Film Fest Travel

Film Fest Travel brings together people who love movies and travel.

By arranging for you the most engaging film festival experiences in some of the most exciting cities in the world (see this year’s schedule below), we make it easy for our travelers to enjoy films, parties, special events, city tours and more at world-class film festivals. With a wide array of festivals to choose from each year, we experience everything from big-name Hollywood films to quality independent and foreign films. When it comes to film, we try a little of everything.

Our intention is to make it as easy as possible for you to enjoy both the film festival and the city and country we are visiting. We work closely with festival staffs in each city to make certain members in our group are taken care of throughout the festival.

Before you arrive at a festival, we will send you festival program information so you can start planning your film festival experience early. When possible, we will include referrals and reviews to help you decide on what films at the festival are a must-see. Our staff includes veteran professional film critics, journalists and film experts who will help guide you through the film offerings as we go through the festival, and facilitate some invigorating discussions on the films we see.

After arriving at the hotel - usually the day before the festival begins - you will receive a package containing passes or badges offering you full access to films and selected festival events, often including parties, panel discussions and other special events.

On the morning of the first day of the festival, we gather in a room at the hotel and enjoy our first Everybody’s A Critic Breakfast, complete with full breakfast and our first discussion concerning the films and activities scheduled for the days ahead. This is when we get to know each other. On the festival opening night, we gather in the hotel lobby and make our way to the festival for the opening-night screening.

Our Everybody’s A Critic breakfasts continue for the next four or five mornings, where over great food and coffee (especially welcome if you attended a late-night screening the evening before) we discuss the films we saw the previous day, offering opinions and suggestions to the rest of the group. Whenever possible, we bring in special guests from the films to join us, including producers, directors, actors and screenwriters.

After breakfast, depending on the day and the festival schedule, we either depart on a bus or walking tour of the city, or get to the theater for a full day and evening of film screenings. We guide you on how to get to the theater, or at some festivals, multiple theaters. As your pass offers you access to most all screenings, it’s up to you what films you see. In some cities, we also set up film history tours of that particular city, allowing you to learn more about what films were shot in that city, and see those historic locations.

Whenever possible we get together during the day and evening to talk more, as we are all film fans who want to share our thoughts on the films we see. If there’s time, maybe some of you meet for lunch, a drink or coffee inbetween your busy viewing schedules.

Your festival package includes:

Hotel booking, usually for five or six nights, at a hotel conveniently located close to the film festival activities. Usually we arrive the day before the festival starts, giving us time to finalize our plans, and explore the city a little before the festival begins the following day.

Information before and after arrival on such details as film screenings and events schedule, city tours, breakfast schedule and whatever else will assist you.

Festival passes good for all film screenings and selected parties and special events.

Daily Everybody’s A Critic breakfasts, including delicious full breakfast, lively conversation, advice, referrals from fellow travelers and sometimes special guests.

This is an opportunity to meet fellow travelers who love film and travel as much as you do. From these trips, we expect lifetime friendships to follow! Will we agree on every film we see? No way, and that’s part of the fun. If you like to discuss film with like-minded film fans, this is the place, wherever we are in the world.

We are currently planning and booking our 2008 trips, including film festivals in Venice, San Diego, Hawaii, Stockholm and the Bahamas. In 2009, we’ll visit Berlin, Maui and Los Angeles - among others to be announced. See schedule below for more details.

For more information on Film Fest Travel, please e-mail us at filmfesttravel@gmail.com or call us at (760) 470-2481.

2008 Schedule:

Aug. 27-Sept. 1

Venice Film Festival

www.labiennale.org/en/cinema

Sept. 24-28

San Diego Film Festival

www.sdff.org

Oct. 9-14

Hawaii International Film Festival

www.hiff.org

November 20-25

Stockholm International Film Festival

www.stockholmfilmfestival.se/en/festival

Dec. 4-10

Bahamas Film Festival

www.bintlfilmfest.com

2009

February 2009

Berlin Film Festival

www.berlinale.de/en/das_festival/festivalprofil/profil_der_berlinale/index.html

June 2009

Maui Film Festival

www.mauifilmfestival.com

Los Angeles Film Festival

www.lafilmfestival.com

Keep checking throughout the year as we add new festivals for 2009! Would you like to get on our e-mail list for updates? Send us an e-mail at filmfesttravel@gmail.com

FAQ

What is Film Fest Travel?

Film Fest Travel brings together people who enjoy films and travel, creating the most convenient, invigorating film festival experience possible. We travel to some of the most exciting cities in the world to experience some of the most respected film festivals in the world. We experience these films and share our opinions with the others in our group, creating lively, invigorating discussions. Film is art, and art is intended for debate. So let’s have at it. And remember, everybody’s opinion counts. We engage in friendly banter.

Is Film Fest Travel a traditional travel company?

We don’t sell or book flights or cruises, (or chartered jets or space shuttles). You get to the festival city using your own wits and crafty devices, perhaps booking through one of the major online discount agencies, or through your own travel agent or directly through the airlines. You then make your way to the hotel, and we’ll pass tips along to you for that, such as if the hotel has a shuttle service from the airport.

We go for classy, comfortable hotels close to festival activities, often the official festival hotel. We book your hotel, prep you concerning the festival program, make festival pass/ticket arrangements for screenings and parties, set up city tours, organize breakfast get-togethers. We make your film festival experience convenient and fun, smooth and enjoyable. We should probably be called Film Festival Concierges, but that’s too difficult to say and spell every time.

The trip is for five days but the festival continues for another two weeks. Can I stay?

Hey, if you want to sit in a dark theater every day for 14 consecutive days, then you are our hero! We wish we had your guts and determination. We keep the official trip to about five days, because that’s the length of time, give or take, that most people want to spend at a festival. So our activities will end after five or six days, but you can stay as long as you like, because you are an adult, and we are not the boss of you. Since your festival pass is good for the duration of the festival, you are good to go on that. And we will try to get you a special hotel rate for as long as you want to stay, though we can’t promise that every time.

Will I meet Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie on my film festival trip?

Probably not, but if we see one of those folks on the trip, we’ll invite them to one of our breakfast discussions. The worst they can say is no. We will try to get an actor, director, producer, screenwriter or other talent from the festival films to join us for a breakfast or two, and we’ll go after the most interesting people we can find. True film fans know that some of the most fascinating people in film are those we’ve never heard of, the sort of people that make the best film festivals worth the trip. These are the talented, interesting people who become famous later because of their success at film festivals. And when they do become famous, you can boast to your friends at home that you made that success possible. We’re more about film as art than celebrity - though we admit to sometimes following celebrity news. But Brangelina, if you are reading this, know that you are always welcome. We’ll be nice to you.

Just what is this Everybody’s A Critic Breakfast thing?

Every morning around 9 a.m. we meet in a room at the hotel for our Everybody’s A Critic Breakfast. Over a full breakfast (included in your festival package), a professional film critic will lead the group in a discussion concerning the previous day’s screenings, where everybody in the room can have a say. In the best-case scenario, your fellow film festival travelers recommend a film they saw but you didn’t, and it’s playing again that same day. Sweet! And these breakfasts on occasion give us the opportunity to bring in talent from one of the festival films for a Q/A session.

Hey, there’s more to a film festival than sitting in a dark theater.

Now that’s not really a question, is it? It’s true, though. Along with the aforementioned daily breakfasts, we’ll arrange city tours, and when relevant, tours that highlight a city’s film history. Just about every big city in the world enjoys some sort of film history, and we hope to learn that history in many of the cities we visit. And we’ll try to get in whatever party will have people like us.

Will the characters in these films speak in English, or whatever language I speak most often?

Characters in films usually speak whatever language that character would normally speak. If we know you, your real question is: Are these films subtitled? Most festival films spoken in another language employ English subtitles. But even if they don’t, we adapt, because we are wise and curious global citizens who seek greater knowledge. Some of the best films we’ve seen at international film festivals offered no English translation, and it didn’t much matter at all. And please don’t ask if the films will be dubbed. We’re not going to the Godzilla film festival (though we might if there was one.)

What should I wear?

Before we leave on our trips, we’ll get the scoop on dress suggestions, especially for parties and such, and pass the word to you. For the most part, though, the film festival experience calls for casual.

Will I really make lifetime friends on my film festival trip?

You will, especially if you find time to bathe and brush your teeth between screenings. Even if you don’t, the point of these excursions is to bring people together who love movies, and get them talking to each other about what they have just seen. People love to talk about movies. You do. You know you do. From our talks, and from spending time together experiencing new ideas, new cultures, new art, we form bonds that will last beyond the exciting festival journey.