Cultural Exports: Italian Film Festivals in the US

Abstract

Film festivals serve a variety of purposes. They provide a communal experience, foster meaningful conversation about world cultures, cinematic and social practices. In this essay I investigate how different types and levels of support, as well as geography, determines programming choices, financial outcomes and community engagement. I offer a brief overview of Italian film festivals in the U.S. and I focus on the analysis of three Italian film festivals that distinguish themselves amongst the others because, maintaining their differences, they share the common objective of using films as vehicles for “cultural formation as promotion of Italy abroad” as per the Franceschini Act. They integrate academic screening discussions, lectures, and presentations. However, the way in which they are financially supported as well as the area in which they operate, lead to different outcomes. The public spheres of these festivals create those social identities necessary to promote a cultural capital. I affirm that in the U.S.A., in lack of government funds, film festivals
should count on enhancing their cultural capitals in order continue to attract the support of their patrons, mostly interested in obtaining the cultural capitals of educational film festivals.