Premiere Wars

As the domestic film festival calendar picks up momentum going into the spring season with numerous events following on the heels of South by Southwest last month, programmers and filmmakers are becoming increasingly vocal about concerns over competition between fests and the pressure to present premieres for local audiences.

In a recent indieWIRE article, Anthony Kaufman takes an in-depth look at how the scramble for premieres of new narrative and documentary films is affecting festivals, programmers and filmmakers.

An excerpt:

"Forced to make a name for themselves in a crowded festival season and pressured to offset rising costs (witness Tribeca's 50% ticket-price hike, for example), festivals are doing whatever they can to raise their profiles and stand out from the pack. And the most efficient way to do that is require a premiere, say many industry insiders.

Festival directors blame the obsession with premieres on the press and the film industry for paying close attention only to the newest of films."