Saturday, September 27-----As newspapers drop local film critics and rely on syndicated national opionionmakers, what is the role of the film critic in today's go-go film culture? Can film critics help a more specialized film find its audience? Is the existence of film critics online and the notion that anyone with a blog receives instant critical entitlement dilute the discerning talents of the critical establishment?   These and other issues will be examined at the first of...

By Rhiannon HobbinsSo after years of dreaming about being a filmmaker you decided to finally go for it. You begged, borrowed and maxed out your credit cards. The house had to be remortgaged and you even had to bail on the Christmas skiing holiday. You’ve seriously never been so bloody broke.But you’ve got no regrets, you’ve made your film and the rest will be easy. But the fact is that it can be just as difficult to land a distribution deal. And after all the sacrifices and hard work, ther...

At filmfestivals.com we have always believed that the Internet could offer new avenues for indie films facing the bottlenecks of film distribution.We have been evangelists of that idea to the extent of raising money from VC and funding a VOD platform for indie films from festivals on filmfestivalsTV.com. So what?If all of this does sound familiar to you, and not even newsworthy, I should add that we did this in 1999...OoopsBig mistake in the "time to market".Since that episode we have...

Mill Valley Film Festival closed its 28th year with screenings of more than 200 films from over 50 countries on Sunday, October 16. Always an exciting Festival component, more than 175 filmmakers and actors from around the globe made the trip to Mill Valley to share their filmmaking experiences with the audiences. “We had an exceptional slate of US and world cinema, tributes, spotlights, music events, parties and receptions for film lovers of all ages,” notes Founder/Director Mark Fishkin. �...