Futur et médias Podcast – How to migrate an entire festival programming online in record time
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It’s March 12, 2020, 12:30 pm: The Quebec government requests the cancellation of all indoor events with more than 250 participants. Within two hours, the team at the International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA) issued a release announcing that the 38th edition of the festival, scheduled from March 17 to March 29, was cancelled.
Two days later FIFA did an about-face and announced, to everyone’s surprise, that its 38th edition would indeed take place after all, on the originally scheduled dates... and totally online.
The task of contacting rights holders and putting 180 films online by opening time was daunting in the extreme, but FIFA 38 was ready to rumble by March 17 and the online version of the festival was a great success all around.
In this episode of Futur et médias, Catherine Mathys talks with International Festival of Films on Art Executive and Artistic Director Philippe del Drago about why he made the quick decision to go online and how in the heck did he get it all done in record time.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How FIFA organizers managed to migrate their entire programming online in record time (06:15)
- About the risks involved in charging for access to online programming (11:27)
- How FIFA was able to reach a wider and more diverse audience by going digital (16:00);
- About the potential impact COVID-19 has had on cultural consumption habits and the need for rethinking certain traditional economic models (22:00).
> Download a translated transcript of the podcast
Dig deeper
- To learn more about various FIFA various initiatives, including its upcoming online content platform, log on to the festival’s website;
- In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Telefilm Canada brought together leading festival directors to share their experiences. Check out what transpired at a number of roundtable meetings (English and French festivals in Canada) for a summary of solutions that were discussed;
- Read Media Business Development and the COVID-19 Crisis;
- Read How a lack of live festivals puts indie producers in a bind;
- Philippe del Drago discussed the potential changes in cultural consumption habits as a result of COVID-19. For a summary of pre-COVID-19 consumption habits, check out the 2017 Canadian Audience Report.
Credits
About Futur et médias
Futur et médias podcasts feature meetings with leading industry players to discuss major changes and emerging trends in the media and entertainment sector. The Futur et médias podcast series is presented by the Canada Media Fund and hosted by CMF director of industry and market trends Catherine Mathys. Season 2 of the series is produced in collaboration with Transistor Média.
