Five things wrong with your Short Film Festival

A recent online article entitled 15 Things Wrong With Your Short Film rose the ire of some filmmakers. Not so much due to the content but to the fact that it was yet another in a long line of articles telling filmmakers what they might be doing wrong. Just where were the articles telling film festivals what they did wrong?

In the spirit of fair play, the Short Film Conference will be holding an event at the forthcoming Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival  entitled “Five things wrong with your short film festival”  and examine some of the criticisms levelled at events from filmmakers, industry players and – indeed – festivals themselves.

This will not be an exercise in singling out individual events and people – instead it is meant to allow film festivals to engage in some reflection on the things that we do whilst talking honestly about the problems that we face nowadays. With a panel consisting of filmmakers and festival representatives the discussion will no doubt be a heated yet positive look at the world of short film festivals.

But the Short Film Conference needs the feedback of filmmakers, industry representatives and festivals themselves. What are the biggest issues with you concerning short film festivals? What are the negatives of shorts film festivals? What do people think can be improved? What changes would make lives in the short film world much better?

The SFC want people to send their suggestions and ideas to niels@shortfilmconference.com.

Remember, the Short Film Conference aren’t looking for diatribes about something ‘X’ Festival did in 2011. Or a rant about how a filmmaker is never selected for anyone. They're looking for general points about what people see are the negatives in short film festivals

The Short Film Conference will pick out five of the most common / polemical suggestions and put them to the panel on Monday 6th February.