How a film becomes an event: inside a major festival
Selection, market, sales, screenings: a great festival is as much an industry as an artistic showcase.
The Editors · November 10, 2026 · 1 min read
To the public, a film festival means a red carpet and an awards ceremony. To the industry, it is above all where careers and distribution rights are negotiated.
It starts with selection. Committees watch hundreds of films and keep a few dozen, split between the official competition and parallel sections. Being selected is already a victory: it guarantees worldwide press coverage.
Alongside the screenings runs a film market, where producers, distributors and streaming platforms buy and sell rights, sometimes on the strength of a script alone. Many films that will reach theaters two years later are financed at these meetings.
Prizes play a very concrete commercial role. An award can multiply the number of screens willing to show a film and push foreign distributors to buy it.
The major festivals, such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin or Toronto, each have their own positioning and calendar. Together they set the rhythm of the film year and prepare the awards season.