Film festivals, once seen as only a matter for journalism, are increasingly a subject of attention within scholarly film studies. They are, as Mar Diestro-Dópido argues, not only of cultural value in themselves but also sites of cinematic, artistic, social, political and economic exchange. Three fasci­nating case studies develop this argument beyond the habitual focus of critics and academics on Western film festivals: the Buenos Aires Festival de Cine Independiente, known as BAFICI, in Argentina; the BFI London Film Festival in the UK; and the San Sebastián International Film Festival in Spain. Extensive interviews with the teams responsible for programming bring into the public domain the views and motivations of those who shape film festivals, creating a unique body of material for future scholars to draw on.
Mar Diestro-Dópido is a film academic, researcher and regular contributor to the BFI Sight & Sound magazine, and an experienced arts and media translator. Her publications include a BFI Modern Classic on Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth. Her doctoral research, on which this book is built, won the Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland's prize for the best new thesis of 2015.