DALLAS — The Film Festival Doctor Podcast, co-produced and hosted by film festival strategist Dr. Rebekah Louisa Smith, is going on a live tour in August.
Launched in 2011, The Film Festival Doctor is a festival-strategy consulting company, and Smith’s podcast is dedicated to helping emerging and established filmmakers build a festival strategy, understand how programming works, and learn what festivals look for when selecting films. For the live shows, she has confirmed programmers from the Oscar-qualifying deadCenter, genre festival Fantastic Fest, North Hollywood CineFest, NewFilmmakers Los Angeles, Dances With Films, and the Arab Film & Media Institute.
The first stop is the Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival on Aug. 11 at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles; the second is at the iconic Texas Theatre in Dallas on Aug. 27. More dates will be announced soon. “I’m super excited to get these two live shows on the road — they’re the first of their kind for this type of educational series,” Smith said. “Audiences will really get to know the programmers and feel like they’ve become friends with them by the end of the event.”
Six of Smith’s clients are screening at HollyShorts, including ‘11.11,’ directed by Mahnoor Euceph and executive produced by Cate Blanchett; the environmental documentary ‘What the River Knows’; the fantasy short ‘The Pearl Comb’; the sci-fi drama ‘One Last Round,’ starring Jake McDorman; ‘Going,’ starring Nicholas Pinnock; and the micro-short ‘The Picnic,’ directed by Emmy-nominated stunt coordinator Cory DeMeyers. Founded in 2010, Smith and her team have helped win more than 2,500 awards for their clients, including three Oscar successes.
Learn more: Visit thefilmfestivaldoctor.com.
