In this episode, hosts Jon Gann and Bart Weiss discuss the intricacies of film festivals, offering valuable advice for filmmakers. They explore the history and purpose of festivals, the challenges of organizing them, the importance of doing research before submitting films, and the necessity of building community and networking within the film festival circuit. Both hosts bring their wealth of experience to demystify the festival process and emphasize the critical aspects of festival submissions, programming, and participation for aspiring filmmakers.

It's finally here -- the long-awaited release of a new program from the Film Festival Alliance to create a set of best practices for festivals, including a searchable database for filmmakers to compare and contrast events, allowing them to create better festival strategies. Jon and Bart are joined by Bears Rebecca Fonte, the Artistic Director of aGLIFF/PRISM, and Gray Rodriguez, the Director of Communications for the Film Festival Alliance.

Almost 12 years in the making, this new set of standards will revolutionize festivals, and assign a badge of professionalism and credibility to worthy events.

This month, Jon & Bart discuss the history of film festivals, and where the industry is today, with Sky Sitney, the co-founder and festival director of DC/DOX, and the former festival director of AFI Docs (originally known as Silverdocs), and a professor at Georgetown University, and Mark Rabinowitz, co-founder of indieWIRE, producer, acquisitions executive, programmer, and a member of the Louisville Film Commission.

We also talk about the big move ahead for Sundance, and honestly answer questions from filmmakers about festivals and filmmaking.