‘I’m not there to take a selfie on the red carpet’: A year in the life of Cork Film Festival's director
Fiona Clarke, Director of the Cork Film Festival pictured in the Cork Opera House where the opening gala will be held on the 9th November. Pics: Chani Anderson, Captures by Chani
JANUARY
By January I am already working on plans for 2024 and 2025, which will be our 70th anniversary.
We do a full review of the previous year’s festival, and take all that information into our Strategic Plan for the year and then, critically, get the budget prepared for the year.
We need to raise 45% of our income in the year and it needs to start now.
We also open film submissions in January.
We are part of the Film Freeway Global Network of around 400,000 filmmakers, so we receive around 4,500 films per year through that process and all are watched at least twice.
All Irish films, which represent 10% of festival submissions [and ultimately around 28% of the programme], will be reviewed by our team as well.
That is not the only way we select films and not even the main way.
From January we do festival visits. Rotterdam at the beginning of the year, February, it’s Berlin.
FEBRUARY
The Berlinale is the largest European film market, all the sales agents showcase and introduce us to their films — some of them haven’t even been finished yet.
Some will be launched before the Festival and some won’t be finished so they are out of the picture for us.
Sales agents represent the film but distribution might be sold for UK/Irish territory, so we have to negotiate that with the distributor and they might decide to release something at a different time.
There are all sorts of things that can happen in the journey of the festival.
In February we launched Fear Screen [a programme of European thrillers and horror].
That was hugely successful, sold out on a weekly basis over a month.
We also do panels and events, networking with partner festivals, like the European Film Academy European Short Film Awards, which is a network to champion short films.
We are the Irish representatives and the awards take place in December.
MARCH
This year we announced a new academic partnership with UCC.
It’s great as it encompasses so many aspects of what we do.
Obviously, it involves the School of Film and Screen Media, but also the School of Nursing and Midwifery.
In the last four or five years we have been delivering Intinn, our film and mental health programme that offers Transition Year students the opportunity to explore mental health.
It’s an award-winning programme, no one else is doing it.
So far we have reached more than 7,000 young people in that endeavour.
Then there is our digital archive with the Department of Digital Humanities and also our sustainability and environmental programmes with the UCC green campus.
We start a big focus on our education programme in March, with the First Cut! Youth Film Festival based in Youghal and we always provide a selection of shorts for that festival and showcase them and give an award to a young filmmaker so they get a free pass to the festival in November. Our senior programmer usually does a panel with First Cut! in March.
CIFF is also the official Irish partner of the European Parliament Luxe Audience Award and in March we hosted a weekend of European films, with five features shortlisted for that award, as well as 26 shorts nominated for the EFA [European Film Academy] awards — a whole weekend of European film at the Gate Cinema, which was fantastic.
APRIL
We are still in the selection process.
Some you only get to see in festival, and most of them for the selection process would be seen on a secure screening via sales agents or a production company providing a link.
They used to come in physically [Blu-ray etc], but very few do now.
Some have a time and venue code embedded, so they can only be screened at that time, in that venue.
These are new films, they haven’t been released.
Film piracy is a huge problem for the industry as a whole and we are here to celebrate filmmakers but also celebrate all the elements of what it takes to create a film.
We are always working on lots of creative partnerships and one we developed this year is a new collaboration with the National Sculpture Factory and Sample Studios, both in Cork, and the three of us launched the Parallax Bursary. It was won by Myfanwy Frost-Jones for her work, Another Country.
MAY
The Cannes Film Festival is the big ticket item — myself and our Director of Programming, Anna Kopecká, will go.
We might catch 50 films in a week. Some are competition titles but we would also go through the film markets at Cannes.
We also reconnect with people we might have met at Berlin in February, see what’s new on their schedule, what is being distributed and what is coming up over the next few months.
The point of festivals is they are curated — it’s not just a bunch of films, it is a really thoughtful selection.
For every film selected, there are probably 10 that we could have programmed as well.
Cannes is really important for us, attending panels and sessions, hearing from the global industry and about the direction of travel, learning from others, and having all these people under one roof.
There are two Cannes — the red carpet, and everything else. There are the competition titles and the film market. For competition titles, you spend most of your time queueing in security.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a privilege to go and watch wonderful films but we are not arriving in limos. We try to avoid going to the evening screenings, as it can be a real hassle.
You’re running around in the sun, then watching films, then you have to get back to where you’re staying and change into blacktie and come down again.
I’m there to see really good films, not to take a selfie on the red carpet, though of course I have done that — it’d be rude not to.
But for normal people, Cannes is not glamorous; it’s being in a darkened room watching five films a day. We’re not sipping rosé on super yachts on the Med.
JUNE
The Gate Cinema is a longstanding partner of ours and it’s doing an amazing refurbishment, which will be great.
We hoped it would be finished in time for the Festival but back in June we were looking at that; we are such a big endeavour, if there is a delay in building, there is nowhere else, we can’t pivot with a week’s notice.
So when we knew there was some risk [of a delay] we had to take the decision, that we couldn’t assume business as usual, so at the start of June we started looking at the alternatives, and it has been very hard.
What we have done is come up with a plan which I think is really exciting.
We have expanded the festival to 18 days, with an extra week at the Triskel, and we expanded the number of screenings in the Everyman and, really excitingly, we have brought on board six partner festivals, both suburban and regional.
So now we will have films screened at the Reel Picture in Blackpool and in Ballincollig, as well as in Mallow, Bantry and the Regal in Youghal.
They need to be screened to the highest quality digital cinema package (DCP), so it’s not just your home projector. We actually have to build cinemas to screen films. It’s a massive undertaking and it is expensive.
Operationally, we are looking at venues and equipment and the team expands from eight to 50 plus between 100 and 120 volunteers.
JULY
By now, the schedule is emerging. There are so many factors, such as the availability of filmmakers, the general release schedule and so on.
There are some films that will be scheduled that are time-sensitive.
By July, we have invited probably about 50% of the films, and submissions are closing so there is a really big rush, particularly on the short films because notification for that is early September so a lot of viewing and reviewing needs to happen.
Also in July we hold a culinary cinema event — that’s really nice in the summer and keeps audiences engaged and it’s helpful to introduce people to the festival if they want to become involved.
We are trying to lock down sponsors and partners and then in July we also start the design process. This year it’s with our new creative partner in Cork, Babelfís.
Also in July, I meet with David Puttnam, who is our wonderful patron and who is so generous with time and expertise. I have lunch with him, catch up with him and see what we can do with him in the festival.
AUGUST
While everyone else is having their holidays, we are getting to the business end of the programming, so our experienced team are locking down films and getting them secured.
By now we are really focused on where we are with the programme, what is missing, if there are any obvious gaps, what is sitting well, and the ancillary programme as well, which filmmakers might come, which panelists, film industry people, and developing the Cork film trail.
Also, two of our major funding applications have to happen in August: The Arts Council application is due at the beginning of September and that’s a lot of work because we are in the thick of locking down our 2023 programme but also planning for 2024, and Screen Ireland is due at that time as well, so it is busy on a programmatic and institutional level in August.
We are also putting together the brochure, film copy needs to be prepared; that’s a short copy version for the brochure and then longer copy version for the web, and to direct people to the app. We are also recruiting for the seasonal roles, so guest services, box office, venue managers, expanding the marketing team, interns etc.
SEPTEMBER
The Venice Film Festival takes place in September but it’s too late for us. Our aim is that we should only be chasing big titles from Venice and Toronto, which also takes place this month, but inevitably there are changes — films drop out, new opportunities pop up.
We are always thinking about what the opening night film will be: it needs to be a great film but it also sets the tone for the festival.
We were very keen to secure Poor Things, which won in Venice [the Golden Lion award]. After that we were even keener, and we are very grateful to Disney Searchlight Pictures as we were able to see a preview of it in September and were delighted when they agreed to provide it for our Festival.
It is produced by Element Pictures and there is a great buzz about it.
It’s too late to be spending a week in Venice in September, much as we would love to. It feels like a real coup, securing that film, it is going to look spectacular in the Cork Opera House.
Also in September, we won a Business to Arts award with our partner, Future Planet, so that is a great calling card in trying to lock down other corporate sponsors.
And we are still looking at different guests we want to invite and we also do pre-announcements in September.
OCTOBER
At this point, we are locking the schedule down, then looking at the different venues. We went to print last week and the last film was confirmed on Tuesday — there is always a little bit of that.
We have announced our opening night, the Irish gala, we have our launch night.
Films are not all the same length, so it’s not a case of having regular screening slots, and the programming team are really careful about what is playing together.
No two Irish films should be showing at the same time, for example; you need a mix of documentaries and features; when do the shorts play, etc. Then you have to organise the guests who are coming, and when they are available.
Our programme launch (October 11) is one of our busiest days. At 7pm the website has to flip from out-of-festival into festival mode, and all the PR and social media campaigns start.
We work with hotel partners throughout the year so we are organised when it comes to travel and accommodation for guests — it’s a massive undertaking.
October flies, of course. And then we are into November, which is all about the festival.
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