Festival circus, golden gnomes and cultural diplomacy. The Audi Festival of German films in the context of multicultural festivals in Australia

Abstract

This report discusses the festival, its distinct profile, target groups, mode of operation, selection process, development over the years, and challenges within a wider context. International film festivals can help to broaden the viewers’ horizons, enhance cultural awareness and create public value in a city's social and cultural fabric. The prominent contemporary culture industry challenges traditional aspirations, aims and objectives of cultural diplomacy. As a multicultural festival, the German Film Festival must engage with both these contemporary and traditional objectives. This report examines how the festival has engaged, and continues to engage, with the ongoing demands of cultural diplomacy and offers cultural policy recommendations for international festivals. It will cover how the festival strategically sustains a niche not serviced by usual cinema programming, appeals beyond the German diasporic audience, takes an event-based approach to programming and pursues public–private partnerships to this end.