Film Festivals 101

Dear Nieces and Nephews,

The World’s most recognized film festival is probably The Festival de Cannes (Cannes Film Festival)l in France. It was established in the early Twentieth Century and was registered as an “Association loi de 1901” (or non-profit association in France) in 1972. It  continues as a non-profit to this day.

The Festival’s goal is to promote film-making:

“The aim of the Festival is to encourage the development of the art of filmmaking in all its forms, while fostering and maintaining a spirit of collaboration among all filmmaking countries” (extract from the Festival policy, 1948.)  http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/about/aboutFestivalHistory.html

The purpose is NOT to promote the films or ideas of one producer/director or line the pockets of one person or entity.

Most film festivals in the US are also non-profits. For fun, let’s take a look at film festivals in the States of NJ and NY.

Here is an IRS Search in New Jersey for "film festivals":

45-3580994	Ancora Music Festival A NJ Nonprofit Corporation	Iselin	NJ	United States	PC
20-4540505	Asian American Film and Theater Project Inc.	N Brunswick	NJ	United States	PC
16-1646476	Cape May New Jersey State Film Festival Inc.	Cape May	NJ	United States	PC
26-3073898	Collingswood Book Festival	Collingswood	NJ	United States	PC
22-3527625	Festival Committee of Chatsworth	Chatsworth	NJ	United States	PC
22-2974759	Festival of the Atlantic Inc.	Neptune	NJ	United States	PC
27-2873385	Forte International Music Competition and Festivals	Morganville	NJ	United States	PC
74-3154819	Garden State Dance Festival Inc.	Cherry Hill	NJ	United States	PC
48-1280505	Garden State Film Festival	Atlantic City	NJ	United States	PC
22-3690238	Garden State Irish Festival Foundation Inc.	Cranford	NJ	United States	PC
27-3939275	Golden Door International Film Festival of Jersey City	Jersey City	NJ	United States	PC
22-3743026	Indo-American Festivals Inc.	Old Bridge	NJ	United States	PC
32-0087364	Irish Festival at the Jersey Shore Inc.	New Monmouth	NJ	United States	PC
46-4343660	Jersey City International Television and Film Festival Inc.	Jersey City	NJ	United States	PC
55-0875613	Jewish Impact Films	Passaic	NJ	United States	PC
46-1703251	Ladies of Hip-Hop Festival	Jersey City	NJ	United States	PC
22-3645790	Mercer County Italian- American Festival Asso Inc.	Hamilton	NJ	United States	PC
22-6063134	Metro Lyric Opera & Guild Monmouth Opera Festival & Guild	Jackson	NJ	United States	PC
27-1732322	Montclair Film Festival Inc.	Montclair	NJ	United States	PC
45-3365856	Montclair Food & Wine Festival Inc.	Montclair	NJ	United States	PC
22-2432213	New Jersey Festival Orchestra	Westfield	NJ	United States	PC
26-4624869	New Jersey Film Alliance	Freehold	NJ	United States	PC
22-3590399	New Jersey Folk Festival	New Brunswick	NJ	United States	PC
03-0439566	New Jersey Renaissance Festival Players Inc.	Somerset	NJ	United States	PC
20-1557706	Nj Chinese Festival Inc. A New Jersey Nonprofit Organization	Montville	NJ	United States	PC
20-1346989	Princeton Festival A Nj Non Profit	Princeton	NJ	United States	PC
23-7254943	Rome Festival Orchestra Ltd.	Mountainside	NJ	United States	PC
27-3521421	Sangam Festival	Princeton	NJ	United States	PC
46-2691182	Sejong International Music Festival Inc. - A Nj Non-Profit Corporation	Closter	NJ	United States	POF
20-4135357	Ship Bottom Irish Festival Inc.	Barnegat	NJ	United States	PC
46-1585113	Short Film Awards	Carteret	NJ	United States	PC
04-3752827	Trenton Film Society	Trenton	NJ	United States	PC

This is the search for film festivals in New York returns a large number and due to space limitations, we chose not to print them here. But Auntie and the Team strongly encourage you to look at the list through this link:

http://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/pub78Search.do?indexOfFirstRow=0&sortColumn=name&isDescending=false&exemptTypeCode=&isDescending=false&totalResults=170&postDateTo=&ein1=&state=NY&dispatchMethod=searchCharities&postDateFrom=&country=US&city=&searchChoice=pub78&indexOfFirstRow=0&sortColumn=ein&resultsPerPage=250&names=vilm+festival&zipCode=&deductibility=all

 

What you will notice, Chers nièces et neveux, is that the Hoboken “International” film festival is glaring by its omission from these lists. Just where is Kenny? At the bank? Does this mean that the HIFF and Justice for All Production is For-profit? Is someone trying to line their pockets with your hard-earned cash? Exactly how much money has Kenny been given to bring his less than "B" quality films to Orange County? And does he get a portion of the profits from the tickets sales?

Is someone counting on us being a bunch of dweebs?  

Nah! Not in Orange County.