It's finally here -- the long-awaited release of a new program from the Film Festival Alliance to create a set of best practices for festivals, including a searchable database for filmmakers to compare and contrast events, allowing them to create better festival strategies. Jon and Bart are joined by Bears Rebecca Fonte, the Artistic Director of aGLIFF/PRISM, and Gray Rodriguez, the Director of Communications for the Film Festival Alliance.

Almost 12 years in the making, this new set of standards will revolutionize festivals, and assign a badge of professionalism and credibility to worthy events.

This month, Jon & Bart discuss the history of film festivals, and where the industry is today, with Sky Sitney, the co-founder and festival director of DC/DOX, and the former festival director of AFI Docs (originally known as Silverdocs), and a professor at Georgetown University, and Mark Rabinowitz, co-founder of indieWIRE, producer, acquisitions executive, programmer, and a member of the Louisville Film Commission.

We also talk about the big move ahead for Sundance, and honestly answer questions from filmmakers about festivals and filmmaking.

Welcome to Frankly Festivals, a new podcast that explores the ecosystem of film events and filmmakers, in an attempt to demystify each others’ pressures and interests, in order to foster greater cooperation, understanding, and a stronger industry.

This month, Jon & Bart speak with Lela Meadow-Conner, creative producer of “Chasing Chasing Amy”, former Executive Director of Film Festival Alliance, the co-creator of the Tallgrass Film Festival, and creator of the mamafilm microcinema and multi-city film series, and Geoff Marslett, award winning filmmaker of “Mars,” “Monkey vs. Robot,” and “Quantum Cowboys,” and teacher at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the University of Texas Austin.

Hosted by Jon Gann and Bart Weiss.