to speak of many things: of ships, and shoes, and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings; and why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings. (Lewis Carroll from Alice In Wonderland)

The changes in the independent film community are stirring comments in many blogs, most especially AJ Schnack’s commentaries at All These Wonderful Things. Over at Green Cine Jonathan Marlowe stirs from exile after selling his terrific site to comment that “They didn’t build their sales model for you.”

That’s pretty good, up to that point, but then his comments (and others posted below it) vere way off course. “The ten or 20 dollars you spend on a ticket (or the $50 to $500 you spend on a pass) rarely finds its way into the hands of the folks behind the camera,” he writes, without understanding that (1) festivals barely break even (if they are lucky) and that (2) typically ticket prices are only between 30 and 40 percent of a festival’s total budget. (The rest of the festival spending comes from sponsors like IndiePix.)

AJ has good comments on how filmmakers can benefit from festivals — and he’s a knowledgeable source. Here’s another way of looking at it: a film’s performance on the festival circuit really is the judgment of the independent film community.

Question:If a festival can’t pay a filmmaker, then why are festivals important?

Answer:Because they represent the collective judgment of the independent film community.

A film that has been in several festivals and won some awards has, as many of you know, been screened and judged worthy by several panels and further reviewed by awards judges. That process represents the view of the independent film community better than any other process today — certainly better than internet popularity contests — in terms of what’s good. What’s “popular” is not necessarily “good” independent film. I offer, as examples (dispensing with unnecessary adjectives), “Four-Eyed Monster” and “Super High-Me”. The difference between “good” and “popular” is an important distinction that we should not forget.

The fact that films that play prestigious festivals and win important awards don’t get distribution has zero to do with how well festivals do their job. It only has to do with how poorly would-be distribution companies do theirs! On the face of it, festivals have correctly pointed out the best in independent film. But the distribution executives repeatedly ask: “how can I sell that?”

Pardon me, but isn’t that exactly what they’re supposed to do? Isn’t that why they’re paid the big bucks?