The Film Festival Reader

What is the importance of film festivals in the context of film culture at large? What logic reigns within the film festival galaxy? Are film festivals tools of power and prestige that make or break the fate of a film? Or do they effectively seal diverse and unique cinema from the wider public whilst simultaneously professing to celebrate it? What, if anything, is wrong with the concept of 'festival films'? What makes a good film festival good or a bad one bad? It is these and other questions that are raised and treated in the classic texts included in this anthology.