The Experience Makers : film festivals, immersion, and the festivalization of capitalism

• Applicant: Dr. Ann Vogel, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: from 2022 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 502058482

Film festivals around the world are in the business of making experiences for audiences, celebrities, elites, industry, professionals, and even future cultural workers. This book tells you why these non-profit organizations work as they do and attract people working for free, while appealing to businesses and policy-makers as cheap means to illuminate the ‘creative city’ and draw attention to film art. Vogel provides firm and systematic evidence for the ‘festival effect’ that shows the festival as an intermediary in cinema value chains, establishing that festivals ought to be conceptualized as actors on the production site of the experience economy. She offers unprecedented systematic sociological analysis of how event culture impacts on cultural workers’ lives. Read this book to find out what resources and institutional pillars ensure that festivalization of capitalism is here to stay, and why she urges us to think critically about publicly displayed benevolence.

• DFG Programme: Publication Grants