork city in chapter four. Finally, chapter five will provide the final conclusion to complete the thesis. Chapter two will identify the key literature on film festivals and policy evaluation, in order to provide the proper theoretical underpinnings to set out Ireland’s political context and analyse Cork city’s local policy and its relation to the local festival scene.

The theoretical framework starts by shortly outlining the emergence of the film festival, in order to contextualize the developments of the international film festival circuit until, so to speak, today. This will be done by giving a concise historical overview on the base of literature, e.g. De Valck (2007) and Elsaesser (2005), to provide a starting point to answering the sub questions. These questions are directive and attempt to provide a structure to the thesis. They give an insight into the festival concept and question the roles and functions of film festivals and the concept of cultural urban spaces. Furthermore, it addresses the development and changes in Irish policy and concern the role of policy with regards to the sustainability of festivals. The questions are defined as follows:

 What are the roles and functions of contemporary film festivals?

 What are urban spaces with cultural significance, or ‘Urban Laboratories’, and how can they impact

their environments?

 What are the developments and changes in Irish policy in the last decade with regards to (local)

cultural/festival policy?

 And how can (local) cultural policy possibly contribute to the sustainability of the (Irish) arts festivals in

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Therefore, before viewing the recent developments of Irish (local) cultural policy in relation to urban festival agendas, chapter one will start with setting out the various roles and functions of contemporary film festival, the concept of urban spaces with cultural significance and the sustainability of the film festival.

De Valck (2007) states that in order to understand the concept of the film festival and its place in the international film festival circuit it is necessary to describe the different aspects that a film festival include. She claims that there are two perspectives to research the roles of film festivals. The first perspective places the festival as a node in the film professional network, which includes the perspective of the film and its creative side, festivals and the host city, the festival institution, and the film festival circuit as an international network. The second perspective is focused on different aspects of audience reception. This research focuses on the first perspective as it will examine the relation between host cities and festivals and it will specifically set out the relevant actors involved in this interest.

With her research De Valck (2007) contributes to the expansion of the academic body of knowledge of the international film festival network. In the last decade more other specific academic literature on film festivals has been published, some of it is mentioned in De Valck’s study, inter alia the exploration of the relation of film festivals and cities by Stringer (2001), global networks by Elsaesser (2005) and film festivals and national identity by Czach (2004). As such, I will expand this with more recent published literature of Iordanova (2010), Gass (2009) and Koven (2008) to add to the overview of the current functions of film festivals. Subsequently, I will inquire into the different assumptions that prevail in literature nowadays about the sustainability (Chan, 2007) and the future (Peranson, 2008 and Stevens, 2009) of the film festival circuit. The assumptions express concerns about the commercialised roles and functions of the film festivals, inter alia due to a lack of subsidies and a predominant focus of host cities on economic rationales. And, with specific regards to Irish arts festivals, Quinn (2005, 2009) voices the need for increased attention to the lack of evaluation of arts festivals in Ireland.

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Sachs Olson (2012) states that arts festivals are in a way not connected to their original policy domain anymore, and rather hold relevance for other policy agendas such as the image of the city and attracting tourists. Therefore, she introduces an alternative to instrumentalised festivals, which is the heterotopic festival. Though, the article does not specifically discuss film festival, but arts festivals in general, it can be of significant interest to investigate the relation between festivals and host cities. Sachs Olson’s evaluation model, which is the merged concept of the four E’s model with state/culture relations, serves as the tool to examine the heterotopic festival as an urban place with cultural significance. She explains that festivals are today supported for their role as enhancing identities, however, due to the increased competition between cities and regions, festivals have more and more become a tool to enhance economic benefits. In this part of the thesis I provide an insight into the relation between film festivals and their host cities, by setting out the (dis)advantages of the reciprocal relation for the various involved actors. This will be explained by goals and objectives and different perspectives on the impact of film festivals, such as the enhancement of social inclusion in communities, the increase of cultural/social capital of artists and festival’s participants or the development of urban tourism.

In the third chapter, I will set out the role of the Irish Arts Council and the aspects its relation with Cork’s city council contains. Further, the developments and possible changes in rationales in their policies in the last fifteen years are explained. This is with specific regards to (local) cultural policy, whereby the goals and objectives formulated on (film) festival policy will be the most significant factors. The chapter will attempt to give an insight in the position of festival policy in the cultural agendas of the Irish government and Cork city, by means of studying (annual) policy strategies, reviews and evaluation reports published by the Arts Council, Cork City Council, Cork County Council, the Irish Film Board, the Irish Film Institute and some other independent institutes. Throughout this chapter literature and documents of the different parties concerned with the establishment and development of Irish culture policy will be set out to give a clear understanding of the current state of affairs and the most relevant issues of the past two decades. Various reports, such as the National Spatial Strategy of the Government (2002), the National Development Plans by the Irish government and Partnerships for the Arts: Arts Council Goals 2006-2010 by the Irish Arts Council (2006), will be used1. The reports and reviews will provide the main findings in relation to the integration or marginalisation of artistic value in current cultural policy. Subsequently, this provide an answer to the question on the developments and changes in Irish cultural policy in the last decade, with regards to the arts and culture, and specifically festivals and events.

In the theoretical framework, as set out in chapter two, and the policy context and the developments of the arts in Ireland, as described in chapter three, will provide the tools for the examination of Cork city and two of its film festivals. Therefore, I will use Such Olson’s assumptions about policy evaluation and apply her merged concept of the four E’s model at the policies of Cork City, Cork Film Festival and IndieCork Film Festival, whereby Irish cultural policy will be included as well. Therefore, chapter four of the thesis will cover a case study of two film festivals for a comparative analysis of festival spaces as ‘urban laboratories’. This includes a festival depending on arts subsidies granted by the host city and an independent, community-owned festival.

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Since 1956 Cork city annually hosts Cork Film Festival, an international well know film festival with a diverse programme of big budget film, short films, documentaries and world cinema. The festival receives an annual grant from the Arts Council of Ireland (CFF). Last year, in 2013, a second film festival was created in Cork city, namely the IndieCork Film Festival. The festival is a film and media arts festival and the first festival specialised in Irish and international shorts, ‘Indie’, experimental music and other visual and performance arts. The IndieCork Film Festival does not receive state support from the Arts Council of Ireland at the moment (2013). The case study will provide answers to the main question and approve or disapprove with the, in the introduction stated, assertions on Irish cultural policy and the relation between film festivals and their host cities. Finally, the case study might provide an insight into potential new structures for the sustainability of the film festival circuit in the future. With, for example, the analysis of the IndieCork film festival, and inherently its social and organisational structures, as a catalyst for renewed interest in artistic value and indirectly the improvement of social inclusion and a sense of identity.

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Chapter 2

Theoretical framework

In this chapter, several theoretical concepts will be discussed to form the theoretical framework of the thesis. The first section will start with the concept of the international film festival network, after which the last part of the first section will devote attention to questions about the sustainability and the future of the field. The second section will expand on the roles and functions of film festivals by setting out the current values cities attach to festivals as instruments for the increase of urban tourism, hence economic benefits. Further, in this section social capital will be defined and the concept of the heterotopic festival by Sachs Olsen (2012) will be introduced. The importance of festival and policy evaluation will be discussed, which will be illustrated with a model for evaluation. Sachs Olson (2012) argues that, nowadays, the main objective of most policies is to create and support economically profitable festivals that increase tourism and enhance city images. Policy makers fail to notice the festivals’ potential for cultural impact. For this reason, she pronounces the need to rethink existent cultural policy, whereby the concept of the heterotopic festival will function as an alternative to the instrumentalized festivals that prevail in urban regimes nowadays. Sachs Olson advocates a change in cultural policies towards the support of arts festivals with the motivation to foster cultural experimentation, as present-day festivals seem to carry out less cultural significance and appear to be dominated by inauthentic logics.

2.1 The film festival and its roles and functions

This thesis focuses on the relation between the host city and festivals, as cities nowadays increasingly see festivals as an economic asset instead of, according to Sachs Olsen (2012), urban laboratories. Though, Sachs Olsen (2012) does not specifically discuss film festivals, but arts festivals in general, the article is of serious interest to investigate the relation between festivals and their host cities. The enormous growth of film festivals, and festivals in general, brings forth different questions in the field of research on film festivals. Critics wonder when the point of saturation will be reached and if, and how, the phenomenon will be able to survive. Sceptical thoughts by several theorists (Peranson, 2008; Quinn, 2006a; Stevens, 2010; Chan, 2011) contain the assertion that festivals will become obsolete and that this will eventually lead to its downfall. Despite these pessimistic views some theorists state that the downfall can be prevented by changing the structure of the film festival and they claim the growth will also create possibilities for the future.

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the future of the film festival and conclude the section with the most relevant functions and characteristics for the sustainability of the festival.

Defining the film festival

The number of film festivals that take place on a yearly basis is estimated between 1200 and 1900 (De Valck, 2007). The festivals are based on the moving image and these film festivals all have their own form and function, which can be cultural as well as commercial. Currently, film festival attendance is growing and the different people the festivals attract have made it an established form of cultural practice. This expansion has led to a diversity of festivals, which ranges from the well known international film festivals to local film festivals, and from festivals that show specific genres to niche festivals with themed programming.

From investigating academic literature on film festivals it appears that scholars have difficulties in defining the topic. According to Peranson there is a general conformity that the festivals are “an alternative distribution network… providing audiences with opportunities to watch unviable film in a communal space” (2008:37). De Valck (2007) states that in order to understand the concept of the film festival and its place in the international film festival circuit, it is necessary to describe the different aspects the film festival includes and the various stakeholders they involve. Film festivals can be analysed at different levels and, in this first section, I will set out two different perspectives. De Valck (2007) places the festival as a node in the film professional network to research the roles of film festivals. This includes the film and its creative side, festivals and the city, the festival institution, and the study of film festivals from a global perspective. The second perspective is focused on different aspects of audience reception (Iordanova, 2010). De Valck (2007) states that film festivals have multiple functions that differ between distribution and exhibition, and adds that production is involved as well nowadays. Inherent to this are the connected political, artistic and business interests, which are all overlapping.

Historical overview

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In the 1970s, a shift took place from a focus on the festival’s national aspects to the concern of the festival’s artistic recognition. This is what De Valck (2007) explains as the start of the second historical phase in film festival development. The festival as showcase of national cinemas underwent a change in its format and the new phase predominantly existed of festivals organized independently of state influence. The festivals began to participate in film culture due to altered programming policies. This notion of independent programming contained the framing of films on specific themes. Therefore, the festival could offer the viewer different program sections, in order to emphasize awareness of stylistic movements and political issues. Besides the change of the initial format, De Valck (2007) stresses that the new functions of the festivals are to provide the film industry with films as well as to preserve the means of cinematic art. In 1968, in a politically unstable France, the annual film festival Cannes caused a major shift in the development of independency of festivals. The role of the film festival was reconsidered, as the status of both filmmaker and film itself had changed. Cinema was now considered to be high art as well, and the filmmaker was seen as an author that could use the festival as a means to show his artistic films and voice his ideologies. Due to political strikes at film festival Cannes it resigned in 1968 before the end of the festivities. The festival characteristics were claimed to be ancient in a contemporary time of filmmakers as auteur and a focus on individuality. The festivals had to be a place to show the works of these artists. In response to this, the festival changed its selection procedure by restraining involvement of the state, in order to overcome the format of being a showcase for national cinemas. This second phase ended during the 1980s, whereas the film festival started to constitute images that would circulate globally, hence entering the third historical phase with the establishment of an international festival circuit (De Valck, 2007).

De Valck (2007) sets out that the emerge of a global network led to an exponential growth, which in return led to the extension of the number of festivals that exist nowadays. The expanding growth has provided an elaborate diversity of festivals. This ranges from major international film festivals to local film festivals and from film festivals dedicated to specific film genres, such as documentaries, to niche film festivals that focus on ‘indie’ film or social concerns. The circuit is characterized by aspects of competition and distinctiveness, but also by the aim to emulate. According to Elsaesser (2005) each festival influences other players in the field with its organizational aspects and program, which creates relations of interdependency. De Valck (2007) addresses that this dependency means that all festivals are embedded in a global network of film festivals. The proliferation of the phenomenon in the third phase has led to an increase in professionalization and institutionalization.

Film festival’s functions.

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Copenhagen. And in current literature on film festivals questions are now posed for what reason and for the benefits of whom these festivals are established (Chan, 2011).

According to De Valck (2007) the field of research on film festivals holds two starting positions for an inquiry of the roles of film festivals. The first perspective places festivals as nodes in the film professional network and the latter is focused on audience reception. In setting out an overview of the roles and functions film festivals can practice, De Valck (2007) uses case studies of several film festival, such as Cannes and Venice. As considered widely known in festival literature, international film festivals provide film makers, audience, film critics and other actors the occasion to engage with films that are at stake in the film world at that time (De Valck, 2007). Koven (2008) describes that festivals function as platforms that are considered to show the most significant films that might otherwise not be shown in mainstream and commercial exhibition venues. In addition, for selected film makers this creates the opportunity to gather symbolic capital, because the possibilities to receive film critics’ approval increases. As for the audience, the festival can serve as a place to view foreign films, which creates the opportunity to engage in, what Koven explains as, an “authentic cultural experience” (2008:3).

De Valck (2007) mentions the consensus that prevails in literature on the functioning of film festivals as platforms for exhibition. Further, she states it is acknowledged that festivals are part of the global film world. As such, the film festival is a place where different kinds of groups meet in relation to film production, exhibition and distribution (De Valck, 2007). Yet, I think, in order to comprehend the success or flourishing of film festivals on local scale, it is necessary to set out the film festival’s local and global attraction. This will be done by addressing the prevalent theories on the festivals’ functions from a global point of view.

The International Film Festival Network

The interdependent relation between festivals is significant to discuss, as it can explain the position festivals take within the global network. Inherently, it ascribes the power and influence that position contains. De Valck (2007) and Elsaesser (2005) both approach film festivals from a global perspective, which is based on the concept of the actor-network theory. De Valck (2007) argues that with considering film festivals as a global network, she can engage with divergent perspectives. Furthermore, the actors that gather at film festivals, e.g. film critics, filmmakers and sales agents, cannot be set apart from the event. Their performances and products are comprehended as required links to create the event (De Valck, 2007).

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program. Besides that, the host city and the relations it holds with the actors, such as other festivals, are important (De Valck, 2007).

According to Stringer (2001) the festival circuit can be understood from three different perspectives. The first way he sets out concretely as a “closely linked network of interrelated, interdependent events” (Stringer, 2001:107). Secondly, he supposes that the circuit contains inequality from itself. He explains that some festivals attract more attention from the media, whereas other festivals will be dispensable. The last perspective to understand the circuit, according to Stringer, is to see it as a “metaphor of geographically uneven development that characterizes the world of international film culture” (Stringer, 2001:108). This leads to an assertion, by Stringer, that contemporary festivals are situated within the festival circuit by ‘core-periphery relations’. This necessarily entails the notion that the circuit covers a range of bigger festivals, such as Cannes and Sundance, that dominate the centre. Consequently, this means the periphery consists of a large amount of subordinate, smaller festivals. Stringer states that the festivals positioned in the periphery often depend on the selected programs of the dominant festivals and attempt to screen a few of the significant films to their local audience. The circuit can be seen as a socially produced space that provides opportunities for different groups to get in contact. It creates a zone where competition as well as cooperation exist, which indicates it offers an eclectic assembly of people and films (Stringer, 2001).

Peranson (2008) also proposes a perspective to analyse film festivals and introduces two forms to distinguish film festivals, which are the business and the audience festival. The business festival is characterized by high financial resources, partly due to corporate sponsors and film premières take a large account in the program. This kind of festival has film funds for productions and a strong focus on competition and awards. Further, the festivals mark the attendance of star guests and filmmakers, and a small number of these festivals might also have some involvement in Hollywood studios. On the other hand, Peranson (2008) sets out the audience festival that has, compared to the business festival, considerably less financial opportunities and only limited sponsorships. The focus of these festivals is not as much on competition, film premières and star guests, as well on the screening of artistic films of high quality. Nonetheless, Peranson (2008) notes that a large amount of film festivals does not exactly fit into one of the two models, but rather reflects some elements and should be positioned in between the two festival forms (Peranson, 2008).

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power in the network. Further, Peranson (2008) argues that international film festivals in the contemporary film industry hold position as alternative exhibition networks. He states that the significance of the festivals is embedded in the fact that it provides the public with possibilities to watch non-commercial films in a communal space, or films that otherwise were not even likely to be displayed in art house cinema to a wider audience (2008).

De Valck (2007) describes the concepts of ‘spaces of flow’ and ‘spaces of place’. Her inquiry, based on Castell’s concept of temporal and spatial concentration of film festivals, coincides with Stringers (2001) assertions how festivals are embedded within the festival network. From a temporal point of view the scheduling of festival dates is analyzed and further takes in consideration the adaptation of current affairs in programming, news items and the most recent discoveries (De Valck, 2007). The spatial perspective is described by De Valck as “an interrelation of the local with the global; the city with the nation; and the place of the event with the space of the media” (2007:214). Thus, at a specific time and place, festivals bring together film professionals, the general audience and other actors. De Valck (2007) sets out that the global festival network equals constant movements. These activities can be evoked by unexpected circumstances, e.g. due to global forces, which means festivals have to redefine their position. De Valck (2007) argues that both the strong and weak points of the interdependency mean the survival of the circuit, as the global network is the foundation of the film festivals sustainability. This argument elicits questions in recent literature, whereas the enormous expansion of the circuit has led to assertions on festivals becoming obsolete, due to its saturation (De Valck, 2007). Peranson (2008) claims that the situation is not perfect, as there is a struggle between business interests and artistic values. Each stakeholder has its own rationales, for instance economic or artistic, and he considers the fundamental actors consist of distributors, sales agents, the government, the audience, film makers, sponsors and critics. The stakeholders are all interrelated and Peranson (2008) states that the type of festival and the model, business or audience, will ascribe the importance and influence of the stakeholders on the development of the festival.

As briefly mentioned, there exist different stands in this discussion, which I will set out in-depth when discussing the academic literature on the future of the film festival. To sum up, the success of the film festival can be explained accurately from a global perspective and the conception of a network admits us to understand how the film festival impacts the film industry. The festivals have different functions nowadays, which varies from the exhibition venue, e.g. screening non-commercial films that would not be displayed in cinemas, to alternative distribution platform, e.g. legitimising film and filmmakers, and production, e.g. festivals that allocate funding to filmmakers. For this reason, the festivals serve as a platform that allows an interplay between multiple film professionals with business, artistic and political interests, but it serves as an venue for the general audience as well.

Academic perspectives on film festivals

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combination with globalization, to describe the festival phenomenon. Iordanova (2009) addresses a different view and claims that festivals are not all interrelated in one coherent network, but argues there exist parallel circuits of film festivals. Film festivals are independently founded and spread without the existence of a global network. The festivals do not become part of a circuit in a self-evident way. Iordanova (2009) states that if networks between festivals exist, it is due to the fact they carry out a similar vision on the cinematic product. The parallel circuits can consist of networks that focus on specific genres, e.g. comedy, specific types of films, such as documentary or short film, or social concern, such as human rights. In addition, she also mentions the existence of festival circuits with a main focus on commercial activities, such as Cannes, Berlin and Venice. The main argument, according to Iordanova (2009), comprises the assumption that networks can only exist when they are formed on the base of corresponding agendas

The overview of the proliferation of the film festival phenomenon brought up two different points of view. The film festival world as one global film festival network where festivals are inherently related and interdependent, or the film festival as an individually founded event that does not depend on a global network, but can be part of a specific festival circuit, if agendas on cinematic products coincide. As explained in the beginning of this section, festivals can perform different roles and this can be translated in two main perspectives that exist in literature about contemporary festivals. Firstly, film festivals are considered as platforms for distribution, and seen as an alternative to Hollywood, a place for film professionals to meet and a market place in an international film circuit. The second perspective considers film festivals as singular ventures and, most of all, as alternative exhibition venues that can screen independent and non-commercial films. Despite the different ways scholars approach the concept of film festival circuits and contribute to the field of knowledge with their predictions about the sustainability of film festivals, the festivals still continue to proliferate and festival attendance still increases. Therefore, in order to get a better insight into the wide range of, sometimes conflicting, interests, I will discuss in some depth a few significant stakeholders and actors in the festival circuit.

Festivals and the City

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models of potential success, seen from the perspective of the host city, as it is hoped that established film festivals can also attract the global audience to the city and globally spread a positive image of the city. Harbord’s (2002) perspective connects to Stringer (2001) as she states that the relation between the festival and its host city can be characterized as dynamic and reciprocal. Festivals can benefit, but also undergo disadvantage, from the cities they are located in. This can be explained, as described before on the base of De Valck (2007), with an analysis of temporal and spatial aspects. The festivals can be influenced by several factors, such as the physical location, art or cultural events that take place at the same time and by the season it is held in. Simultaneously, a city can benefit from a festival through an increase in tourism, the possibilities to expand its culture, improve solidarity within the community and build on the global image of the city. As Stringer (2001) and Harbord (2002) both mention, locality and uniqueness are aspects that have become increasingly important to distinguish between festivals in a global economy. Although the film festival’s image is inherently interwoven with its host city, Stringer (2001) states that this is just one stakeholder that operates in the film festival sector. In contrast, the specific choice of program, attendance of acknowledged film makers, media attention and the placement in the festival circuit by confirmation of other festival delegates, all play a role in shaping the festival’s image. Stringer (2001) claims that festivals that achieve to create a differentiated image, by carefully controlling the latter mentioned factors, will be able to successfully function in the local as well as the global network. Those festivals, according to Stringer “suggest the international dimensions of local film cultures, (and) may produce a genuine local city identity based around a shared sense of cinephilia and an engagement with dynamic processes of cultural exchange” (2001:140).

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The Future of the Film Festival

In current literature the sustainability of the festivals is debated and some scholars are cautious about the future of the film festival and predict that festivals will become obsolete due to saturation. On the other hand, other researchers see the growth and proliferation of the festival circuit as an opportunity for film festivals to serve as alternative platforms for the screening of non-mainstream film.

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function within the industry, as it comes to the arrangements made between distributors, sales agents and festival programmers (2011).

The aforementioned authors indicate that they are only sceptical about the sustainability of the film festival’s future, if the structure of the concept does not change. In order to maintain the supply of cinematic products, such as non-mainstream film, festivals must consider ways in which to pay for what they screen, either through making use of commercial models of film exhibition, or by reinvesting in its source of supply. Thus in order to maintain both audience interest and a supply of content, film festivals should actively engage with the economics of film production. And for that they need resources.

Conclusion

In short conclusion, with this section I attempted to clarify the concept of the film festival. In doing so, I started with a historical overview of the emerge and development of the film festival, the possible roles and functions of film festivals and two different angles to study the festival field. The first perspective places festivals as nodes in the film professional network, whereas the second perspective is focused on audience reception. The relationships between film festivals and the concept of a festival network or a festival circuit has been examined by several theorists, including Elsaesser (2005), De Valck (2007) and Iordanova (2009), and has provided an insight in the roles and functions of film festivals.

The international film festival provides film makers, audience, film critics and other actors the occasion to engage with films that are significant in the film world at that time. Moreover, festivals bring together different film professionals and function as alternative distribution platforms for film beyond Hollywood. In addition, De Valck (2007) states that festivals are globally networked and function as catalysts in legitimising of films and filmmakers, whereas the festival can enhance the flow of films and actors. Major festivals, such as Cannes, have prestige and international exposition, which can contribute to the gaining of symbolic capital for filmmakers. On the other hand, the smaller and local festivals make it easier for filmmakers to enter the circuit, but will not have the same capacity to create exposure to a general public. In contrast, Iordanova’s (2009) view argues against a globally interconnected network and defines film festivals as evidently localised venues that are founded independently, but can be part of a specific circuit. The film festivals function as alternatives to other exhibition options, such as cinemas and television. The parallel circuits contain networks that are focused on corresponding cinematic agendas, for example specific genres, types or audiences. In this way, festivals can screen films that otherwise would not be shown and create an opportunity for the films to attract media attention, which eventually could lead to theatrical release.

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The festival is, therefore, embedded in specific social and political contexts, which implicates they are somehow closely linked to local politics and affect political decision making. This provides the link to the next section, where I will set out the social, cultural and economic impact of festivals on their environments and introduce the concept of the heterotopic festival in-depth.

2.2 The film festival and its relation to the host city

In this section I will set out the most relevant concepts that prevail currently in literature on tourism and the role of festivals with regards to this concept. As stated in the previous section, festivals are embedded in specific social and political contexts, which implicates they are somehow linked to politics and affect political decision making. To start with, the definition of the term cultural tourism will be detailed in the review of literature. Then, I will provide an overview of the range of impacts that can be identified in connection to (film) festivals and their environments. And, in the last part of this section, I will introduce Sachs Olson’s (2012) concept of the heterotopic festival with the purpose to discuss festival places as urban places with cultural significance.

Arts festivals in their context

Within the context of the global financial crisis of the past years, the cultural sector became even more dependent on public funding due to a decrease in income. However, as mentioned before, economic rationales tend to be the tools for decision-making in policy discourse nowadays. In other words, arts festivals and cultural events seem to be detached from their initial policy domain (Quinn, 2013). According to Sanchez (2011) cultural sites, festivals and products should be observed in relation to their contexts and his PhD dissertation indicates an approach towards a holistic examination of social and economic impacts. He states that cultural sites cannot be fully understood without apprehension of the context they fall within. Managers of cultural sites and festivals have been competent in examining specific contexts, relating to economic and financial aspects, and many theories and methods are established to analyse these context. On the other hand, not so much is known about socio-cultural impacts (2011). In the context of cultural festivals various stakeholders are operating and Sanchez (2011) separates them into sections, such as the people within the festival, local authority, local community, private sector, NPF organisations, the arts and heritage organisations and mass media communication, that all can include specific stakeholders that are associated to a particular arts or cultural festival (2011). Quinn (2013) argues that the festivals present-day status has not merely to do with their artistic profits, but rather with the importance they enclose in other policy agendas, such as cultural tourism and city marketing. Therefore, this section identifies public authorities as the most relevant stakeholders, in order to address the relation between festivals and their host cities.

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applying for annual funding, providing grants and supporting collaboration (Sanchez, 2011). Furthermore, similar to Quinn (2013), Sanchez (2011) claims that the decrease of public funding, due to the financial crisis, lead to a stage where festivals nowadays have to look into a whole range of other funding possibilities. As such, festivals not solely apply for cultural grants anymore, but consider social, educational and touristic programmes as an attempt to apply at different potential grants within public policies. In the most capital, and average sized, cities ad hoc organisations are initiated by local authorities in order to manage local development, urban regeneration, city marketing and tourism (Sanchez, 2011).

Cultural tourism

Cultural policy is an evident factor in the development of cultural tourism and Miller and Yudice (2002) define cultural policy as “the institutional supports that channel both aesthetic creativity and collective ways of life” (cited in Butcher, 2005:22). In addition, institutional supports can be pointed out as the strategy by which authorities support artistic output and products that are regarded to contribute to the cultural capital of a place. The place is thereby addressed as a space that exhibits certain cultural connotations and, therefore, can be considered attractive to tourists seeking for cultural experiences (Butcher, 2005). Butcher argues that cultural sites, such as historic buildings, museums, galleries, cultural events and festivals, and the planning and design of public places can add to the increase of cultural capital. Moreover, the aforementioned sites are part of the remit of public authorities, which, consequently, implicates the importance of policy (Butcher, 2005). Several authors (Robinson and Smith, 2005; Wood, 2006; Quinn, 2009; Sanchez, 2011) mention the extensive amount of available literature with reference to research on culture and tourism and its impact on environments. Festivals, for example, are known for their positive economic impact on host cities as they can contribute to the creation of new jobs and increased employment in pubs, restaurants and shops, but also the growth of day-visitors and tourism. Policy makers utilize festivals for city marketing and the reimaging of local areas, which in return can motivate new investments. In contrast, considerable less research has been done on socio-cultural impacts specifically associated with festivals, such as social and cultural capital. Though recently, academics have a growing interest in issues referring to cultural tourism and festivals, but the questions mostly remain due to a lack of empirical evidence. According to Sanchez (2011), the majority of the impacts claimed for cultural sites utilize terms as social cohesion, local identity and empowerment, but Sanchez (2012 claims, here again, no concrete convention exist on what these definitions imply exactly.

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instance with the creation of a new playground for a school (Sanchez, 2011). Sanchez sets out that an important aspect of intangible cultural heritage can be deduced from its potential to enhance the awareness of identity to individuals and to communities. Further, he points out that the expressions and creativity that come along with the social activities can be arranged with different types of intangible cultural products, such as arts festivals and cultural events (2011).

‘Festival Tourism’ and Urban Policy

Quinn (2009, 2013) discusses specific literature on the emerge of festivals as tourist attractions and describes the term ‘festival tourism’. She addresses the extraordinary rise of the amount of festivals in European cities and elsewhere, whereby the growth is so exponential that it proves difficult to make certain the specific number of festivals. The reasons Quinn (2009) sets out, with regards to the proliferation of festivals and events, coincide largely with Butcher’s (2005) notion on the changes in public cultural policy, the change of economic production and the associated use of culture as a means of regeneration. According to Butcher (2005) is facilitating cultural sites and festivals to attract tourists only one aspect of public cultural policy. However, he states, with the growth of travels it has become of specific importance to policy-makers. The expansion of leisure travel started a development that made the objects of public cultural policies, such as festivals and museums, also objects of interest for tourists and, thus an asset for economic profits as urban development and regeneration (Butcher, 2005). Further, Butcher argues that “cultural capital also includes the nurturing and marketing of an intangible ‘sense of place’ in the cultural city” (2005:22). He states this is possibly more about the excitement and encouragement of social activity, than providing environments with interesting events to attract the cultural tourist. For this reason, the concept of city marketing has grown and holds a significant place in public cultural policy nowadays (Butcher, 2005). Quinn (2009) indicates that the combination of those factors has resulted in the development of the arts festivals as a suitable asset for cities to incorporate in their strategies, in order to position themselves in a globalised and competitive world.

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contains the discussing of the concepts of authenticity and the commodification of culture (Robinson and Smith, 2005).

While the literature is quite uncertain about the role festivals play in urban areas, increasing attention has been paid to the theoretical results that claim festivals can function as catalysts to attracts visitors, with an enormous interest in urban regeneration and the improvement of abandoned neighbourhoods (Quinn, 2005a). In contrast, hard evidence is almost unavailable and according to Evans (2001) the position of the present-day festival should be questioned if “their purpose and sustainability is of concern beyond the calendar cycle of ever-growing feast” (cited in Quinn, 2005a:4). Quinn (2005a) attempts to examine the contribution of arts festivals to the structuring and the functioning of urban areas, in particular concerning the non-economic outcomes. And she stresses that festivals have adopted new significance, which is explained as “they are now construed as entrepreneurial displays, as image creators capable of attracting significant flows..” (Quinn, 2005a:11).

Cities are aware of the trends that are evolving in these sectors nowadays and many cities have made capital investments in festivals as part of their urban strategies. Several authors (Robinson et al., 2004; Richards and Wilson, 2004) have posed questions that refer to what the use of arts festivals has actually meant for the cities and its inhabitants, to what extent they have played a significant role in the advancement of urban policy, as well as to the contribution of urban life and the festival’s ability to voice the expressions of cultural groups and identities (cited in Quinn, 2005a:12). A necessary condition for the maintenance of a festival’s integrity in order to proceed to serve its social and cultural contexts in meaningful ways, is an evident degree of self-analysis. Quinn (2005a) repeatedly emphasises this, as local authorities tend to misunderstand the socio-cultural value of arts festivals and regard them merely as policy tools for economic benefits and as ‘quick fix’ opportunities to solve city image problems (Quinn, 2005a). Nevertheless, since halfway the 1990s, festivals have been struggling with pressure forced by trying to balance their initial artistic goals on one side, and conflicts about economic rationales on the other (Quinn, 2009).

The commodification of culture

The last few subsections have discussed some of the developments and changes in heritage sites, arts festivals and cultural events, mainly with concerns to tourism and instrumental issues that are at stake in the cultural sector at the moment. However, this left aside the discussion about the authenticity of culture and its products. According to MacLeod (2005), in literature the discussion of the authenticity of culture is regarded to be a central point of view in exploring the social and cultural impacts of tourism. However, as I have set out earlier, the enlarged influence of the tourism industry, in combination with enhanced convenience and effortlessness of travelling and the ever expanding domain of places to visit, has intensified and build-up the debates on the impacts of tourism with regards to the commodification and authenticity of culture.

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characterization of the relation between hosts and their guests and on the production of cultural products and cultural events that are consumed by the tourists. Further, she states that tourism as an economic pursuit accounts for the commodification of culture. This is owing to the fact that products and performances, that were originally initiated for mainly local consumers, underwent a redirection aimed towards the tourism market and are now considered to be exploited and reduced in value. Commodification is therefore accused as being the reason of the demolishing of authentic local cultural products and relationships, and is seen as the cause of ‘staged’ experiences that are clearly defined for external customers and users. MacLeod (2005) indicates that harming authenticity, in this sense, provokes damage to the host city and its inhabitants, as well on the experiences of the tourists themselves. The progressively commercial relation between hosts and their guests is described to degrade both actors by reducing the authentic experiences into an activity merely aimed at commercial transactions. As such, the cultural products of a place are evidently seen as important actors within the tourism industry and these products, events and other sites are frequently taken advantage of in city promotion and used for tourist entertainment (MacLeod, 2005). There is an extensive body of knowledge regarding the role of tourism in the modification of cultural forms and MacLeod mentions a few concepts, for instance ‘tourist art’ (Graburn, 1976), e.g. souvenirs that claim to reflect specific culture, the ‘heritagisation of destinations’ (Hewison 1987, Walsh 1992), e.g. the reconfiguration of a rural town’s identity to position it in the tourism market, and the last concept is the commodification of festivals (Greenwood, 1989), rituals and dance for tourist expenditure (cited in MacLeod, 2005:179).

Urry (1990) sets out a concept that refers to the existence of an average touristic character, which he terms the ‘post tourist’. This post tourist actually takes pleasure in the playful features of the imitated experience and is “aware of, yet revelling in, the artifice” (cited in MacLeod, 2005:181). Criticism on contemporary culture expresses dissatisfaction about tourism and postmodernism as being the cause of placelessness, which contains the notion that spaces are devoid of any significant and authentic local meaning. Within these undistinguished places individuals consume the mediated experiences and, as MacLeod explains, the supporters of this view characterize contemporary culture as highly impoverished due to the lack of authenticity (MacLeod, 2005).

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states this might actually be a policy strategy that is counter-productive. This can, eventually, lead to a bulk of reproductions, constituting the stereotypical and hence creating places devoid of authentic connections and meaning (Quinn, 2005b).

Although it seems the prevailing assumptions about the effects of globalisation and the impact of cultural tourism on the development of culture and urban spaces bring forth sceptical notions and criticism nowadays, other perspectives on this matter argue that the ‘reproduction of sameness’ not evidently needs to be the way things turn out (Quinn, 2005a:25). In contrast to commodified culture, unconventional and challenging art, and cultural policies that do not solely account on economic rationales, are both necessary conditions for the creation of valuable art products. Therefore, suitable cultural policies can support the flourishing of arts festivals and contribute to the increase of social and cultural capital, which in return might constitute an improved sense of communal and individual identity.

Defining social capital

This subsection will review the concept of social capital in more detail as social capital has the ability to positively affect communities as well as individuals and enhance a sense of identity. Arts festivals can have significant stand in this as they have the ability to arouse artistic experiences, which can support further engagement with artistic activities. In return, the social and physical elements of festival participation can support the enhancement of social relations and connections between people, hence the increase of social capital. As such, this subsection will look into the concept of social capital as well will it look into the potential impacts of festivals on social capital. In academic literature, at the moment, there is no consensus how to define the concept of social capital. The concept is complicated as it has been used in various ways, which makes it complex to sufficiently set out what the term exactly encloses.

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social capital as a means to acquire resources, which is in correspondence with older theorists as Bourdieu and Putnam, and as such social capital is not a resource in itself.

Arcodia and Whitford (2008) describe both positive as negative impacts and structure this into the economic, physical, political and socio-cultural impacts associated with festivals. The physical impacts, related to the environment of festival, and the economic impacts, as discussed in earlier sections, are not of significant use for this thesis. In addition, the political impacts of a festival can be favourable for an improved image of a city, for example the Mardi Gras festival. The festival has grown from a protest festival to an established festival with political undertones, that has performed as a catalyst in the process of legislative alteration (Arcodia and Whitford, 2008). Yet this subsection concentrates on the socio-cultural impacts and attempts to describe the connection between festival attendance and social capital.

The hosting of a cultural festival can impact the structure and social life of a community by enhancing or degrading the environment of the city. Arcodia and Whitford (2008) argue that festival attendance builds social capital in different ways through the development of community resources. For instance, the festival organisation, including volunteers, has responsibility for the governmental aspects of the festival and has to interact with local businesses and the local community in general to negotiate and make arrangements. This communication lasts a certain amount of time, until the festival’s organisation is finished, and these interactivities increase awareness concerning community expertise and resources, they create connections between unrelated groups and individuals, determine opportunities to advance the community’s resources and in general promote the improvement of interaction between the already existing organisations. Besides this, Arcodia and Whitford (2008) emphasize that festivals support the effective use of community resources by creating opportunities for organisers and participants to discover local resources that perhaps previously were not available, due to ethnic social boundaries or gatekeepers, and otherwise might have continued to exist anonymous. This can develop the potential of the maintenance of social networks even beyond the short period of active existence of the festival, whereas in the case of regular festival events this can extend to establish substantial long-term advantages. Therefore, festivals may not only perform a catalysing function to revitalize already existing relationships, but also contribute to the development of new partnerships. The networks that are established within communities assure various levels of social connections by adding specific features to the relational situation (Arcodia and Whitford, 2008).

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attendance of an arts festival signifies a valuable social process that gives a voice to a variety of groups, whose differences are not based on ethnicity, but on lifestyle choices. Although both participation as attendance signify specific values, the former implies a stronger social process, whereas the latter process is on a conceptual level.

The Heterotopic Festival

Sachs Olson (2012) has set up a research case study on the re-thinking of arts festivals within the urban regime in which she examines cultural policy and the way it relates to festivals. Her research is based upon case studies of festivals that are understood as being actively involved in the development of their local environments, instead of being seen as vehicles for regeneration. Therefore, Sachs Olson (2012) sets out the idea of the ‘heterotopic’ festival, in order to be able to situate festivals in a category that is in contrast with instrumentalized festivals. Sachs Olson (2012:3) describes Foucault’s (1967) introduction of the idea of ‘heterotopia’ as a concept that has been extended by many sociologists nowadays. In her research Sachs Olson (2012) mainly concentrates on Shanes’ (2005) notion of the concept that “Urban heterotopias are specialized patches, acting as test beds of change” (cited in Sachs Olson, 2012:3) , and Hetherington’s (1997) idea of heterotopias as spaces “in which an alternative social ordering is performed” (cited in Sachs Olson, 2012:3). Sachs Olson utilizes the concept to explain the arts festival as an urban place for cultural and social experience, but she explains that these heterotopic festivals have to meet some conditions, which are described as follows:  “Festivals as bottom-up initiatives with the pre-occupation to meet an artistic need felt by a

particular and place-based artistic community.

 Festivals that developed organically crystallizing around a small group of highly committed artists and/or arts enthusiasts.

 Festivals physically expressing and tangibly reinforcing alternative ideals in the use of unconventional spaces for artistic performances” (Sachs Olson, 2012: 3).

Thus, on the base of these criteria Sachs Olson has selected three European festivals as case studies for her research, namely Future Everything in Manchester, Metropolis in Copenhagen and SOHO in Vienna. She states that the artistic mission’s of the three festivals act as alternatives to festivals that are being construed as economic assets. More so, in contrast to instrumentalized festivals, Sachs Olson stresses that the festivals she decided on perceive the city as an urban laboratory for cultural experiences (Sachs Olson, 2012).

The Conjoined Four E’s Model for Policy Evaluation

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the government, but she also includes business activities and promotional activities related to culture. Further, she states that policy always comes with a rationale, which she explains as giving a reason for every decision made. In order to define the essential links between the theoretical notions and the data, Sachs Olson has created a framework model, which, she claims, will allow to position the case studies altogether in a cultural policy frame. The research presents the empirical evidence Sachs Olson (2012) provided by investigating three European arts festivals in order to confirm the assertion she made.

To start to realize an improved policy with different rationales, Sachs Olson (2012) melded two frameworks that indicate policy rationales together in one model. The first framework is the ‘four E’s’ model (Figure 1), which is a device to explore the rationales of the festival’s host city. Sachs Olson based her model on Skot-Hansen’s (2005) framework of four E’s: Enlightenment, Economic Impact, Entertainment and Empowerment (cited in Sachs Olson, 2012:5).

Figure 1: Four E’s model for cultural policies rationales by Skot-Hansen (2005 cited Sachs Olsen 2012).