Across and in-between: Transcending disciplinary borders in film festival studies

Kirsten Stevens

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Abstract

Since the mid-2000s film festivals have emerged as a distinct area of critical academic inquiry. While originating within a film studies framework, the study of film festivals has developed its own character as a sub-field that moves well beyond the traditional boundaries of screen and media studies. The study of film festivals is inherently transnational, transmedia and interdisciplinary in its approach. Borrowing from cultural studies, anthropology, business and technology studies, event management and curatorship studies, alongside media studies, screen studies and the emergent area of media industry studies, film festival research transcends traditional disciplinary frameworks. This article traces the emergence of film festivals as a critical area of study and its evolution towards its status as a distinct sub-field. In exploring how the study of festivals and screen events connects with and extends traditional film and media studies frameworks, this article also makes a case for what is gained (and what is lost) through the intersections and interrelations of these two areas of study.

Keywords

Film Festivals: Film Studies; Transnational; Interdisciplinary; Transmedia; Field of Study

To cite this article

Stevens, Kirsten. “Across and in-between: Transcending disciplinary borders in film festival studies.” Fusion Journal, no. 14, 2018, pp. 46-59. http://www.fusion-journal.com/across-and-in-between-transcending-disciplinary-borders-in-film-festival-studies/

First published online: December 2018