ABSTRACT This paper theorises film festivals as distribution circuits, positioning film festivals in the broader cinema ecology to assess their role in delivering local films to local audiences. Recasting current research trends into film festivals through the lens of distribution enables us to see how festivals function as more than another exhibition screen – as a type of distributor. I offer a case study of Sydney Film Festival to explore the following research questions: What is the distributive function and nature of film festivals for Australian films? What happens to local titles following their festival runs? How can we explain the gap between Australian films’ continued popularity at film festivals and their continued under-performance in the rest of the marketplace? In answering these questions, this article demonstrates how film festivals have become crucial to both the Australian film industry and the cinema industry at large over the last 10 years, to the point that they have almost replaced the art-house circuit and come to provide an essential, highly specialised distribution channel for small to medium budget films. For this reason, I argue that material and economic drivers are as essential to the current boon in film festivals as cultural ones, and that the film festival circuit has not been able to address the problem of distribution for auteurist, independent and art cinema in an age of digitisation. I present evidence that localises, concretises and specifies festival research, suggesting the major festivals in Australia are an increasingly discrete and self-contained distribution sector within the wider cinema ecology, which has significant implications for theorisations of festivals as feeders for theatrical circuits.

中文翻译：

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以电影节的发行人为理论依据，并调查节后电影在澳大利亚的发行

摘要本文将电影节作为发行电路的理论基础，将电影节定位在更广泛的电影生态中，以评估电影节在向本地观众提供本地电影中的作用。通过发行的镜头将当前的研究趋势重塑成电影节，使我们能够看到电影节如何发挥作用，而不是作为另一种放映屏幕–作为一种发行人。我提供一个悉尼电影节的案例研究来探讨以下研究问题：电影节对澳大利亚电影的分配功能和性质是什么？节日过后，本地头衔会如何处理？我们如何解释澳大利亚电影在电影节上的持续受欢迎与它们在其他市场上的表现不佳之间的差距？在回答这些问题时，本文展示了电影节在过去10年中如何对澳大利亚电影业和整个电影业都至关重要，以至于它们几乎已经取代了艺术电影院，并提供了至关重要的，高度专业化的发行中小型预算电影的频道。因此，我认为物质和经济驱动因素对于电影节当前的收益而言，与文化因素一样重要，而且电影节巡回演出无法解决电影院中的自拍，独立和艺术电影发行的问题。数字化时代。我提供的证据表明本地化，具体化和具体化了电影节研究，这表明澳大利亚的主要电影节在更广泛的电影院生态系统中是一个越来越分散且独立的发行部门，