Marketing and promotional strategies of film festivals

We are witnesses of the film festival transformation from cultural gatherings into complex cultural and economic institutions that strongly influence the global film industry as well as the local creative landscape. This thesis researches the role of marketing and promotional strategies film festivals use to attract audiences, build and strengthen brand identity and enable sustainable and long-term growth. Relying on the theoretical framework from cultural and creative industries, branding theory and audience development and behaviour, the study explores how festivals balance their artistic qualities with an extremely competitive entertainment marketplace. It was organized around the hypothesis that digital marketing and strategic partnerships are key drives of the festival's success. To explore this claim, a mixed-method approach was adopted. By combining semi-structured expert interviews, online survey for audience perspective and comparative case study of two Pordenone Docs Fest and Belgrade Irish Festival we yield key results for the analysis. Overall, the study showed that marketing in the festival settings is not an add-on activity, but a key effort for building identity, sustainability and cultural impact. Film festivals today are not passive screening platforms but active co-creation hubs of culture, creativity and connections. Marketing is used as a medium through which these possibilities take shape.