TOURISM: THE CASH COW CALLED FILM FESTIVAL

Abstract

Film festival as part of the cultural tourism industry is key to the development of every country that knows how to harness its potentials. It is very important that keen attention is paid to this tourism product, and its potentials exploited by the city it is domiciled in. This is why governments all over the world have keyed into and developed their tourism strategy around them. The standard of the film festivals goes a long way to determine the calibre and population of people that will attend it. This is why more efforts must be employed, especially in Nigeria, to develop the film festivals that we have to international brands that can lure more visitors into the country through the deployment of more funds and concerted marketing drive. More effort should be expended by government, especially at state levels, to support the various ethnic film industries that we have to establish their own film festivals to help boost the event tourism subsection, while providing the necessary infrastructures to aid tourism development. With these and more, film festivals will be the new brand of cultural tourism products that will position the tourism industry of Nigeria in good stead.

Full text

Nollywood Nation (On the Industry, Practice & Scholarship of Cinema in Nigeria
490
Chapter Twenty Eight
TOURISM: THE CASH COW
CALLED FILM
FESTIVAL
Emakunu Eseovwe
&
Guanah, Seigha Jammy
Department of Theatre Arts and Mass Communication,
University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria
How To Cite This Chapter: Emakunu, E. & Guanah, S.J. (2019).
Tourism: The Cash Cow Called Film Festival. In O. Okome, I.
Uwah& F. Nwafor (Eds) Nollywood Nation (On the Industry,
Practice and Scholarship of Cinema in Nigeria): A Festschrift in
Honour of Professor Femi Okiremuette Shaka. (pp. 490-499).
Port Harcourt: University of Port Harcourt Press Ltd.
Abstract
Film festival as part of the cultural tourism industry is key to the
development of every country that knows how to harness its
potentials. It is very important that keen attention is paid to this
tourism product, and its potentials exploited by the city it is domiciled
in. This is why governments all over the world have keyed into and
developed their tourism strategy around them. The standard of the film
festivals goes a long way to determine the calibre and population of
people that will attend it. This is why more efforts must be employed,
especially in Nigeria, to develop the film festivals that we have to
international brands that can lure more visitors into the country
through the deployment of more funds and concerted marketing drive.
More effort should be expended by government, especially at state
levels, to support the various ethnic film industries that we have to
establish their own film festivals to help boost the event tourism
subsection, while providing the necessary infrastructures to aid
tourism development. With these and more, film festivals will be
the new brand of cultural tourism products that will position the
tourism industry of Nigeria in good stead.
Keywords: Film Festivals, Tourism, Event Tourism, Cultural
Tourism, Tourism Products, Tourism Potentials

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491
Introduction
Events are media to bring people together. Depending on the magnitude
of an event, the people who attend might come from different parts
of the world. We’ve seen how sporting events draw people from the
nooks and cranny of the society. They all converge to enjoy the sporting
spectacle on display. Talking about magnitude of event, if a local football
match or competition is held, it will attract only the locals. But if it is a
World Cup event, in any of the sports, it draws spectators from all over
the world to the host country. This makes the sporting event a tourism
product, and it explains why governments are now involved in bids to
win the hosting right of such events. Most governments go as far as
including the bidding process and the financial involvement into their
budgets and programs. The 2010 Football World Cup held in South Africa
was a huge success because of government involvement in all its
processes. Spending
$3 billion to host the event, South Africa not only used the event to
improve its infrastructures, it enhanced her image worldwide. According
to Gerald Imray (2018), “while critics have said that such a huge outlay
on a 30-day sports event was impractical for South Africa — and the
final word on whether it was an economic success was still pending —
the government could argue that it had already earned over $400 million
from the more than 300,000 tourists that visited for the World Cup.” The
World Cup also made South Africa a preferred destination for tourists in
Sub-Sahara Africa.
The same can be said of film festivals. The magnitude of a film
festival attracts people, either locally or internationally or both. Film
Festivals, world over, are now major events that are in the annual
calendar of countries; they are now part of the tourism products of the
country or city where they are held. Events, which film festivals are a
part of, are important motivators of tourism, and feature prominently in
the development and marketing plans of most destinations. The roles and
impacts of planned events within tourism have been well documented,
and are of increasing importance for destination competitiveness (Detz,
2008, p. 403). It is now a no brainer for any destination that wants to
be competitive in the tourism market to manage and promote events
in her city to attract as much people as possible.
To so many destinations of the world, film festivals are not
just events to screen movies and give awards only, they are
now means to sell the city or region the film festival is
being held as a preferred tourism destination. Maloca,

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Lackovic and Oremovic (2014) opine that “national governments and
local authorities around the world are increasingly using cultural festivals
and special events as key elements for regional development, as they
provide an opportunity for the tourism promotion, commercial profits
and attraction of foreign investment” (p. 77). Continuing, they said “the
city elders of Cannes, a fashionable resort on the French Mediterranean,
started to host international film festival in the mid-1930s in order to
extend the tourism season. Since the first festival in 1939 to this day, it
has become leading in the world, with an annual budget of approximately
20 million Euros” (p. 77). Today, the Cannes Film Festival and other
film festivals around the world are being used as tourism products. In
Nigeria, the Eko International Film Festival which is among the
prominent film festivals, will be celebrating its 8th Edition this year, is a
brand that needs to be promoted and made to be a tourism product that
will attract tourists all over the world, especially those in the film industry,
to Lagos annually. The Cannes Film Festival is a world acclaimed film
festival. 2016 was its 70th anniversary, and it was the same year Lagos
State celebrated her 50 years anniversary. As part of events to mark the
50th anniversary of Lagos state, the Lagos State government sponsored a
pavilion at the international film village of the Cannes Film Festival in
2016, where movie practitioners and entertainment writers converged
daily to discuss the way forward for Nigerian movie industry. Also,
movie makers all over the world visited the Lagos pavilion to exchange
ideas, network and to know more about Lagos State, tourism and the
movie industry in Nigeria. It was at the Cannes film festival that the
‘Cinema in Lagos’, and the Lagos State annual magazine were unveiled.
If the Lagos State Government deemed it fit to sponsor a pavilion at the
festival, think about how many world leaders, film makers, and industry
movers will be at this festival and how many will be sponsoring pavilions
annually. This only emphasizes the fact that, even though it might not
be the objectives of the organizers, that Film Festivals, not only have
the potentials to become tourism products, but are actually tourism
products that should be exploited for greater economic development of
the host city or region.
Film Festival: What It Is
According to Maloca, Stejpan and Arsen (2014), quoting Film
Encyclopaedia, a film festival is a periodic or occasional film event
organized primarily in order to show films. One of the important
functions of the festival is opening the film market - selling and buying
movies, financial investments in new film projects, etc (p. 76). Film
festivals are seen as specific type of events and award

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ceremonies, operating as leading events establishing the reputation of film
professionals and as a meeting place for the film industry (Pederson and
Mazza, 2011). Film Festivals are part of the drivers of the film industry.
Maloca, Lackovic and Oremovic (2014) assert that film festivals have a
large and important role in the world of film, especially in the recent
years when differentiation between Hollywood cinema and so called art
films increased. At a time of Hollywood domination in commercial
cinemas and multiplexes, festivals were becoming an important form of
distributing and promoting art films, discovering new talent,
cinematography and trends (p. 76). The glamour and fanfare aside, it is
a convergence of movie producers, executive producers, actors, directors,
markets, investors and those who make the movie industry strive. This
gives the opportunity for collaboration, idea sharing, networking and,
in more recent times, pitching.
Pitching is now very much part of the film festivals. Many festivals
provide forum for interpersonal encounters and negotiations between
companies and creatives, or hold special events (pitching sessions,
development fund awards, sessions for additional financing rounds) that
foster production-related activities as part of their festivals. Now so many
pitching forums take place across festivals that there are individuals who
work the circuit and specialize in hosting such forums; these experts
know what films are on offer and who is able and willing to invest in
up-and-coming productions (Lordanova, 2015: p. 8). This pitching event
in the film festivals have helped film production in some ways, even
though it has been acknowledged as not always yielding the desired results
despite the revenue poured into it. But festivals have stocked to it.
Lordanova (2015) acknowledged this when he states that, “The festival
pitch” has become such an established practice that even though many
filmmakers have come to recognize the reality of spiraling costs and
lessened effectiveness (measured by the smaller stream of incoming
investments realized by presenting at festival pitching sessions), the
belief that it is essential to pitch still persists. According to a recent
survey that scrutinized the cost of attending a pitching forum (based on
the official IDFA Forum statistics and list of fees), observers must pay
between €200 and €300 and participants between €300 and €400 per
person to attend the forum. IDFA earns between €80,000 and €90,000
in revenue from pitching forum fees during each festival. 5And even
though most interviewees expressed reservations about the effectiveness
of attending pitching forums and seemed to consider them wasteful, they
all acknowledged that online pitching was not a viable alternative,
that continued festival attendance is important, and

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that a representative trailer for their projects should be shown in the
context of film festival forums (p. 8-9).
Film festivals have also been used as distribution and marketing
channels of films. The media heist contributes greatly to this. Film
Festivals give every film involved enough publicity for people to be
aware of them, selling their value to the audience which are diverse, both
in culture and in places. Festivals present the platform for the films to
be known and for people to get to know them. It becomes an additional
marketing and distribution channel for the film and if the festival is held
in a city that is in a different country or continent, festival, therefore,
presents the films an international audience, giving it a new dimension
and window for widespread access. Lordanova asserts that “one must
say that, historically, festivals embraced the distribution function first.
Indeed, holding parallel markets that facilitated the circulation of new
films has been a feature of the Cannes event for many years” (2015, p.
8). Maloca, Lackovic and Oremovic (2014) posits that Although, it must
be noted that this creates a divide in the film industry, as there is no so
much publicity, marketing and distribution given to other films,
especially those that are not in the Hollywood radar. This creates a sort
of dichotomy between the films that makes the festivals and those that
do not. Lordanova (2015) affirms in his essay, referencing Paul Willemen,
that:
More than a decade ago, the late cultural critic Paul
Willemen claimed that although festivals may seem to open
up pathways to global exposure and circulation, in fact,
they only produce a “bottleneck effect” and ensure that
non-commercial films remain outside formal circulation
channels. Traditional circulation channels, meanwhile,
remain reserved for blockbuster-type mainstream cinema.
Festivals enhance the exposure of films, but they also
disrupt the traditional distribution process; they may
appear networked, but there is also evidence to the contrary
(p. 9).
Nevertheless, it is instructive to note that film festivals have been, not
only about the convergence and the screening of films, but it has also
been the celebrating of culture. The culture of the city, region and
country has always been on display in every film festivals, especially
when the festival is geared towards celebrating the heritage of the city,
region or country. Film festivals also celebrate place: the city that hosts
them, the nation and national/ regional industries that often underpin
them (Maloca, Lackovic and Oremovic, 2014: p. 77).

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Historical Development
The film festival phenomenon started in Europe, but today, there is no country
in the world, which has a thriving film industry, that do not host at least
one film festival. This is evident of its growth and acceptability world over,
especially has it has developed a tourism correlations to it.
The first film festival was held in Italy, named the Venice film festival.
It held in 1932, and it is one of the earliest film festivals that is still
extant. According to Pedersen & Carmelo Mazza (2011) Europe appears to
be the cradle of the film festival phenomenon born in the context of the
particular geopolitical situation in Europe, during the 1930s, and the new
political order in Europe, during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It took,
thus, almost forty years after the first public screening of film in December
1895 by the Lumiere brothers before the world’s first major film festival
was founded (p. 145). The Venice festival had a political correlation to it,
as it was a tool by Benito Mussolini to give legitimacy to his fascist
government and bring of nationalism to, the world stage (Palis, 2015).
Pedersen and Mazza infer, quoting Turan (2002, Madzan (2007), that in
1937, Jean Renoir’s ’La Grande Illusion' was denied the top prize because
of its pacifist sentiments, and the French decided that if you wanted
something done right you had to do it yourself. This became the birth of what
we know today as the Cannes Film Festival (2011). The Cannes Film
Festival has developed to become one of the biggest film festivals in the
world, with it recently in 2016, celebrating its 70th anniversary. The Cannes
Film Festival was originally scheduled to take place in the first three weeks
of September 1939, but it could not hold because of the German invasion
of Poland on September 1st 1939. The festival did not hold until 1946
(Pedersen and Mazza, 2011).
Joining the Venice film festival as a pre-World War 2 film festival is
the Moscow International Film Festival, which was established in 1935.
After its first edition, subsequent editions were suspended until 1959 when
it was continued. The Moscow International Film Festival has undergone a
lot of reviews and reinvention, but still stands as the second oldest film
festival in the world.
After the World War 2, the proliferation of film festivals, especially
in Europe and North America, took a multiplicity dimension. Most cities in
Europe and North America instituted their own film festivals. Festivals
like Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (1946), Festival del Cinema
di Salerno (1946), Edinburgh International Film Festival (1947),
Yorktown Film Festival (1950), Berlin International Film Festival
(1951), Melbourne International Film Festival (1952) and much
more, came on stream few years after the war. Other notable

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film festivals include the Sundance Film Festival (1978), ECU European
Independent Film Festival (2006), Rome Film Festival (2006), Busan
International Film Festival (1996) and Slamdance Film Festival (1995)
Africa is not left out of the film festivals phenomenon, as notable
international film festivals have been established and sustained to put
African cities in the world map of cities with thriving film festivals. Oldest
of them is the Carthage Film Festival, which was established in 1966 in
Tunisia. We also have the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of
Ouagadougou (1969), Cairo International Film Festival in Cairo Egypt,
established in 1976, International Arab Film Festival (1976), Durban
International Film Festival (1979), Alexandra International Film Festival
(1984).
In Nigeria, we have the iREP International Documentary Film
Festival, established in 2010 by Femi Odugbemi, Jahman Anikulapo
Kuti and Makin Soyinka. It is the biggest international documentary
film in Africa. Also, we have the Africa International Film Festival
(2010), founded by Chioma Ude, Abuja International Film Festival
(2004), which is the longest running film festival in Anglophone West
Africa. It was commissioned by Mr and Mrs Fidelis Duker and their
NAFIFO Venture. Eko Film Festival (2009) is not left out among
them. It is one of Nigeria’s foremost film festivals. It is open to both
Nigerian and international filmmakers. We also have the Zuma Film
Festival (2006), RealTime International Film Festival, Inshort Film
Festival and Lights Camera Africa (2011).
Film Festival as Tourism Product
Film Festivals, today, are not just seen as a platform for the convergence
of the who is who in film making, but as an event capable of driving
tourism development. Tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors in
the world and its product base continues to increase and film festivals,
which Cudny (2011) refers to as a product of cultural tourism, is a very
good ground to expand that base as new film festivals pop up in different
cities of the world. Festivals are treated as a tourist asset of cities and
regions, as well as a kind of tourist product. Moreover, a part of cultural
tourism is event tourism, where the aim is the participation in cultural
events, such as film festivals (Cudny, 2011). Film Festivals as event or
cultural tourism products is one of the most consistent tourism products
that should be employed by cities, states and a country to promote
tourism. Most film festivals are yearly events, while some are bi- annual.
This consistency makes it part of the events of the tourism year or circle
of the city, state or nation.

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Another attraction of the film festivals that makes it a veritable
tourism product is its entertainment value. Entertainment has always been
an attraction to people everywhere in the world. They plan, as part of
their budget, their entertainment spending. They travel as far as they can
to fulfil this entertainment need. Film festivals, which offer lots of
entertainment value, especially with the screening of films, are likely
avenues for them to fulfil their entertainment cravings.
International Film Festivals are attended by film makers from other
countries. This alone has shown the tourism potential in film festivals. Any
event that is able to bring in people from other countries into another
country has already shown it is a tourism product. During the duration
of the festival, the visitors, participants and tourists that have come from
other country to grace the event make use of the service sector of tourism
like hostel, restaurants, amusement parks, car rentals, etc. They might
still attend other entertainment events like music concerts and visit night
clubs, depending on their schedule. They will be spending money doing
these, thereby boosting the local economy where the festival is taking
place.
Events are an important motivator of tourism, and feature
prominently in the development and marketing plans of most
destinations. The roles and impacts of planned events within tourism have
been well documented, and are of increasing importance for destination
competitiveness (Gets, 2007: p. 403). Events like film festivals now
feature prominently in the annual calendar of important tourist events.
It would be very important, especially in Nigeria, that government plan
their tourism strategies with film festivals in mind. With its huge
entertainment value, film festivals can no longer be ignored in Nigeria.
Greater visibility should be given to the already established film
festivals in Nigeria.
With the uniqueness of the Nigeria film industries, where various
ethnic nationalities are currently establishing film industry in cities, states
and regions they are domiciled, there is a market already for the
proliferation of film festivals, even though they might be on the local
or regional level, and not international. Although, nothing stops them
from going international. It all depends on the dexterity of the organizers.
Today, we can have film festivals that promote ethnic nationalities within
Nigeria, because the film industry that promotes them are already
established. We have in Nigeria the Yoruba film industry, Hausa film
industry, Igbo film industry, Edo film industry, and mush more. From
these film industries, film festivals can spring up. And this will only

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contribute to the development of tourism in these various cities, states
and regions in Nigeria.
Recommendations
1. More effort should be employed to drive more partnerships
that will bring in more funds and participation. This is
because without funds the expansion and development of
the film festivals will be stunted. Most Nigerians barely
know about these film festivals, and so can’t be part of them.
2. State governments of the various states where the film
festivals take place in Nigeria should get involved in the
planning and sponsoring of the film festival domiciled in
their states and make them part of the planning of their
tourism strategy.
3. Just as we already have ethnic based film industries, there
should also be ethnic based film festivals. This will help
proliferate film festivals in Nigeria, market our cultural
heritage to the world, and develop the tourism industry of the
city, state or region where these ethnic film festivals will be
holding.
4. Government should provide the supporting infrastructures
for tourism to develop progressively. Support the private
sector to establish more film festivals in every city in Nigeria.
Conclusion
It is very important that we understand that entertainment is a real
driver of tourism anywhere in the world. Film Festivals, as part of
the entertainment industry, offers real value to the tourism industry of
the host city or region. Film Festivals, if optimally utilized, would
serve as the ultimate tourism product. In appraising the tourism
potential of the filmcity festivals in Lodz, Cushy (2011) affirms that
“festivals have become a tourist asset of the city, a product” (139).
Nothing stops Lagos or any city in Nigeria to be another Lodz in
Sub-Sahara Africa. With the renewed drive of the Governor
Ambode’s administration on tourism, especially through the
entertainment industry, Lagos can host international film festivals each
month of the year, which will drive the needed development of tourism
in Lagos State in particular, and Nigeria in general.

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