Inside Move: Fests test their traction

Faced with reduced levels of sponsorship and increased difficulty in transporting prints and filmmakers, festivals are looking for ways to trim, whether in the number of days they run or films they unspool. The Sun Valley Film Festival went so far as to cancel its 2001 edition, and others may follow suit.

The most immediate headache is the significant withdrawal of corporate sponsorship, especially among airlines. Smaller fests -- which rely heavily on carriers to fly in panelists, press and prints -- find themselves in a serious bind.

"We recently received news that a major sponsor, British Airways, is closing its Seattle office, so we're scrambling," says Seattle Film festival chief Darryl Macdonald.

Fest directors, usually among the most upbeat of showbiz types, find themselves pondering cuts in staffing and scope of their events.

Seattle still plans to run from May 23-June 13, making it the longest American film fest, but it will cut the number of features from the 230 last year to about 180-190, partly to save on shipping costs.

The outlook is even bleaker for Santa Barbara, which has been forced to winnow what had been an 11-day fest down to five days for its 17th edition.

Santa Barbara actually decided to cut back months before Sept. 11, in response to the stock market meltdown.For optimists, the news is not uniformly bad. The first major candidate to feel the hurt would have appeared to be Palm Springs, doubly handicapped this year by being forced to run Jan. 10-21, a week early -- and concurrently with Sundance -- due to the Olympics.

Instead, Palm Springs director Denis Pregnolato is stunned at the solid prospects.

"I did not feel this way two months ago, but we're in pretty incredible shape with very strong advance sales, the same number of days and 18 more films -- 160 this time," he says. "We did lose American Airlines as a sponsor after Sept. 11, but we've scored quite a few new ones, such as Audi and Road & Track."

As for Sundance, the fallout has not been nearly as severe as for second-tier fests. "Corporate sponsorship has met goals, which were up from last year," reports director Geoffrey Gilmore.

"It's a bit surprising, but part of the reason is that we've never focused on new-technology companies. Some festivals got so much out of the dot-com world that it's difficult for them now," he says.