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👋 Howdy, y’all. A unusual fact concerning the trade: the most important pageant of all of them leads into… a lull. After Cannes, there’s Tribeca in June, however the subsequent main cease isn’t till Telluride — three months away. So right here’s a pause to replicate on why we go to festivals in (moreover the flicks), what makes them uniquely difficult, and why they’re price any discomfort.
Agree? Disagree? As at all times, attain me on the contacts above.
- Don’t do that at dwelling
- Quiz: Are you smarter than a movie pageant?
- Feeling awkward? Good!
Collect ‘spherical as a result of I’ve obtained an embarrassing story to share.
I’m telling it now as a result of this was my tenth go to to the Cannes Movie Competition, my first in 12 years — and, by far the best. Right here’s what occurred when movie festivals weren’t.
Just a few months after The Hollywood Reporter employed me in 1997, I used to be assigned to cowl all main movie occasions throughout 5 nations, beginning with the Venice Movie Competition in August and ending with Milan’s November movie market, MIFED (RIP).
Some folks would thrive on that type of problem. I used to be not one in all them.
It’s Not Simple Being Inexperienced
As a reporter, I used to be Kermit inexperienced. A movie professional, I used to be not. I filed my tales with a 28K modem and a baffling array of worldwide adapters.
Most of all, I used to be shy. Spending two and a half months discovering tales and sources in unfamiliar cities, surrounded by strangers and overseas languages, felt like a psychological experiment in terror. (Narrator: It was.)
What I didn’t know then was this: If you wish to be a part of the impartial movie world, studying how one can be adept at attending festivals is without doubt one of the greatest issues you are able to do — and films are solely a part of it.
Festivals are a masterclass in educated bumbling. They train you how one can learn a room and begin a dialog. It’s the place you be taught to interact with dozens (or lots of) of people that could seem with out rhyme or cause, determine who they’re and what they do, and current your self in a means that’s memorable for the appropriate causes.
In brief: It’s a crash course in what this trade truly requires, every single day.
Pop Quiz!
Need to put together your self for a pageant? Take this straightforward quiz, which might have been an enormous assist 30 years in the past:
🟡 You need to attend a movie’s after-party. Are you able to:
A. Establish the publicist?
B. Politely request an invite?
C. Know who else you may ask when she says “no”
(Should you’re new, the perfect events are in all probability ones you weren’t invited to. Studying how one can get invited — and finally, to be on the checklist — is a key talent. However be cool about it: desperation isn’t a great look.)
🟠 You bought in! And you understand virtually nobody. One acquainted face offers you a skinny smile mid-conversation. Do you:
A. Take that as an invite to hitch
B. Hover awkwardly close by
C. Introduce your self to somebody standing alone on the bar.
D. Depart.
(Reply: Relies upon. A skinny smile normally means “not now.” Hovering will get bizarre quick. Possibility C is usually your greatest wager. Select D provided that you’re really spent.)
🔵 Hooray! You’ve discovered a dialog. Somebody name-drops an individual they assume you understand. You don’t. Do you:
A. Admit you haven’t any clue
B. Smile and pay attention for context
C. Change the topic.
(Reply: B. A is sincere however dangers making the opposite particular person really feel awkward. Ditto for C. Studying to glean context, particularly when persons are obscure, would be the talent you employ most in your profession.)
So if you end up at a pageant feeling awkward, invisible, or such as you missed the memo — congratulations. You’re precisely the place you’re imagined to be. The trick isn’t to faux experience; it’s to maintain displaying up, preserve listening, and continue learning how this world works one baffling get together and half-heard dialog at a time. It will get simpler. Not as a result of the trade adjustments, however since you do.
Weekly suggestions on your profession mindset, curated by IndieWire Affiliate Editor Harrison Richlin
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On the Cannes press convention for “Sentimental Worth” final week, author/director Joachim Trier declared, “Tenderness is the brand new punk.” We’d like so as to add to this by stating “Neighborhood is the brand new cool children’ desk.” Alex Rollins Berg builds on this thesis within the newest piece for his Underexposed substack, explaining how film golf equipment like NYC’s Seneca Cinemas could also be creating new cultural hubs between neighbors.
4. Are trade occasions nonetheless related? by Stacey Parks
Written by Parks for Movie Particular substack again in March 2025 following the European Movie Market, this write-up is an effective debrief on the challenges that encompass trade occasions resembling this or Cannes. Parks is a producer concerned in impartial financing and distribution and has discovered that lately, the cash spent touring to those festivities is healthier put in direction of the bodily manufacturing.
3. 5 aspect…okay high-quality, possibly, foremost…hustles as you begin your writing journey by Kristen Tepper
When kickstarting your profession, it’s pure to carry tight to your desires as a guiding drive, however the actuality is…you could pay your lease. Author Kristen Tepper does a wonderful job of not solely speaking this, but in addition providing methods for scribes to earn money using the skills they’re already so obsessed with. Take a look at her Tepper Talks substack for extra.
2. Working the perimeters by Tomas Leach
Everybody likes to say “alternative is all over the place,” however what’s like to really seize that mantra? For his Little Scraps of Filmmaking substack, author/director Tomas Leach breaks down how he just lately used moments between set-ups on a business shoot to movie a private quick and the advantages in by no means losing a location or a performer that conjures up you.
1. Let’s speak about… Do you have to nonetheless display at movie festivals as a part of your indie movie distribution technique? by Kelli McNeil-Yellin
We love a great professionals and cons checklist and McNeil-Yellin attracts up the right one for our present chaotic occasions in her KLA Media Group substack. The author/producer/advertising & PR guide factors out that for newbies, attending festivals are a should by way of forming connections, however for these making an attempt to conduct enterprise, the gamble may not be well worth the worth of admission.