The Film Festival Doctor

Venice kicks off tomorrow, however, I’m hearing things that the big festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin and Toronto etc are being called the falling stars of the festival circuit and that the whole star-studdied red carpet routine is getting rather dull and boring. This is an interesting point, but not one that I fully agree with – based on my experience of last years Cannes. Although I didnt see many of the in-competition  films as I was doing my research around the film market, networking and meeting new friends etc, but the overall ambiance of the festival was great. Each day I woke up looking forward to going to the Croissette and the days flew by, but after all the late nights I was ready to go home when I was due to leave, (however the Volcanic ash decided to cause me problems but that’s another story which invovled a long train trip back to Wales! )

Re the red-carpet, I wasn’t too fussed about seeing many stars and I doubt very much that any industry folks would be on a mission to spot any celebs as they don’t go there to do this. What matters with these kinds of festivals is that, by the end of your trip, you have achieved your main objectives that you wanted to reach before you left – and you’ve had fun in the process. This is what makes, to me, a good ‘big’ film festival experience. In addition I can’t see this years Venice being too dull with QT being there, during last years Cannes he danced down the red carpet …