There are so many different definitions of success and “bigness.” There are film festivals that attract hundreds of thousands of people, and yet are not on the mainstream radar, and festivals which show only a few dozen films that are world famous. This session will address considerations and metrics for success including: number of films, number of acquisitions, celebrities, size of audience, longevity, number of impressions and reach? Most notably, these different metrics have differing relevance to the constituents served by festivals – audiences, filmmakers, sponsors, media, film industry etc. Hear from different festivals on how they approach benchmarking and defining success.

Moderator: Christian Gaines, Director of Festivals, Withoutabox, a division of IMDb

Sandra Hebron, Artistic Director, BFI London Film Festival
Prune Engler, Festival Director, La Rochelle Int'l Film Festival
Andreas Strohl, Festival Director, Munich Film Festival