Film Festivals. What a wonderful opportunity

Alliotts Media Team will be attending Berlin and Cannes, and possibly Toronto. We are also attending MIPTV-London, BFI Future Film Festival , Cine International Film Festival in June and MIPcom in October. And of course, the city’s London Film Festival.

Whatever your business sector is, tech, food and beverage, property, cars, aviation or books etc., there’s a business or trade show somewhere in the world where the movers and shakers can meet up, eat and drink together and talk all things specific to that sector. These shows will hopefully facilitate the delivery of a company business plan.

But I cannot think of any sector that has as many business opportunities as film and TV, allowing networking, selling, and meeting with industry experts and people in the know. There are over 200 Film and Television Festivals held globally every year, with the majority in North America and Europe. There’s a festival taking place at almost any time somewhere, so there’s no excuse for remaining invisible.

The first decision is which festivals do you attend? This will be predicated on understanding what you want to achieve. For many it will be to meet distributors to secure a deal for your project. For others it could be meeting production companies and financiers to raise money. Being present at festivals is also an opportunity to remind everyone that you are still around! Filmmakers typically being social creatures rarely have a problem meeting people. What makes attending festivals so important for industry professionals is that almost everyone is there, everyone is there to meet people and setting up meetings is easy. We are based in central London, close to most UK media professionals but ironically it can often be easier to arrange a meeting in Cannes or Berlin than in London. I think that this is a question mindset, everyone’s receptive and in the mood to network.

There are considered to be 5 key festivals

• Sundance Film Festival – Utah. 23^rd January to 2^nd February 2025 – If you were there, I hope it was a success for you.
• *Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale). 13^th February to 19^th February 2025.
• *Cannes Film Festival. 13^th May to 24^th May 2025.
• *Venice Film Festival. 27^th August to 6^th September 2025.
• Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Dates to be firmed up (usually September after Venice).

*Considered to be Europe’s ‘Big Three’

Alliotts Media Team will be attending Berlin and Cannes and possibly Toronto. We are also attending MIPTV-London (which is at the Savoy, directly opposite our London office), BFI Future Film Festival, Cine International Film Festival in June and MIPcom in October. And of course, the city’s London Film Festival.

I hope to see you at one of these festivals, please do say hello.

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