The new film market is about to see new genre-specific projects enter the market.
Filmmaker Jonathan Martin, founder and director of genre festival FilmQuest, and John Fitzgerald, festival director, filmmaker, and Slamdance co-founder and curator, have announced the creation of FilmQuest Market. Martin and Fitzgerald are co-founders and partners in the project, which launches next year and will provide a genre-focused platform and run alongside a festival in Provo, Utah.
“I think we can do something completely different,” Martin says. “We don’t want this to be just another AFM or to copy other companies. What is the value add to the industry and market space? Of course there’s business-to-business, but how do we actually educate people, inform them and get them excited about coming back to the market? If you look, most of the successful markets have film festivals and have experience with that. So that’s part of what we were looking at.”
FilmQuest started in 2014 and just concluded its latest edition on November 1st. This year’s program included more specialized sessions under the fest’s Camp Cthulhu banner, including classes on casting, stunt performance, screenwriting, and alternative distribution. The latter was taught by Fitzgerald himself.
“This was, in part, an experiment to say, ‘If we put this many labs and workshops as part of the festival, how would this flow?’ We’re slowly learning how to make this part of the market, but it’s different than before,” Martin says.
Fitzgerald, who has overseen several film markets including Abu Dhabi, Slamdance and the American Film Conference, says the educational aspect sets this market apart from other opportunities and FilmQuest was the perfect proof of concept.
“People stand in the back and stay there for questions and introductions,” he says. “They want to learn. Even if people know the basics, even if they can read articles and understand what distribution means, and know who A24 and Neon are, they don’t know about alternative distribution. They don’t know that there are countless opportunities to be responsible for their releases. They don’t know who the players are, and this genre is such a hot topic that evergreen fans… They can do market screenings for filmmakers, just like we do at Cannes. For those who may not have been invited to the festival, but still want to screen their films, we love providing filmmakers with toolkits and curriculum to help advance their careers.”
Martin also believes the educational aspect will help businesses in the industry beyond artists.
“You might be able to bring in distributors and also sell on top of that,” he says. “These people aren’t all filmmakers. They don’t know every movie that’s out there. They’re up to speed, they might know some movies, but they might not be as aware of trends as they are at film festivals. Because we receive thousands of submissions, we see certain things before others see them. So how can we apply that to the marketplace? The driving force behind what we want to do is, ‘How can we improve the industry through the marketplace?’
The pair are also keen to launch the market in 2026 and then adjust as needed, including potentially expanding beyond genre filmmakers.
“There’s enough you can do in the first year of implementation, even if it doesn’t reach its full glory, and it will grow,” Fitzgerald says.
Importantly, the duo has the support of the City of Provo. The city of Provo continues to grow with more hotels and venues being built downtown. They are also passionate about creating economic impact for their communities.
Ultimately, Fitzgerald points to past successes at festivals such as Slamdance to show how FilmQuest Market can be successful.
“We all know that Hollywood is failing, but we also know that film festivals are a source of new talent,” he says. “Whether it’s Wes Anderson, the list is quite long, but they go on to do other things. We showed Christopher Nolan’s first film, ‘The Russo Brothers,’ and they’re all from festivals. So why can’t we grow and lean into it and do more than show movies? There’s so much you can do in this cultural market. ‘Here are the resources, here are the masterclasses, here are the workshops, and here are the retreats. Let’s go have fun.’
Martin agrees and thinks the festival atmosphere can make the industry a little more fun.
“We want to bring Filmquest’s free-spirited, rock-and-roll spirit to movies, the movie business, and the market experience that makes filmmaking fun again,” he says. “The market itself feels like a FilmQuest film camp community, a place where people don’t want to leave and look forward to coming back again and again. It’s that ideology that I believe we can infuse and add to the market space that is both exciting and engaging.”
