MOVIEMAKER.COM SPRING 2020 47LEFT: COURTESY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL; RIGHT: PHOTO BY ALÍPIO PADILHA / DOC LISBOA
able, picturesque location, buffets
with tasty Southern comfort food,
insightful Q&As, and efforts at every
turn to involve SCAD students, not
only as viewers but as participants.
2019 highlights included screenings
of Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, A
Hidden Life, Clemency, and many
more acclaimed films, and there
was obvious care taken to highlight
diversity, female filmmakers, and
inspirational stories. A high-wattage
guest list included—to name a few—
Elisabeth Moss, Alan Cumming,
Daniel Kaluuya, Olivia Wilde, Aldis
Hodge, Valerie Pachner, Sienna Miller,
Jharrel Jerome, Danielle Macdonald,
Mena Massoud, Camila Morrone,
Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstein, and
Samantha Morton. SCAD Savannah
is everything a film festival should be,
while remaining refreshingly friendly
and unpretentious.SENE FILM, MUSIC
& ARTS FESTIVAL
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND /
OCTOBER 13-17, 2020 / SENEFEST.COM
As one of the longest-running film,
music, and arts festivals in the
country, SENE unites foreign and in-
dependent moviemakers, musicians,
and other artists under a banner of
community and nurturing. It offers
more than $30,000 in prizes—im-
pressive for a midsize fest—as well
as 50 juried film awards and 20
audience awards. The help with
travel and lodging is generous, and
opportunities to learn and network
abound. One of the things SENE is
most proud of? “Many filmmakers
meet at SENE and go on to work on
projects together,” says artistic direc-
tor and co-founder Phil Capobres.SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
PARK CITY, UTAH / JANUARY 2021 /
SLAMDANCE.COM
The number of astonishingly success-
ful Slamdance alums is too lengthy
to include here, so for now we’ll just
go with Bong Joon-ho, John Chu,
Ari Aster, Steven Soderbergh, Lena
Dunham, the Russo Brothers, and
Christopher Nolan. The festival also
notes that alumni who first showed
their work at Slamdance have earned
over $19 billion at the box office to
date. We don’t doubt it—you saw
the Russo Brothers and Christopher
Nolan on that list. Guests at the fest,held at the charming Treasure Moun-
tain Inn, trade inside tips and watch
audaciously programmed films. It’s a
place where filmmakers at all levels
form lifelong connections, and thriv-
ing filmmakers give back. The AGBO
Fellowship, for example, includes a
$25,000 cash prize along with film-
maker support and mentoring from
Joe and Anthony Russo.TALLGRASS FILM FESTIVAL
WICHITA, KANSAS / OCTOBER 16-20, 2020 /
TALLGRASSFILMFEST.COM
This festival rolls out a green, not red,
carpet for independent moviemakers,
and makes sure they never feel lost
in the tall grass: Visiting filmmak-
ers consistently say it feels like “a
filmmaker’s festival’ with outstand-
ing hospitality that is comparable
to festivals in larger markets, says
director of programming Nick Pope.
That hospitality includes assistance
with airfare, travel and lodging, and
$14,500 in prizes. Tallgrass hands out
Golden Strand awards for the best
work in several moviemaking catego-
ries, and hosts a DoXX competition
for female-directed documentaries,
as well as the Stubbornly Indepen-
dent competition for a domestic
narrative feature produced for less
than $500,000.VICTORIA FILM FESTIVAL
VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA /
FEBRUARY 2021 / VICTORIAFILMFESTIVAL.COM
This highly selective festival aims to
put fast-moving industry changes
into perspective, but also has fun—it
adds “a sense of play to screenings and
activities” by adding performances
and local experts to talk about the
subjects of the films. The festival’sforward-looking approach is to
shift focus from traditional industry
presentations and pitches to the
internet and new technology. You have
a lot of time to plan for next year, since
the 2020 edition, which welcomed
Bill Nighy for a lively conversation,
is already behind us. Other events
include workshops, parties, and Sips
‘n’ Cinema, which pairs film discussion
with wine and food. Victoria also
dispatches moviemakers to talk
to local schools, fostering a love of
movies throughout the community.
It has drawn distributors including
AMC, Mongrel Media, and D Films,
and offers travel and lodging, as well
as a well-run press operation to help
filmmakers with publicity.WHISTLER FILM FESTIVAL
WHISTLER, BRITISH COLUMBIA / DECEMBER
2-6, 2020 / WHISTLERFILMFESTIVAL.COM
The 20th anniversary festival ( just
like the New Hampshire Film Festi-
val—congratulations!) is the perfect
opportunity to combine cinema and
slopes. Praised by everyone from
USA Today to Travel & Style as a top
destination festival, Whistler draws
more than 12,000 film fans and
filmmakers to a premiere mountain
resort town for five days of great
films from Canada and around
the globe. It offers a jaw-dropping
sum of nearly $190,000 in prizes
(including a $41,000 pitch prize)
and many chances to meet quality
distributors. Last year’s impressive
film lineup included the Canadian
premiere of The Irishman. The
events include conversations, a
music showcase, an awards celebra-
tion, receptions and parties, and a
celebrity ski challenge.WORLDFEST-HOUSTON
INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
HOUSTON, TEXAS / TBD /
WORLDFEST.ORG
This fest goes big on everything: More
than 1,000 international moviemakers
attend each year, and the ten-day cele-
bration of cinema includes an opening
night champagne gala, master classes,
and a police-escort VIP Tour of NASA.
There are Longhorn cattle for photo
ops, and the perks for invited feature
film directors include help with travel,
hotel, and a limo to and from the
airport. There’s also a regatta! It’s not
all fun though—there’s big business,
too. Recent distributors have included
Fox Searchlight, Amazon, IFC Films,
Lionsgate, and Sony Pictures Classics.
It’s known for the Remi Award, named
for Frederic Remington, a renowned
sculptor and painter of the Old
West. “WorldFest-Houston is the
oldest, longest running Independent
Film Festival in the world,” says
program and artistic director Eliza-
beth K. Haney. “Fifty-three years of
picking winners!”AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL
WROCŁAW, POLAND / NOVEMBER 10-15,
2020 / AMERICANFILMFESTIVAL.PL
One of the greatest compliments to
American film is Poland’s celebra-
tion of it, never so exuberantly as in
Wrocław. This festival has no entry
fee—how could it not make our list?
— and helps with airfare, lodging,
and transportation. The intoxicat-
ing, electric nightlife gives Ameri-
can moviemakers many chances
to joyously proclaim their love of
Krzysztof Kieślowski while recounting
last year’s Polish premieres of films
like The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, and
Knives Out, as well as meet about a
dozen distributors from studios in-
cluding Warner Bros., a past attendee.
The more than $50,000 in prizes
includes a significant cash prize of
$10,000 for the top feature.DOCLISBOA INTERNATIONAL
FILM FESTIVAL
LISBON, PORTUGAL /
OCTOBER 22- NOVEMBER 1, 2020 /
DOCLISBOA.ORG/2020/EN
An international fest in the truestINTERNATIONALINTERNATIONAL
DOCLISBOA