'Look about. From big cities to rural centres, tourist towns to sheep farms, film festivals are everywhere. Hardly a weekend now passes without some celebration lighting up screens somewhere around Australia. While 2015 marks yet another bumper year of film festival offerings, the proliferation of festivals is not a new phenomenon. For going on three decades, Australia has experienced an exponential increase in the range and number of celebrations on offer, with the boom in events showing no sign of slowing in the near future. Despite what is arguably a surplus of events, however, Australian audiences seem not to have tired (yet) of the opportunities film festivals present. While traditional networks of film exhibition and distribution are in a state of flux, struggling to navigate an ever-expanding array of content delivery and consumption platforms that are disrupting established patterns of viewing and the money-streams attached to them, festivals seem to have retained the public's interest. As digital distribution channels, online content providers and media on demand technologies open new avenues for film lovers to access the titles they desire, festivals seem to have maintained their allure, continuing to entice audiences away from their personal screens and into more communal viewing experiences.' (Publication abstract)
