What did you learn from launching a new festival - were there any challenges you had to overcome?

Launching Bradford Queer Film Festival was a brilliant learning experience and we had so much enthusiastic support from our community and from partner organisations. Creating something brand new is always a challenge but we were met with real excitement. Finding appropriate venues for such a large programme was a challenge at times but again we were able to collaborate with a range of venues to achieve our plans and feel inspired about how we will work with these venues in future. - Alice Parsons, Bradford Queer Film Festival

We hosted a competition event, showcasing Yorkshire Short Films and finding excellent, local shorts was challenging for us as a first-time festival. The filmmakers who attended the festival all gave wonderful feedback so we hope that our reputation will grow and the festival will be able to champion more and more local talent in years to come. - Elizabeth Boag and Martha Cattell, Scarborough Film Festival

What highlights and successes are you most proud of?

The ‘audience buzz’: a whole venue full of Chinese speakers, in one of the UK’s least ethnically diverse counties... The success of the associated events we put on around town: a Chinese dragon procession, tai chi, crafting, a walk to the lake - to ensure that even those not interested in film knew there was a festival going on, and could participate in some other aspect of the festival.
- Carol Rennie and Yixiang Shirley Lin, MINT Chinese Film Festival

First launched in February 2023, MINT CFF returned to Keswick Alhambra Cinema in Cumbria last month for their second edition. The programme showcased 14 feature-length films and 17 shorts across 4 days, 2 panel discussions, and 1 live cinema event including a live harp and traditional Chinese instruments performing a specially-composed score to accompany a classic Chinese film.

Putting together a big international event from scratch with such a small team and on such a tiny budget was a significant achievement…We greatly appreciated people travelling to come to our events. Three percent of our audiences came from Europe, and 25% from outside the county.
- Darren Henderson, The Bay International Film Festival

Highlights from their programme include: 3 community screenings of shorts followed by film club discussions, a photo exhibition of never-before-seen photographs from the set of Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon, and their sold out awards ceremony for the best short films which was referred to as “Morecambe’s answer to the Oscars”!

What key piece of advice would you give to those who are thinking about launching a festival?

Be kind to yourself and remember that you’re always learning. Things will feel challenging at points but creating something from scratch will always be filled with new learning. Remember to turn to people for advice and help and also celebrate and listen to positive feedback. Take a step back and remember to actually enjoy and watch some films! - Alice Parsons, Bradford Queer Film Festival

Also collaborate, we worked with some amazing people that either gave us ideas for films, curated strands or made events more rich.
– Elizabeth Boag and Martha Cattell, Scarborough Film Festival

Any film festival is made for people by people. With the first edition, you might not know precisely what your audience wants to watch. So, you will need to try different things and ask for their feedback.
– Darren Henderson, The Bay International Film Festival

Are there any notable partnerships that contributed to the festival and its delivery? In your experience, what made these partnerships work?

Our main partner is the Stephen Joseph Theatre. Their support was invaluable in making our first festival a success. They offered us in-kind support: their 160 seat, art-deco cinema and their brilliant projectionist, front of house staff, box office system, data collection system, publicity and marketing... All these partnerships were successful because of good communication, clear mutual benefits and generosity of spirit. – Elizabeth Boag and Martha Cattell, Scarborough Film Festival

The festival's success was greatly indebted to the invaluable support and collaboration of numerous companies and individuals who generously invested not only financial resources but also their time, expertise, and facilities... In my experience, the success of these partnerships grew from a shared vision and mutual commitment to the festival's mission. Effective communication, transparency, and a spirit of collaboration were key in building strong relationships with our partners.
– Darren Henderson, The Bay International Film Festival

What audience feedback from your last festival has inspired your thinking or planning for your next edition?

We included a ‘retro strand’ to increase the pull and accessibility of non-Chinese audiences: two very famous award-winning films by Taiwanese directors, and a Tibetan film with an eco-theme that we knew would attract audiences with an interest in that content matter. This worked very well for our second edition.
– Carol Rennie and Yixiang Shirley Lin, MINT Chinese Film Festival

Audiences were so warm and kind with their feedback. We’re keen to build on what they enjoyed, which was a broad selection of well curated films from around the world as well as special events throughout the programme. We’re keen to embed more talks and discussion time for audiences too.
– Alice Parsons, Bradford Queer Film Festival

What do you see for the future of your festival - are there areas you would like to improve or expand on?

We are looking to build relationships with other festivals to share ideas, expand the range of our programming and to build our network. We are [also] looking to explore the environmental sustainability of the festival, especially how to do this successfully when working with multiple venues.
– Elizabeth Boag and Martha Cattell, Scarborough Film Festival

Improvement and expansion in audience development and engagement are crucial areas in our future strategy. Reaching a large audience and gaining their trust can be challenging but vital. Building this trust and presence takes time as word spreads about the festival. As festivals are annual events, consistent reminders throughout the year are important to keep people engaged and interested in attending and spreading the word. – Darren Henderson, The Bay International Film Festival

This year we are upping our year round programme to keep expanding our reach and learn more about our audiences. This year we are also keen to work with more venues to keep pushing the quality of our audience experience and as ever, we’re also open to new partners and collaborations!
– Alice Parsons, Bradford Queer Film Festival

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