FilmFest DC Sets New Attendance Records

For more than two decades, FilmFest DC has been an important part of the Washington, DC community.  This film festival, which typically shows close to 100 movies from around the world, is less well known than many of the other festivals held around the United States each year.  This may be because the DC FilmFest does not pay for Hollywood celebrities to appear at the showings, it shows comparatively unknown films and it can afford only minimal advertising.  It must rely, therefore, on heavy media coverage and strong word-of-mouth to drive ticket sales. 

Qorvis’ solution was to involve the Washington-area media as early as possible in the process by which FilmFest DC determined the movies it would show in 2007.  Through a series of one-on-one meetings with reporters, editors and producers, FilmFest DC explained in detail why each film was selected, how each was selected, and what it took to get the rights to show each film.  The results were outstanding.  The media strategy of focusing on feature rather than news stories provided FilmFest DC with consistent coverage in advance of the festival.  That coverage expanded interest in the schedule of movies.  In the end, ticket sales and revenues both increased to new records.