On March 30, Ivy Film Festival announced its involvement with Creative Artists Agency. By participating in IFF’s festival programming and engaging with student filmmakers, the agency will help advance IFF’s mission of exchanging ideas between industry professionals and student creatives.
A leading talent and sports agency, CAA provides services to top stars in the entertainment and sports industries, with a long list of clients including Jennifer Aniston, Beyoncé and David Beckham.
An agent from media finance at CAA — a sector of the agency that champions young filmmakers and independent films — reached out to IFF in December of last year about a collaboration, said Grace Attanasio ’21, co-director of IFF.
At CAA, the Media Finance sector partners their clients “with producers and people in the industry … and gets them to the stage to show these films that otherwise don't really get told or distributed on a wide level,” she said.
“I think (the work Media Finance does) really follows our mission of wanting to create a platform for all storytellers,” Attanasio added.
IFF is the largest student-run film festival worldwide. Each year, IFF receives around 500 student film submissions and works to finalize an Official Selection of 25 to 30 films throughout the year. In last year’s Official Selection, 27 films created by undergraduate and graduate students from around the world were featured.
Student films featured in the Official Selection are “so well-made and so impressive” and have been nominated for Academy Awards in the past, said Karina Rotenstreich ’20, co-director of IFF.
IFF staff then curate a Grand Jury Selection in addition to the Official Selection, which is sent to industry professionals who determine the Grand Jury Prize winner.
This year and going forward, CAA plans to engage in round-table discussions with IFF student filmmakers and meet with the Grand Jury Prize winner.
“My dream was to be able to tangibly reward the filmmakers in some way because we've never had anything like this. And (CAA’s involvement) is beyond what I could have imagined to get them. So we're really excited and really, really proud,” Rotenstreich said.
While this year’s festival will not be hosted on Brown’s campus and its format will be very different in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, CAA is still committed to continuing its involvement through virtual methods, Rotenstreich said.
“We're really looking forward to having (the CAA agent) on campus next year, as well as getting involved this year. So although this year is kind of up in the air, it's really nice to know that (the agent is) still willing to do it virtually,” Attanasio said.
Correction: A previous version of this article stated that CAA would participate in selecting the films for IFF's Official Selection block. In fact, CAA will not participate in the selection process but will participate in festival programming. The story also stated that last year's Official Selection included 35 films when it included 27. The Herald regrets the errors.
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