29/11/2007

What’s the purpose of a festival? And what’s the purpose of film journalism?

The second question probably needs to be redefined: is there still a use for film criticism in the media? There is no doubt that, at one time, writing about cinema meant influencing general culture, but nowadays film journalism is struggling to find its place.

In Italy, talking about films on television is only for late night shows or thematic channels, and even in daily newspapers the situation doesn’t seem much brighter: the traditional film review is disappearing, often replaced by articles about celebrities. As for film magazines: many are losing readers, some are closing and others are trying face (and content) lifting strategies. They remind me of the image of the Japanese soldier stuck in the jungle, unaware that the war has been over for a long time.

Of course you could say that film journalism is living its second life on the internet; from ultra-specialised sites to review databases, to forums and blogs where you can let out your cinephile’s indignation. But even if this web experience can be extremely satisfying for the user, there’s still a problem of cultural relevance: what is the impact of a debate amongst 25 readers of a blog?

More or less at the same time as you’ll be reading these lines, some journalists and festival organisers will be talking about these matters in a debate entitled “Festivals are changing: a new deal for film journalism?” In order to prepare for this round table (and also to not get too depressed) let’s come back to our first question: what’s the purpose of a film festival?

Let’s try a direct answer: if watching films essentially means discovering new territories (that is the surprise and the shock experienced by the traveller-spectator), then festivals are the privileged place for this discovery. Therefore, why shouldn’t journalism be a sort of travel guide for these film wanderers?
Of course festivals and film criticism must create up-to-date cultural projects and forms of promotion. Perhaps here Nanni can provide us with some examples: starting with his idea to ask 10 Italian writers to recall their ‘first Wenders’ (what better way to ‘sell’ an otherwise obvious retrospective?) or his choice to put his face at the total disposal of the festival for the sake of its visibility.