“Curating, caring, or displaying: a reflection on film festivals” – Kangning Li

“Commissioning responds to a need and hinges on the presumption that the commissioned artwork can satisfy this need.” (Sørensen, TiM Lecture 21 Feb 2024)

Trine Friis Sørensen’s lecture “Inquiring & Caring with the Act of Commissioning” centered around how commissioning can be debunked as a caring and inquiring process. Thus, the result of creation should be analyzed through a broader range of participation and evaluated from a relational spectrum rather than the binary logic of means and ends. Such an approach to rethink the implications of commissioning reminded me of the cultural phenomenon of film festivals which, as a cultural activity, builds a shared orientation among the displayed projections just like exhibition curation. To what extent does the frame of a film festival demonstrate care and responsibility?

Film festival programming can also be considered an act of curation given that, as films are brought together, elements of the film’s narrative are included under an umbrella frame of the festival; thus adding an extra layer of meaning to the individual films (Tascon 7). Furthermore, concerning the physical and cultural position that a film festival occupies, they turn to promote the meaning-making of the films beyond the content they present. The now-cancelled Hong Kong Independent Film Festival is an illustrative example. The bi-monthly festival promoted films with an independent spirit that concern political resistance as a response to the current societal circumstances. Selected works ranged from documentaries to dramas, local films to foreign films, features to short films. In alignment with the spirit of responsible commissioning, the festival’s focus on political resistance led to its cancellation in 2022.

Besides this example in particular, film festivals often not only provide a platform for cinematic expression but also actively engages in shaping local cultural narratives by expanding the content to public seminars and interviews. This dynamic process of curation within the film festival context aligns with the relational care advocated by Sørensen, emphasizing the interconnectedness and responsibility involved in cultural activities.

The parallels between commissioning and film festival programming offer a valuable lens through which to explore the implications of care and responsibility in cultural practices. Despite criticism of the major film festivals being heavily gentrified, both processes extend beyond the immediate creation or presentation of artworks, emphasizing the importance of relational considerations and the construction of meaning within a broader cultural context. In this sense, we can start to reflect upon the different forms of care that have been excised and their implication.

References

Tascón, Sonia M. Human Rights Film Festivals Activism in Context. 1st ed. 2015., Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2015, https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137454249.

‘Hong Kong Indie Film Festival.’ HIFFESTIVAL, 2022. https://hiffestival.com/