NEGOTIATING VALUE: A CANADIAN PERSPECTIVE ON THE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL by Diane Louise Burgess M.A., University ofBritish Columbia, 2000 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the School ofCommunication © Diane Louise Burgess 2008 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Fall 2008 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or by other means, without permission ofthe author. APPROVAL NAME Diane Louise Burgess DEGREE PhD TITLE OF DISSERTATION: Negotiating Value: A Canadian Perspective on the International Film Festival EXAMINING COMMITTEE: CHAIR: Barry Truax, Professor Catherine Murray Senior Supervisor Professor, School of Communication Zoe Druick Supervisor Associate Professor, School of Communication Alison Beale Supervisor Professor, School of Communication Stuart Poyntz, Internal Examiner Assistant Professor, School of Communication Charles R Acland, Professor, Communication Studies Concordia University DATE: September 18, 2008 11 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Declaration of Partial Copyright Licence The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further granted permission to Simon Fraser University to keep or make a digital copy for use in its circulating collection (currently available to the public at the "Institutional Repository" link of the SFU Library website <www.lib.sfu.ca> at: <http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/handle/1892/112>) and, without changing the content, to translate the thesis/project or extended essays, if technically possible, to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation of the digital work. The author has further agreed that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by either the author or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without the author's written permission. Permission for public performance, or limited permission for private scholarly use, of any multimedia materials forming part of this work, may have been granted by the author. This information may be found on the separately catalogued multimedia material and in the signed Partial Copyright Licence. While licensing SFU to permit the above uses, the author retains copyright in the thesis, project or extended essays, including the right to change the work for subsequent purposes, including editing and publishing the work in whole or in part, and licensing other parties, as the author may desire. The original Partial Copyright Licence attesting to these terms, and signed by this author, may be found in the original bound copy of this work, retained in the Simon Fraser University Archive. Simon Fraser University Library Burnaby, BC,Canada Revised: Summer 2007 111 ABSTRACT This dissertation argues that the Toronto and Vancouver International Film Festivals have been undervalued as showcases and in fact these hybrid public-private institutions are catalysts in the global, local and regional articulation ofEnglish-Canadian cinema culture. As a threshold to mainstream release and a non-theatrical venue, the festival operates in the gap between the production and consumption offilm commodities. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's model ofthe field ofcultural production, this gap is re-conceptualized as a productive space structured by the relative positioning ofstakeholders engaged in the negotiation ofhierarchies ofcinematic value. Festival space mediates the interests ofinternational trade, cultural diplomacy and cinephilia, balancing a need for programming autonomy against the intervention ofglobal Hollywood in the political economy ofindependent cinema. In the Canadian context, the value of national cinema is both a vexatious economic issue in that indigenous films consistently earn less than a 5% domestic box office share and a symbolic one to the extent that lacklustre theatrical performance is seen as an indication ofthe chronic absence ofa popular national cinema. While TIFF endorses public accessibility and an industrial rationale, VIFF situates itself as a community event with a focus on providing an exhibition alternative-both of which are consecrated by urban cultural policy with the development ofBell Lightbox and the Vancouver International Film Centre. Press coverage, festival publications and policy reports provide insight into the field of forces shaping festival buzz and evolving organizational identity in the divergent historical trajectories ofthese events to embedding as permanent space. Despite a realignment ofCanadian Feature Film Policy toward industrial objectives and performance indicators, the value chain from film festival to box office persists as a policy blind spot, reinforcing a split, rather than creative intermixture, ofcultural and industrial measures ofaudience access. This dissertation contends that, through the creation ofvibrant local film scenes that connect regional production to the international marketplace and cosmopolitan consumption, Canada's major film festivals playa critical role as intermediaries in cinephilic, governmental and industrial struggles to define cinema's symbolic and economic value. Keywords: film festival; English-Canadian cinema; film policy; cultural value; field theory Subject Terms: film festivals; motion picture industry -- Government policy -- Canada; motion picture industry -- Canada -- history; motion picture - distribution; cultural industries IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisory committee, Alison Beale, Zoe Druick and Catherine Murray for their insightful comments and generous advice over the course ofthis project. I'm indebted to Zoe for referring to Canadian cinema as "vexing" at a critical moment in the writing process and to my senior supervisor Catherine for her rigour, leadership and support as I found my voice. Both at the very beginning and during the final stages, portions ofthis research were presented at Film Studies Association ofCanada conferences; and an early draft ofthe field theory chapter was presented at CRESC's Media Change and Social Theory conference at St. Hugh's College, Oxford. I'm grateful for the feedback and collegiality that I encountered at these events; in addition, I would like to thank the School ofCommunication and Faculty ofApplied Sciences for funding assistance. A CD Nelson Memorial entrance scholarship was instrumental in the early stages of my degree in enabling me to forge a balance between my festival work and my studies. Lastly, I would like to thank Graduate Secretary Denise Vanderwolf, her predecessor Neena Shahani and Monique Cloutier for their invaluable assistance. My heartfelt thanks goes out to the faculty, staffand students in the Department of Theatre and Film at the University ofBritish Columbia, where I taught several Film Studies courses over the course ofmy degree. In particular, I would like to acknowledge Brian McIlroy's ongoing mentorship throughout my graduate career. I would also like to thank the Film librarian, Brenda Peterson, for her kernels ofresearch wisdom, Andrew deWaard for the book recommendations, and Sharon McGowan and Zanna Downes for their unwavering encouragement. On a personal note, I am grateful to the rowing community at the Vancouver Rowing Club for providing much-needed respite during the writing process. I would also like to thank my father, Doug Burgess, for his humour and support, Allison Beda for bingo and the promise of cake and my fellow SFU grad student Natalie Coulter for cheering me across the finish line. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Approval ii Abstract iii Acknowledgements iv Table of Contents v Introduction 1 Chapter One: Festival Space: Field Theory, Liminality and the Cultural Intermediary 35 Crossing the Threshold(s) ofFestival Space 37 Confronting "Theoretical Theory:" Questions ofMethod .46 Minding the Gap: Charisma and the Cultural Intermediary 59 Autonomy as Illusio(n) 67 Chapter Two: Culture, Commerce and Cosmopolitanism: The Traffic in International Cinema 70 Global Framing ofNational Cinemas 72 Diplomacy: Culture, Commerce, Cosmopolitanism 82 Exhibition, Acquisitions and Miramax-ing the MarkeL 98 Chapter Three: Connections, Hunches, Timing: Birth of a (Written) Festival 104 Godfather or Prometheus - FoF's Founding Myth 118 VIFF -A World-Class Alternative 133 Chapter Four: Structuring Permanence: From Showcase to Lightbox 146 Junket to Myth-maker - Showcase to Catalyst.. 150 Building a Film Scene 167 Breaking Ground: Real Estate and Cultural Infrastructure 172 Chapter Five: Bridging the Gap: Festival Governance, Public Partners and "The Vexing Problem of Distribution" 195 Object ofPolicy: Festival as Platform or Market(ing) 199 World Class Cinema at Home and Abroad 208 Performance Measurement and Irreconcilable Interests 217 Postscript: New Policy Directions or Same Vexing Dead-ends? 234 Conclusion: Festivals, Value and the Vexing Problem of National Cinema 241 References 262 1 INTRODUCTION For Jean Cocteau: "The Festival is an apolitical no-man's-land, a microcosm of what the world would be like ifpeople could contact each other directly and speak the same