April 23, 2008
IN BRIEF: TOURISM, FILM AND THE ARTS NEWS

Film festival has major potential, director says

If Jed Dietz has his way, the Maryland Film Festival will evolve from a local attraction into one of the world’s major regional film festivals. “Because of what we’ve done in past years, we know what kind of potential we have,” he says.

Dietz is director of the annual Maryland festival, which celebrates its 10th year when it opens at the Brown Center on the Maryland Institute, College of Art campus and continues there and at the Charles Theatre in Baltimore, May 1-4, with showings also at the University of Baltimore Student Center. The festival screens about 100 full-length features, shorts and documentaries.

Photo: Maryland Film Festival's Jed Dietz (l) and director Barry Levinson at The Senator Theatre in Baltimore for opening night of the 2003 festival.

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Last year, Dietz says the event drew approximately 20,000 visitors – 17,000 for screenings and 3,000 for free workshops and panel discussions in the recently added Tent Village. The festival has an operating budget of $350,000,” Dietz says, a fraction of what some of the more well-known festivals have.

Talking about major film festivals like the ones at Sundance (Utah), Cannes (France), Toronto, Telluride (Colorado), even the largest regional ones like Seattle, Dietz says, “These festivals are huge economic generators.” He compares them to “a Preakness or an all-star game” in professional sports. “They tend to generate the same kind of energy and economic power as those events, but the demographics are a bit different.

“People who come to our festival, will also go to the American Visionary Arts Museum, Center Stage or a cool restaurant,” he says. Last year, for instance, John Waters took a group of people from the festival out all night, he recalls. “A number of karaoke bars were discovered.”

Drive tourism
The film festival at Rehoboth Beach is a classic illustration of how such an event can drive tourism, Dietz says. Rehoboth draws a sell-out crowd to the beach for its November festival, several months beyond peak tourist season.

In New York City, when municipal officials wanted to re-energize lower Manhattan after 9-11, Dietz says, they chose to do it with a film festival, noting that actor Robert DeNiro was one of the founders of what has become the annual Tribeca Film Festival.

New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s office said earlier this month that the Tribeca festival has attracted two million visitors and generated more than $425 million in economic activity for New York City since opening in 2002.

Dietz views the festivals in Toronto and Seattle as more of a model for the Maryland Film Festival. Those two events have been successful in their regional outreach – “they’re able to create excitement for their festivals with a local and regional mix,” he says. At Sundance or Telluride, it’s a different story: “85 or 90 percent of the audience comes from out of state,” he says.

Even though Dietz is looking for a regional mix for his event, he considers certain markets beyond the mid-Atlantic as prime audiences for the Maryland festival – Buffalo and Boston, for instance. The appeal of Baltimore weather in May for movie enthusiasts in those cities and being in markets served by Southwest Airlines make it a viable proposition, he says. Having a noteworthy festival here is a given for such a marketing campaign.

Distinct flavor
“ We have a distinct flavor,” Dietz says in reference to his festival’s signature programming and relaxed atmosphere, “which we want to retain.” Unlike some festivals, “we avoid VIP rooms, separate rooms or separate anything.” At the Maryland festival, people have access to the filmmakers and are looking to identify new talent or new films that could emerge in the industry over the next few years, he says.

The Maryland festival devotes its opening night to shorts, films that run on average from three to 20 minutes. “We’re the only general film festival to do that,” he says,” adding, “opening nights are a big deal.”

“And, we’re the only festival that John Waters comes to every year,” Dietz says. Each year, Waters introduces one of his favorite films. This year, it’s Claude Chabrol’s Story of Women, starring Isabelle Huppert. Because this 1988 film is seldom shown, Dietz said he acquired a print of it through diplomatic channels from France.

The Maryland festival also features 3-D movies every year. “I don’t know of any other festival that does that,” Dietz says. And, the festival will screen Josef von Sternberg’s Underworld, a 1927 silent film – perhaps the first gangster movie – with a live musical performance by the Alloy Orchestra accompanying it. Alloy is a three-man ensemble that creates new musical scores for classic silent movies.

Secret screenings are another unique aspect of the Maryland festival. Patrons who see these films first must sign a pledge that they’ll never reveal what they’re about to see. “It’s not a gimmick,” Dietz says. “It’s more related to things like marketing issues and legal rights.”

Dietz is proud of the number of filmmakers who attend the festival. The event’s format promotes interaction among filmmakers themselves and with the movie-viewing patrons. “You won’t see a Tom Cruise here – it’s not geared that way.” Dietz says.

“The Maryland Film Office gets more filmmakers to come to our festival,” he says. “They (the Film Office) are revered in the film community.”

Marketing tool
A film festival can be the single best marketing tool for introducing filmmakers to Maryland, he says. “A lot of the filmmakers who come here for the first time are stunned” when they look at the great potential for shooting films in the state. “This is a very friendly place (to do business). Even the unions are friendly, here,” he says.

“If we get this incentive thing taken care of, all types of filmmakers will come,” Dietz says, referring to the government-based tax incentives that states offer production companies to entice them for film projects.

When filmmakers come to an area, they generally improve it physically – whether it’s through construction or simply painting a building – Dietz says, “and they hire locally – whether it’s entry-level jobs or highly-skilled jobs.”

He points out how Louisiana’s aggressive marketing to film companies transformed its economy, for instance, “right through Katrina,” he says. “There was a six-week pause, and then things started right up, again.” He also mentions Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Connecticut and Michigan as states that wage aggressive campaigns toward filmmakers.

Representatives of the Maryland Film Office returned last week from a marketing show in Los Angeles, “Location Expo,” at which 250 film commissions from around the world set up as exhibitors.

“It gives us a chance to promote Maryland to the location managers, designers, directors, producers and executives who attend the show, and to also re-connect with friends who have already shot in the state,” said Jack Gerbes, director of the Film Office.

Both the Film Office and the Maryland State Arts Council award grants to the Maryland Film Festival.