Normalising the Digital Festival Experience

As Still Voices Short Film Festival looks to grow and establish itself as a unique and leading voice in the Irish arts scene, they found themselves recognising the potential a video-on-demand (VOD) platform has to transform the scope of their mission, promote new talent, and take their festival into the future.

“We focus on our local communities...but what Shift72 allowed us to do is [on] a national scope, where we had people all over the weekend of the festival from all parts of Ireland coming in and viewing our content.”

Ronan O’Toole, Festival Director

About Still Voices

Since its inception in 2014, Still Voices has brought world-class cinema to the midlands region of Ireland where access to film and art is lacking. In keeping with their mission, Still Voices is a mostly free event for the community, who are invited to celebrate the artistry of a variety of short films showcased in their annual competition alongside select feature-length films. 

Keeping an eye to the future, Still Voices recognised that video-on-demand (VOD) platforms are rapidly becoming a holistic part of the festival and cinema experience rather than just a feature. With a clear vision for incorporating a digital platform into their annual festival, Still Voices was in need of a partner who could help them achieve their vision.

‍

Opportunity to Take a Leap Into the Future

Seeing an opportunity to be at the forefront of the hybrid landscape, expand the festival’s reach, and further promote their filmmakers, they reached out to Shift72 to create a platform that put quality shorts into the hands of film lovers. The 2020 Still Voices Short Film Festival exceeded expectations, with:

• 150 free short films hosted on their VOD platform

• Smashed attendance goals of over 1,000 guests throughout Ireland

• Over 3,000 views on VOD during the 3-day festival

• Organic interactions between audiences and filmmakers over social media knowing that the tech side of the festival was in good hands, Still Voices was free to focus on curating content and positioning themselves for future festivals

‍

Looking Forward

Still Voices remains committed to making their VOD platform a normalised and integral part of their festival experience as they grow into a leading voice in the Irish arts.

Their 2021 festival cemented the new Still Voices hybrid format, which they achieved by:

• Screening each film in-person first, then making their entire shorts program available online throughout the festival period

• Highlighting one feature-length film at the close of each day as an exclusive, in-person screening

• In-person events such as panels, Q&A’s, and children’s workshops for the community

• Digital screenings of their Irish language, student, Made in the Midlands, international, and AIT shorts programs

After the close of their 2021 festival, Still Voices announced esteemed British filmmaker, Terence Davies, as a patron of the festival moving forward, demonstrating their positioning as a global player in the festival industry.

‍

“Our content is very good. Our content would be similar to films that play at Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes - it’s really good shorts. That was one thing that a lot of people recognised [in 2020], with the access of Shift72, is that Still Voices has a really good, high quality of content mixed in with all the local stuff as well.”

Ronan O’Toole, Festival Director

‍

‍

‍