How To Organise A Film Festival

You often sit alone in the dark for hours on end. Not only can you pronounce Hou Hsiao-Hsien correctly, but you've seen all his films. And you love them so much you can't imagine how other people can live without seeing them. Maybe you are a born festival organiser..?

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Oliver Groom runs Toronto Britpics, a week long festival in Toronto showcasing the best of British film in July each year.

WHAT'S YOUR BACKGROUND?
I was in theatrical sales and distribution for 18 years in the UK. I moved to Canada when I got married and spend six months of the year working for a local production company and the other six months organising Britpics from an office at home. It takes six months off for me to psyche myself up each time.

HOW DO YOU MAKE SURE BRITPICS STAND OUT FROM THE REST?
You have to make sure your festival has its own space and identity among the plethora of film festivals. In Toronto there's the International Festival which takes films from all over the world, but Britpics is all about British films so it's got a niche identity and a niche market - locals who are interested in British films (Canadians generally are) and a small ex-pat community who are our core audience. The timing of the event is important too; we run in July when there are no other significant festivals and it's late enough to get hold of titles that screened for the first time in the market attached to the Cannes festival in May.

SO IS THE THEME JUST AS IMPORTANT?
Absolutely. Internationally there are very few exclusively British film festivals. There's Dinard and Cherbourg in France but that's about it. Also, with Britpics, we know there is going to be a constant stream of new titles to screen. If you want to put on a festival for French horror films, say, you've got to know that there are enough out there to justify it.