Anyone in search of an object lesson in humility need look no further than a job promoting a small, alternative film festival held at the same time as the Sundance Film Festival.
Every year, brazen entrepreneurs and aspiring filmmakers set up shop in Utah during the same 10 days as Sundance, hoping to capitalize on the captive film-going audience already in place.
Some festivals, like the 10-year-old Slamdance Film Festival, have managed to persist, despite significant obstacles, and have staked a claim on enough of the audience share to have achieved a certain amount of their own clout.
Others, however, find the cold weather in Park City at festival time may not be the iciest reception in town.
“There’s just not enough financing from sponsorship to go around,” explained John Peterson, founder and former managing partner of Slamdunk, another alternative film festival that, despite several successful years and backing from Microsoft’s Windows Media Player, folded under financial pressure and did not host any screenings this year.
Not only do each of the small festivals have to compete among themselves for money and exposure, they also must contend with Sundance itself. According to Peterson, Sundance officials often made it difficult, if not impossible, for Slamdunk to operate in Park City by imposing strict regulations and being a general thorn in the side of the alternative festivals.
This underdog status often forces small festival promoters to go to great lengths to get the word out about their screenings.
Whether that involves standing outside in the freezing cold in elaborate costumes or forcing their way into screenings to pass out flyers, promoters for alternative film festivals need to be willing to make a fool of themselves to get noticed.
-Sommer Mathis