A Wealth of Festivals?

[Dave Watterson]

The full results of this year’s Cotswold International Film & Video Festival
are up on their website:

www.cotswoldfilmvideofest.co.uk

The scoring system the festival uses always causes me, as a judge, some difficulties
and I think it generates some quirky results from time to time. The top amateur
movies are fine and would be top by any definition … but lower down the rankings
there do seem some peculiar results.

The student and open (professional) entries are judged by different final
judges so I cannot compare their standard with the amateur ones until the
festival screenings take place on 2nd and 3rd September in Stroud.
The special awards are a mix of rankings lifted from the score sheets of
preliminary and final judges plus others picked by the Festival Board.

I do like the idea of the Cotswold Festival and am full of admiration for
Lee Prescott who tackles most of the work with the strength, determination
and enthusiasm of a man half his age. But it does seem to be “out of step”
with the other two major international amateur festivals in the British Isles.

Perhaps it would do better to fill a niche market … e.g. becoming an international
fiction film festival – rather than seeming to compete with the Guernsey
Lily and BIAFF.

Is a proliferation of festivals with broadly the same aims a good thing or
not?

Dave

[Michael Slowe]

"Dave Watterson" <forums@theiac.org.uk> wrote:

The full results of this year’s Cotswold International Film & Video Festival
are up on their website:

www.cotswoldfilmvideofest.co.uk

The scoring system the festival uses always causes me, as a judge, some
difficulties
and I think it generates some quirky results from time to time. The top
amateur
movies are fine and would be top by any definition … but lower down the
rankings
there do seem some peculiar results.

The student and open (professional) entries are judged by different final
judges so I cannot compare their standard with the amateur ones until the
festival screenings take place on 2nd and 3rd September in Stroud.
The special awards are a mix of rankings lifted from the score sheets of
preliminary and final judges plus others picked by the Festival Board.

I do like the idea of the Cotswold Festival and am full of admiration for
Lee Prescott who tackles most of the work with the strength, determination
and enthusiasm of a man half his age. But it does seem to be “out of step”
with the other two major international amateur festivals in the British
Isles.

Perhaps it would do better to fill a niche market … e.g. becoming an international
fiction film festival – rather than seeming to compete with the Guernsey
Lily and BIAFF.

Is a proliferation of festivals with broadly the same aims a good thing
or
not?

Dave

Dave, I don't think that there are too many amateur festivals because they
do take in different areas of the country (and Europe for that matter) and
attract different audiences. It is true that they attract many of the same
films for a given year and this does point up varying judges opinions on
the same films. (No I am not complaining!) This is no bad thing since we
all know that judgement on any type of art is so very subjective. By and
large though the better films feature somewhere near the top of each festival
and it is satisying for the producers to have them seen by as many people
as possible. It also enables us film makers to see pretty well all the notable
films of the year because not all festivals feature exactly the same ones.
Your niche idea might well attract, but sometimes it is difficult to categorise.

[Willy Van der Linden]

"Dave Watterson" <forums@theiac.org.uk> wrote:
The scoring system the Cotswold festival uses always causes me, as a judge,

some
difficulties ...
Michael Slowe wrote :
We all know that judgement on any type of art is so very subjective. By
and

large though the better films feature somewhere near the top of each festival
and it is satisying for the producers to have them seen by as many people
as possible. It also enables us film makers to see pretty well all the notable
films of the year because not all festivals feature exactly the same ones.
Your niche idea might well attract, but sometimes it is difficult to categorise.

I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate Lee Prescott on his
successful Cotswold Film Festival. There were more than 120 entries from
all over the world. Great ! Oh, yes, you know, Dave,... On any festival organizers
are in the hands of the judges who sometimes make decisions that seem strange
to the rest of us. I attended the Cotswolds Festival only once. My friend
Urbain Appeltans, maker of "Dimato", who knew that he was not one of the
winners - although he had achieved great triumphs on other festivals - expected
a fantastic film show on Sunday, and so did I, but the quality of the Australian
Film "Me and My Daddy", the overall winning film, was not a pleasant surprise,
though I always appreciate all films made by amateurs. These things may
happen. I guess it also happened at BIAFF. I was also surprised when I received
my Cotswold report on "An Irish Moment" some years ago. Three or four judges
had given me about 80 percent. One judge less than 50 percent ! "I have
already seen many Irish films like yours !" was the only written remark.
But as Michael said : the judgement on any type of art is very subjective.
I always tell the members of my club the following thing before the start
of our local competition : "Please, I know your expectations are great.
But do not take the results heavily to heart ! Just accept them. Judges are
human beings, just like you and me. They have their own individual feelings.
Imagine that you are a judge. Would everybody agree with you ? I'm not sure
about that."

It's good that there are many international festivals where film makers
from all over Europe and all over the world can exchange views on film making.
Organizers of festivals should always create these possiblities. A festival
is not only a happening where you can watch films, but also where you can
have a chat with other people, even with silent people like me. I'm only
"talkative" with my pen or computer.

I agree with Dave when he says that it would be good idea to categorize.
What a pity that the Belgian "Dragon Festival" does not take place anymore
! It was a festival only for feature films. They cannot organize it anymore
because they don't find work-horses anymore. Also "one minute films" should
have their own regional, national and international festivals. I know there
is one in Croatia and in the United States. In our club we had 12 "one minute
films" last year. We organized a seperate competition. The judges were asked
to give marks from 1 to ten, and also their remarks on the shorties of course.
I always wonder : how can you compare a "one minute film" with a serious
documentary. Categorizing and organizing different festivals would be a good
thing.

This year I will not attend the Cotswold Film Festival, but maybe I will
be back in Stroud next year. I'm doing my utmost now to make my newest film
shorter than 20 minutes. I have 21 minutes and 30 seconds now. In September
I will ask all the friends of my club what part they would delete. If it
weakens the film then I will leave it like that.

One more thing : Some weeks ago I won a "mençao honrosa" at the International
Algarve Festival in Portugal. I was one of the finalists. I didn't receive
any report, only a diploma with the title of my film. But on it was written
"Unlocking Young Minds" instead of an "Irish Moment". I think that "Unlocking
Young Minds" is one of the British selected Unica-films, isn't it ? I wrote
a message to the organizing secretary, but up to now I have not received
a reply. Not all festivals are as excellent as BIAFF, Guernsey and the Cotswold
one.I wish you will have a very successful Film Show in september, Lee !
All the best !