Where do film festivals stand in a transformed and often fragmented film landscape? What is the underlying value that they can provide and how can we measure and capture that value? In a film ecosystem that often feels siloed, how can festivals become more robust and connected to other parts of the value chain, particularly with distribution? Is there an argument for festivals to work across the year to deliver that value and are there innovative business models or funding venues that can help sustain this activity?
These are some of the topics that our expert panel discussed in this discussion as part of the Screenovators Reimagining the Ecosystem series.
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Speakers:
Marcin Pieńkowski
Director New Horizons Film Festival. Festival director (since 2021) and former artistic director (2016-2021) of the New Horizons International Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland. Head of distribution of New Horizons Association. Co-founder of New Horizons VOD platform devoted to arthouse cinema. He is a lecturer, film historian, editor and co-author of several books about films. Member of European Film Academy.
Sarah Mosses
Sarah is the Founder & CEO of Together Films, a marketing, distribution, and technology company serving the international film community from our offices in London & NYC. She has acted as the Head of Marketing for leading Film Festivals including Sheffield DocFest (Sheffield, UK), DOC NYC (NYC, US), Human Rights Watch Film Festival (London, UK & NYC, US), and the Athena Film Festival (NYC, US). She is passionate about serving filmmakers to increase their social impact, reach, and revenue for multi-award-winning titles like For Sama, Unrest, The Tale & Roll Red Roll. She also helps a variety of industry and brand clients to optimize their business performance through technology and operational support, such as Sony & Patagonia. Sarah recently graduated from the prestigious Inside Pictures film leadership course and was selected for the Mayor of London’s International Growth Programme (including trade visits to NYC & LA). Together Films are expanding into international sales in
Brian Newman
Brian Newman, founder of Sub-Genre, consults on content strategy, distribution and marketing
for some of the top brands in the world. Current and former clients include: The Climate Pledge
(Amazon), GoDaddy John Deere, Oatly, Patagonia, Publicis Sapient, Purina, REI, Stripe,
Sundance, Tazo, Unilever, and Yeti Coolers. Brian has served as CEO of the Tribeca Film
Institute, produces independent films, and writes a popular weekly newsletter on film.
