From Music to Film: On the Emergence and Stabilization of the Film Festival Concept in the 1930s

Abstract

This article explores the social history of film to shed light on the emergence and stabilization of the film festival concept in the 1930s and 1940s. The creation of the Venice Mostra in 1932 appears like the result of a slow process of legitimization both desired by the production representatives and by the nascent cinephile representatives. Nevertheless, if the device experimented in Venice will not be thereafter called into question, the concept of “film festival” does not appear stabilized at that time. It was not until the post-war period that FIAPF’s activities allowed to the enshrining of the association between the concept of “festival” with the cinematographic media. This article highlights the social forces which helped to build and stabilize the film festival concept, on the basis of the analysis of the film press from various countries. Using discourse analysis, in the framework of a method inspired by the archeologic approach proposed by Michel Foucault, the article highlights discourses and controversies surrounding the adoption and the legitimization of this concept by the actors of cinematographic industry, cinephilia, popular education.