Dear Amanda Nevill, Dear Greg Dyke,
We, the undersigned, wish to protest in the strongest possible terms at not only the lack of an Industry Delegate facility at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival this year, but also the fact that the very festival itself is under review.
The European Queer Film and Arts Festival Alliance was formed in 2008 and is an alliance of queer film and arts festival professionals. Many of us have been attending the festival for many years and have found the Industry Delegate facility invaluable for screening and networking purposes.
The LLGFF has a well-deserved reputation of being of international interest for film festival makers and the film industry, and its unique timing offers the opportunity for us as European residents of a “first look” at many of the films which we will program at our own festivals later in the year. It inspires us.
The chance to meet up with colleagues always bears fruit back home in our own festivals. The delegate lounge provides a location to help this happen. It’s the one chance in the year that many programmers have to meet face-to-face, and plays a very important role in keeping our professional connections alive. In fact, in 2010 we held an alliance meeting during the festival, which many of us attended.
On a “nuts and bolts” level, the chance to screen films on DVD is an efficient work practice for many of us who can’t stay for the whole festival, or wish to view a couple of unseen short films from a longer program without taking seats away from the public.
In addition to this, the lounge is of course a very useful bridge between programmers and filmmakers and distributors. The role this festival plays in bringing filmmakers’ work to other festivals all over Europe is hard to overestimate. Filmmakers are often horribly under-resourced, so the chance to meet us and pass over screeners or talk about new projects supports them in a very real way.
It is a opportunity for getting together, information exchange, and international networking – like big international film festivals should be. In removing Industry Delegate facilities the LLGFF festival is losing an important facet of its role as one of the most important queer film festivals in Europe.
We were all shocked to receive the information in January that the festival would not be supporting Industry this year. When it became clear that the very festival itself is under review, we were speechless. It is incomprehensible to us that this festival – a huge success with the public, a still-valid and important social statement, and a showcase for (not only) British filmmakers, could be shut down.
This must not be allowed to happen.
Yours sincerely,
Werner Borkes, Amsterdam Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
Lucas Casanova, LesGaiCineMad
Manny de Guerre, Side by Side LGBT International Film Festival
Daniele del Pozzo, GenderBender, Bologna
Carla Despineux, Feminale, Cologne
Zvonimir Dobrovic, Queer Zagreb
Joao Ferreira, Queer Lisboa
Jiro Ghianni, TranScreen, Amsterdam
Kam Wai Kui, NTGF, Amsterdam
Elisa Manici, Soggettiva, Bologna
Claudia Mauti, Mix Milano
Giovanni Minerba, Turin International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Pink Screens festival, Brussels
Melissa Pritchard, identities Queer Film Festival
Christoph Reiffert, Hamburg International Queer Film Festival
Ales Rumpel, Mezipatra Queer Film Festival
Anna Rutherford, Pride Bristol
Bard Yden, Oslo Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
On behalf of The European Queer Film and Arts Festival Alliance.
