Just found out an asian film festival in France was definitely closing down after 15 years of service! The main reason invoked is, discovery workshops/massages were more popular than films! It appears, the festival lasted more because of these profitable activities.
Another reason given is piracy, most fans download films, they won’t wait for festival screenings if it’s already online. Also, the festival director said the ‘asian film trend’ is dying, big names like Kitano or Wong Kar-Wai don’t attract people anymore…
Meaning, the festival was losing money, despite what was paid by the city (€8,000, which is nothing compared to some more ‘famous’ festival, receiving €1Million).
In conclusion, what’s the future for asian film fest? Is the ‘asian film trend’ dying?
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
These 2 last weeks, the French-Korean Film Festival in Paris was a great success and attracted more people than the previous years (but it’s quite small compared to some other festivals). Most of the films were not available anywhere, which made the program very attractive for korean cinema lovers.
[Added your report!]
AsiExpo is a lame festival. Oki, on one hand Gimenez is trying to do something good because he really believe in what he is doing and showing. But on the other hand, quality of screening is so …… (main problem is subtitles).
I can not deny that asian cinema is not as attrative, french side, as it was 10 years ago, but Gimenez argumention blaming low budget and piracy are WTF. Maybe Mr Gimenez should think of how he treat his crew, how he is rude with those who could give him money (incl Lyon city hall staff).
Sad (I was there once years ago, I even wrote in their first publication), but RIP.
One film festival shutting down isn’t a trend. It’s notoriously hard to be successful running a fest; many break even or lose money, and that’s that. I’ve attended 2 festivals this year, one Japanese and one with a broad range of films, and both were well attended. The latter’s Japanese and Korean films programmed were nearly all sold out at every showing–I barely got in to see “Fish Story”, “House”, “Private Eye” and “Kamogawa Horumo”. It could be that, rather than accept blame or cite poor management, this fest chose to scapegoat its failure on the alleged unpopularity of Asian film.
In their defense, Kitano’s last few films have been dreadful messes. If they were counting on those films being entertaining and drawing an audience, no wonder they’re closing down.
“Another reason given is piracy, most fans download films, they won’t wait for festival screenings if it’s already online.”
Wrong, most of us download because very few movies are screened,actually even during asian festivals. How many among us watch 2 or 3 times the same movie in theatre? If i’m lucky enough to watch a movie I downloaded (most often in a barely acceptable quality), I go for sure.
Here (somewhere in north-america), the festivals are intensively attended, because we’re literally starving, surrounded by Hollywood craps and multiplex theatres.