FAVz107 International Film Festivals and the Global Film Culture

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2024
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
Skadi Loist (lecturer)
Mgr. Petr Veinhauer (seminar tutor)
Mgr. et Mgr. Terézia Porubčanská, Ph.D. (alternate examiner)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. et Mgr. Terézia Porubčanská, Ph.D.
Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. et Mgr. Terézia Porubčanská, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Film Studies and Audiovisual Culture – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Mon 9. 12. 16:00–19:40 C34, Tue 10. 12. 12:00–13:40 C34, 16:00–17:40 C34, Wed 11. 12. 10:00–13:40 C34, Thu 12. 12. 10:00–13:40 C34, Fri 13. 12. 9:00–13:40 C34
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
Since the establishment of the first film festivals in the 1930s, the festival sector has proliferated and diversified into more than 13.000 festivals taking place in every region, size and thematic specialization. Festivals make films accessible to broader audiences beyond commercial exhibition, serve as networking hubs for the film industry and are a significant part of global film culture.

Instead of investigating film festivals purely from an economic perspective, the Film Studies approach also addresses the aesthetics and creative structures of global film culture. This opens up new perspectives on the circulation of films, which are relevant to the discipline as well as the film and festival industry. Researching film festivals improves our understanding of global film culture, for instance, by analyzing how genres and topics, aesthetic innovation and filmmaker successes are influenced by festivals in the context of globalization and changing media technologies.
Learning outcomes
Students will get insight into the development as well as current industry structures of the global networked film festival sector. During the course we will gain historically grounded insights, discuss power structures (geopolitically, economically etc) and current issues of diversity and sustainability. The course includes a range of analytical concepts ranging from film history to critical theory and empirical research, including datasets and (visual) network analysis. This will enable students to make critical assessments of the complex mechanisms within the festival sector and global film industries.
Syllabus
  • Session 1: Introduction to the Film Festival sector (9.12.2024 16:00--19:40)
  • Reading: 1) de Valck 2003. “Nové Objevení Evropy.” /not compulsory for the non-Czech speakers/ 2) de Valck. 2016. “What Is a Film Festival?” [in "Film Festivals: History, Theory, Method, Practice"] 3) Loist. 2016. “The Film Festival Circuit.” [in "Film Festivals: History, Theory, Method, Practice"]
  • Session 2: Circulation, Distribution & the Festival Ecosystem (11.12.2024 10:00--13:40)
  • Reading: 1) Vallejo & Peirano. 2022. “Conceptualising Festival Ecosystems.” 2) McClennen. 2018. “Distribution.”
  • Session 3: The Canon & Diversity (12.122024. 10:00--13:40)
  • Reading: 1) Vallejo. 2020. “Rethinking the Canon.” 2) Dovey & Sendra. 2023. “Toward Decolonized Film Festival Worlds.” 3) de Valck & Zielinski. 2023. “Greening Film Festivals.” [optional: Ehrich et al. 2022. “The Film Festival Sector and Its Networked Structures of Gender Inequality.”]
  • Session 4: Empirical Insights into the Sector (13.12.2024 9:00--13:40)
  • Reading: 1) Loist & Samoilova. 2023. “How to Capture the Festival Network.” + dataset: Loist & Samoilova. 2023. “Film Circulation Dataset.” 2) Zemaityte et al. 2024. “Quantifying the Global Film Festival Circuit” + dataset: Zemaityte et al. 2023. “Cinando Film Festival Programming Dataset.” [optional: Loist. Forthcoming. „Studying Film Circulation“]
Literature
    required literature
  • Marijke De Valck, "Nové Objevení Evropy," Iluminace, 15:1 (March, 2003), pp. 31–51. [not compulsory for non-Czech speakers]
  • de Valck, Marijke. 2016. “Introduction: What Is a Film Festival? How to Study Festivals and Why You Should.” In Film Festivals: History, Theory, Method, Practice, edited by Marijke de Valck, Brendan Kredell, and Skadi Loist, 1–11. London, New York: Routl
  • Loist, Skadi. 2016. “The Film Festival Circuit: Networks, Hierarchies, and Circulation.” In Film Festivals: History, Theory, Method, Practice, edited by Marijke de Valck, Brendan Kredell, and Skadi Loist, 49–64. London, New York: Routledge.
  • Vallejo, Aida, and María Paz Peirano. 2022. “Conceptualising Festival Ecosystems: Insights from the Ethnographic Film Festival Subcircuit.” Studies in European Cinema 19 (3): 231–51.
  • McClennen, Sophia A. 2018. “Distribution.” In Globalization and Latin American Cinema: Toward a New Critical Paradigm, 141–93. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Vallejo, A. (2020). Rethinking the canon: the role of film festivals in shaping film history. Studies in European Cinema, 17(2), 155–169.
  • Dovey, L., Sendra, E. (2023). Toward Decolonized Film Festival Worlds. In: de Valck, M., Damiens, A. (eds) Rethinking Film Festivals in the Pandemic Era and After. Framing Film Festivals. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
  • de Valck, M., & Zielinski, G. (2023). Greening Film Festivals. In Rethinking Film Festivals in the Pandemic Era and After (pp. 307-328). (Framing Film Festivals). Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Loist, Skadi, and Zhenya Samoilova. 2023. “How to Capture the Festival Network: Reflections on the Film Circulation Dataset.” NECSUS. European Journal of Media Studies 12 (1): 363–90.
  • Loist, Skadi, and Evgenia Samoilova. 2023. “Film Circulation Dataset.” Zenodo.
  • Zemaityte V, Karjus A, Rohn U, Schich M, Ibrus I. Quantifying the global film festival circuit: Networks, diversity, and public value creation. PLoS One. 2024 Mar 6;19(3):e0297404.
  • Zemaityte, Vejune, Andres Karjus, Ulrike Rohn, Maximilian Schich, and Indrek Ibrus. 2023. “Cinando Film Festival Programming Dataset.” Figshare.
    recommended literature
  • Ehrich, M.E., Burgdorf, K., Samoilova, Z. et al. The film festival sector and its networked structures of gender inequality. Applied Networl Science 7, 20 (2022).
  • Loist, Skadi. Forthcoming 2024. „Studying Film Circulation: Moving Film Festival Research to an Evidence-Based, Global Perspective.“ In Shaping Film Festivals in a Changing World: Practice and Methods, hrsg. von Dorota Ostrowska und Tamara Falicov. Amste
Teaching methods
Attendance at all lectures is compulsory and will be checked regularly. Combined students may miss two sessions.
Students are required to read all items on the compulsory reading list. All required materials are provided in the study materials.
The course will take place the second week of December (December 9-13).
Assessment methods
In addition to the compulsory attendance, students will have to take two tests. The first test is preliminary and will take place just before the start of the first lecture. The test will check the knowledge of the texts from the required reading list for the first three lessons.
The second test is the final one and verifies the students' familiarity with the reading list as well as their knowledge and skills acquired during the course itself. A maximum of ten points can be obtained in both tests; six points is the minimum required to pass the course.

Compulsory reading for the preliminary test:
de Valck. 2016. “What Is a Film Festival?”
Loist. 2016. “The Film Festival Circuit.”
Vallejo & Peirano. 2022. “Conceptualising Festival Ecosystems.”

Compulsory reading for the final test:
Vallejo. 2020. “Rethinking the Canon.”
Dovey & Sendra. 2023. “Toward Decolonized Film Festival Worlds.”
de Valck & Zielinski. 2023. “Greening Film Festivals.”
Language of instruction
English
Study support
https://is.muni.cz/auth/el/phil/podzim2024/FAVz107/index-oYjBtc.qwarp
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
Teacher's information
Prof. Dr. Skadi Loist is Assistant Professor (Juniorprofessor) for Production Cultures in Audiovisual Media Industries at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF in Potsdam, Germany. Skadi’s research focuses on film festivals & circulation, queer film culture, and screen industries, diversity and sustainability. https://www.filmuniversitaet.de/en/portrait/person/skadi-loist

Skadi is Principal Investigator (PI) of the research project “Film Circulation on the International Film Festival Network and the Impact on Global Film Culture” (BMBF 2017–2022) (http://www.filmcirculation.net/) as well as Lead PI of the international research project “GEP Analysis: Assessing, Understanding, and Modeling the Impact of Gender Equity Policies (GEP) in the Film Industry” (DFG/ESRC/SSHRC 2021–2024) (https://www.filmuniversitaet.de/artikel/detail/gender-equity-policy-gep-analysis)

Skadi held prior positions as lecturer and postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Media Research at the University of Rostock (2014-2018) and as part-time lecturer and PhD candidate at the University of Hamburg (2008-2013).

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