Abstract
Despite the increasing participation of film festivals in production financing, networking, and distribution, limited scholarly attention has been paid to the festival's relationship with the industry structures and the working world of film professionals such as sales agents, film programmers, and distributors involved in the programming and circulation of films. This project addresses this gap by examining the labour practices, processes, and challenges of film professionals behind the circulation of Indian films in international film festival networks, especially in the context of ongoing digital transformations in the film and media industries. This project combines archival, textual analysis, and bottom-up methods such as personal interviews, and participant observation to generate valuable insights into the urban challenges, power play, and negotiation strategies of film professionals at two international film festivals (i.e., Rotterdam, and Berlin) and two regional film festivals (i.e., the London Indian Film Festival and Indian Film Festival The Hague). The urban challenges for film festival professionals include long working hours for low pay, contractual labour, and negotiating the complexities of digital platforms, among other struggles. This project offers an innovative approach to film festival studies by borrowing insights from the interdisciplinary field of Media Industry Studies (MIS), which examines the relationship between the larger industrial structures and the "lived experiences" and labour of its workers. In doing so, this project examines how festival workers navigate precarious working conditions, digital disruptions and contribute to diversity and inclusivity through their programming, practices, and policy work in the post-pandemic European film industry. Additionally, it interrogates how can creative cities reconcile precarious working conditions for creative professionals with continuous digital innovation processes through their policies. This project thus aligns with the YUFE4Postdocs theme of 'Digital Societies' by interrogating how digital transformations affect the professional world of film festival workers for a more inclusive and diverse European film industry culture.
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