SFF: Sydney confidential
With a new CEO and a recent cash injection, the Sydney Film Festival needs to grow. Recently-arrived Leigh Small and festival director Clare Stewart are enthusiastic, but secretive about those plans.
Former Sydney Dance Company and Sydney Opera House executive Leigh Small was appointed CEO of the Sydney Film Festival in March. She arrived late in the production process for the 2010 edition, so Small has been there to oversee the roll-out of a festival which was already planned.
As an outsider coming into the screen industry, Small says that the main two issues she had identified as a member of the audience and the arts community were solved before her arrival.
The first was the need for an independent review – which was undertaken by consultants Booz and Co. in 2009.
One of the main recommendations from the review was a program for organisational reform, to “bring it in line with other major arts organisations and state-funded festivals”.
“The board and I have a three-year relationship with NSW to implement internal and external reforms, largely based on the report.
“The first year saw a new constitution and appointment of a CEO; the second year, both CEO and festival director will look at the whole festival; and the third year will see these changes implemented,” Small said without giving away anything more than the absolutely necessary.
The second element Small thought was a priority was a stronger relationship with the state government. And just one month before Small’s arrival, the Keneally government announced a $2.25 boost in funding for the festival over three years, bringing the total to $2.91m as part of its decision to position NSW as ‘Australia’s screen state’.
What is SFF going to do with this money? Frugal in her words, Small responded.
“All the other capital city festivals in Australia partner with the state government, so this is bringing Sydney on par with the other states.
“It’s a cultural, civic event. In the next year we will investigate ways to expand and cement its long-term future and look at its personality. It’s premature to say how the festival is going to grow, but having significant government partnership means that we have the ability to do that,” said Small.
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According to Small, there are no plans to create a film production fund like Melbourne or Adelaide’s.
“Not in my knowledge… maybe in a long-term business plan,” she said.
Clare Stewart has been the festival director since 2007. On her second year, she introduced the Official Competition, recognising ‘new directions in filmmaking’, based on the following criteria: courage, audacity and cutting edge. The competition is her baby and it remains a priority.
“Our strategy of differentiation has been around the competition, and it’s important for a national film culture that the festivals have their own different initiatives. It’s not 100 percent essential that we all do the same thing. Finding the right fit for your city is the most essential thing,” added Stewart.
Last year’s edition introduced the Industry Conference day with a forum on co-productions, and 2010 will see a focus on the age of social media and digital distribution on June 10 (in conjunction with Screen Australia and Screen NSW), dealing with the radical changes that practitioners must understand to make the most out of technologies in terms of marketing and audience development.
“Those conference days are starting to take hold as very valuable industry program for local producers,” said Stewart.
“Sydney Film Festival is a film industry event, but most importantly, an event,” added Small. “It’s about building it, with strong relationships with stakeholders and corporate sponsors, and other cultural institutions.”
Part of this expansion includes the Sydney Opera House, for the Sounds on Screen program, but eventually, the festival must go beyond Circular Quay. According to NSW Minister for the Arts Virginia Judge, one of the priorities is to expand the festival to western Sydney, but both Small and Stewart were vague about the details.
“It’s premature. It’s very important, but too soon to talk about that,” claimed Stewart.
She did say, however, that SFF’s attempts to be more inclusive to audiences other than art house types will be applied to their western programming.
A further expansion program takes the SFF beyond Sydney; the Travelling Film Festival presents screenings in 14 locations in the Northern Territory, Queensland and NSW.
“That’s a different scenario. It should be representative of the main festival, but we also program on the basis of what’s been playing in that location, to create an alternative distribution circuit for films that otherwise would not play there,” said Stewart.
Technology has created extra challenges, with the increasing number of titles available only digitally, and the variety in delivery formats.
“It’s made it much more complex on a back of house level, because it’s not just about the infrastructure available, but also existing third-party fee structures that can impact on venue partnerships,” she explained.
And just how can a film festival integrate in its operation the same technologies that are changing the habits of a large segment of the audience, and dethroning cinemas as the sacred temples of film consumption?
“Within the first hour of sales, the first two flexi-passes where bought on the iPhone app. It’s a matter of keeping up-to-date in the changes and use of media,” explained Small.
“And nothing online or mobile can substitute the experience of cinema and going to a festival and everything around that, like the Q&A sessions and all the extras that are irreplaceable.”
Most arts organisations, and community organisations, take care to know and look after their own supporters — people who have already put up their hands. In SFF’s case, you would think that these would primely be people who have put up money as Members, Donors or Friends, or more than one of those.The wonder is why the management of Sydney Film Festival has for so long neglected, indeed affronted, these prime supporters. Best of luck to Leigh Small in trying to re-scale the heights of affection of the seriously film-minded public.
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