1. Morgan Marianelli
5/4/15
Film 350
Men in Tights, Dark Knights, and…a Film Festival?
Cannes and Locarno Converge at Comic-Con International: San Diego
Ask anyone the first image that comes to their mind when they think of Comic-Con
International: San Diego, the world’s premier comic convention, and they will probably say
something along the lines of a mass gathering of fanboys and girls geeking out over their
favorite comic book superheroes and comics-related fandoms. That image would not be
incorrect. However, over the years, Comic-Con has expanded from its comic book roots into
a Hollywood behemoth in which Hollywood uses the event as a promotional tool for its
latest genre films and television shows, with some attendees complaining that the event is
becoming completely taken over by Hollywood (Murray). With all of the attention given to
Hollywood promotions at the event, many may be surprised to learn that Comic-Con hosts
a film festival as one of its events. Just as the Venice International Film Festival is part of
larger celebration of culture, the Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival is a
sidebar of the larger Comic-Con event. Unlike Venice, however, the festival is by no means
the focal point of Comic-Con; it has been referred to as “The Con’s best-kept secret,” in that
it is overshadowed by the Hollywood glamour and prestige of the larger event
(Accomando). With its Hollywood influence, Comic-Con as a whole resembles the Cannes
Film Festival, while the Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival resembles
Locarno as a Launchpad for discovering new talent in the film industry; despite differences,
however, it makes sense for Comic-Con to host a smaller, genre-oriented film festival
because of the synergy between audiences as passionate fans of genre films.

2. Comic-Con hasn’t always been the “swollen, studio-driven, 125,000-attendee hub of
the pop-culture universe” that it is today (Lowry). It was founded in 1970 as a small
gathering for geeks to come together and celebrate their love of comics, as its name implies
(Comic-Con International). This first official convention provided the model for every
comic convention to follow, and Comic-Con has since become “the focal point for the world
of comics conventions” (Ibid). For anyone that knows anything about Comic-Con, it is
difficult to fathom how such a small, localized event could grow into the global mass
spectacle it is today that has drawn an audience of 130,000 in recent years (Ibid). The
convention’s mission statement is worded as follows: “Comic-Con International: San Diego
is a nonprofit educational corporation dedicated to creating awareness of, and appreciation
for, comics and related popular forms, primarily through the presentation of conventions
and events that celebrate the historic and ongoing contribution of comics to art and
culture” (Ibid). However, the statement gives very little indication as to what the event is
really about, and fails to convey its immense scale as a major part of the Hollywood
machine. What are “related popular forms” anyway? The confusing wording of Comic-Con’s
mission statement suggests that perhaps the convention isn’t even entirely sure how to
convey what it’s all about.
Variety writer Brian Lowry reflects on the days when Comic-Con was “truly about
comic books, and the only stars one was likely to see there were the artists and writers who
created them” (Lowry). However, even though Comic-Con was founded as a celebration of
comic books, it was never intended to be solely about the comics: “From the beginning, the
founders of the show set out to include not only the comic books they loved, but also other
aspects of the popular arts that they enjoyed and felt deserved wider recognition, including

3. films and science fiction/fantasy literature” (Comic-Con International). Ad early as 1977,
George Lucas launched his immensely successful Star Wars franchise and Lucasfilm was
among the first movie companies to self-promote to fans at Comic-Con-Con (Thompson
110). After Lucasfilms premiered The Empire Strikes Back trailer at Comic-Con, the event
rapidly proliferated into the studio-driven event it is today, whereby “attendees began to
expect such exclusive treats, and the event grew by Kryptonian-style leaps and bounds”
(Lowry). Essentially, Hollywood realized it could tap into the market of comic book fans at
Comic-Con because “many buyers of comics and art and action figures were also huge
movie enthusiasts- a built-in, easily targeted core audience for genre fare” (Thompson
111).
Comic-Con has expanded into a convergence of comic book culture alongside
promotions of Hollywood blockbusters, much like the Cannes Film Festival is a glamorous,
star-studded event that extends far beyond its film festival roots. In her case study of
Cannes, Marike De Valck explains that, “…there is not one dominant principle governing the
festival circuit. Festivals are cultural canon builders, exhibition sites, market places,
meeting points, and city attractions” (De Valck 102). Cannes represents a meeting ground
of culture and economics, especially in its market, Le Marche du Cinema, that has
“developed from a modest meeting into the world’s leading event for the international film
industry…” (De Valck 113). Cannes’ market is distinguished by its “glitter and glamour” in
which major business deals are made over extravagant parties, and the market is
accompanied by the celebrity culture and air of exclusivity permeating the festival as a
whole. According to Variety, “The Con has essentially turned into California’s Cannes,
where celebrities and filmmakers show up to schmooze an audience of fickle critics they

4. may not be able to connect with, or even understand. But they realize that these fanboys
wield a power that can sell tickets” (Graser, “Sneak Peeks”).
A 2003 Variety article opens with the lead, “Where can you go to find mutants,
manga, Angelina Jolie, and maybe a Hulk or two?” (Phillips). The answer, of course, is not
the walls of a teenage boy’s bedroom like usual, the article jokes, but the Comic-Con
International: San Diego, where all of these aspects of popular culture converge in the
melting pot that is Comic-Con, in which Hollywood is the most potent ingredient. Comic-
Con has a massive programming schedule, with nearly 700 events at the last conference
held in July 2014 (Comic-Con International). Hollywood is a major player in the schedule of
events, asserting its presence in a variety of ways, namely through panels and
presentations on genre films and television shows, and merchandise booths spread out
over 525,000 square feet on the exhibition ground floor, selling everything from T-shirts to
bobble-head dolls to signed graphic novels (Thompson 112-113). “The floor” serves as the
event’s marketplace, with the upper-levels being reserved for panels and presentations
(Phillips). The floor spans letters A through G, with Hall H, the 6,500-seat amphitheater at
the end of the hall, serving as Hollywood’s screening room for the select footage of movies
and TV shows it offers fans (Murray). As The Hollywood Reporter explains, Hollywood has
strategically exploited Comic-Con as a promotional tool because it realizes that “the kind of
people who go to Comic-Con reside in a marketing sweet spot. Con-goers are equally
devoted to movies, television and toys, and though it’s hard to predict exactly what’ll turn
them on, they’re clearly into more than just muscle-bound men in costumes” (Ibid). Comic-
Con goers are fans of genres that transcend comic books into movies and TV and, as
discerning media critics, they are therefore the “world’s largest focus group,” as journalist

5. Scott Mantz tells filmmaker Morgan Spurlock for his 2011 documentary chronicling the
monstrosity that is Comic-Con, Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope (Thompson 115). The
attendees at Comic-Con can be excellent indicators of a film’s future success in the box
office, such as when Summit Entertainment brought the first Twilight movie to Comic-Con
in 2008 and fans, mostly girls, went wild when actor Rob Pattinson promoted the film as
part of a panel in Hall H; sure enough, the film grossed $392.6 million worldwide (Ibid).
While Comic-Con’s market is different from Cannes’ in that it is not about filmmakers trying
to strike deals with distributors to pick up their films, but rather about studios attempting
to sell their media products before their official release, the markets exude the same high-
energy, competitive, and cutthroat nature. As Picturehouse President Bob Berney told the
Hollywood Reporter:
Comic-Con is very competitive. You have so many booths and screenings vying for
attention that you have to be willing to spend the money to create something
interesting. From the marketing side, you really can’t afford not to go to San Diego,
but from the business side, some people literally can’t afford to go there because I
don’t think it does any good to show up with a card table and a couple of flyers.
(Murray)
In other words, the products promoted have to be marketable and worthwhile, which is
why, even though comic book sellers and video game retailers still make up a portion of the
market selling their wares to the hoards of geeks at Comic-Con, Hollywood occupies an
especially lucrative position at Comic-Con in appealing to fans with their big-budget
products.

6. Comic-Con also resembles Cannes in its glamour and prestige. As De Valck says in
her chapter on Cannes, “The success of Cannes as market place is related to the exclusivity,
glitter, and glamour that are added by the festival and which sets the site apart from more
ordinary film markets” (De Valck 114). The same applies for Comic-Con; there are many
other comic conventions and similar events celebrating genre films around the world, but
Comic-Con International: San Diego is the comic-con, the one that receives all the media
attention and hype. As one might expect due to their origins as comic book companies, DC
and Marvel are major players at Comic-Con, expanding the comic book universe into films
such as DC’s Batman trilogy and Marvel’s The Avengers (Thompson 117). Virtually every
major studio with marketable fanboy fare has appeared at Comic-Con, including
Paramount, 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Warner Bros., Sony, and Disney (Dickey and
Graser). Furthermore, television has a huge presence at the event: “TV has all but
overtaken movies as the driving force behind the confab- in large part because of the
appetite for genre fare like HBO’s Game of Thrones and AMC’s The Walking Dead (Ibid).
With the rise of the DVR and the declining media influence of newspapers and magazines,
Comic-Con has become an instrumental part of their marketing strategies by bringing
shows directly to the fans, and, as journalist Andrea Morabito points out, “these aren’t just
casual viewers…[they are] rabid fans of the science fiction/supernatural/comic
book/fanboy genre series that populate the booths and panels- the kinds of folks who are
apt to wait in line for hours to catch a glimpse of the original cast of Firefly (Morabito). It
goes without saying that with major studios, come major stars, and the star power at
Comic-Con has built up an air of exclusivity around the event. As Sara Levine states in her
study of Comic-Con as a pop culture engine, “The most harrowing experiences occur before

7. the convention actually takes place” (Levine). By that, she is referring to the chaotic race to
score tickets, which go on sale during the previous year’s convention, with remaining
tickets sold online that sell out within hours. Hotels book up months beforehand (Ibid).
Additionally, tickets (called badges) cost $165 if one is lucky enough to score a pass to all
four days of the event (Kirkham). Therefore, a Comic-Con attendee must be of a certain
class that can afford to attend the event (Levine). For those lucky enough to attend Comic-
Con, there is the added challenge of managing to get up close with celebrities, with people
camping out overnight just for a change to make it into Hall H (Thompson 112).
Comic-Con is definitely not open to everyone, as it once was, and overall, it can be
said to demonstrate what James English calls “the logic of proliferation” as its popularity
and star power have expanded over time. The logic of proliferation, English explains, is a
process by which “Prizes, an instrument of cultural hierarchy, would themselves come to
describe a hierarchical array…” (English 54). In this process, newcomers to the field of
cultural prizes try to establish themselves as offering something different, yet their prizes
come to resemble the established prizes they set out to oppose. As an awards-granting film
festival, Cannes was founded in 1946 in opposition to the Fascist agenda of Venice. Comic-
Con also gives out a series of awards and one of its original awards, the Will Eisner Comic
Industry Awards, was established in 1984 to honor the best works and creators in comics.
As evidence of Comic-Con’s rapid proliferation, the award is now described as the “Oscars
of the comic book industry,” demonstrating just how far Comic-Con has strayed from its
comic book roots to an event with a glamorous awards ceremony with presenters including
George R.R. Martin, Samuel L. Jackson, and Joss Whedon (Comic-Con International).

8. With so much attention given to Hollywood at Comic-Con, it can be easy to overlook
the event’s film festival that screens 50 films from independent filmmakers over the four
days of the convention (Meyers). In fact, Comic-Con’s website does an impressive job of
concealing the Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival, established as part of
Comic-Con in 2000. To find information on the film festival, one must scroll down to the
last category under “Awards”, listed as “Other Awards.” From there, the Film Festival
Awards are listed at the bottom of the list of other awards (Comic-Con International). Since
2005, the festival has been a juried event, and grants prizes for genre films in the categories
of action/adventure, animation, comics-related, documentary (pop culture related),
horror/suspense, humor, and science fiction/fantasy (Ibid). While Comic-Con’s website
gives out very little information on its festival other than winners of both short and feature-
length genre films are decided by a panel of judges consisting of established industry
figures, another source calls it “one of the Con’s best kept secrets” for its celebration of
genre films (Accomando). Unlike the larger Comic-Con event, which has experienced a
prolific growth and Hollywood influence, the film festival is better likened to Locarno than
Cannes, which describes itself as a festival “synonymous with discovery and innovation,”
and “an invaluable Launchpad for the new generation in world cinema” (Festival del film
Locarno). The Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival is a Launchpad for
discovering new talent as well. The festival was designed, from the start, to encourage
budding filmmakers, so it does not accept submissions that have distributors or any deals
in place (Idelson). The festival is not limited to just American films, but is a “Launchpad for
cinemas around the world” (Accomando). For instance, Korean director Kyung Heub Song
won Best Comic Related Film for his short, “Badbug” in 2014. The film was Song’s first

9. entry into a U.S. festival, and because he is looking to turn the film into a feature and needs
investors, the festival was a great opportunity for him to showcase his work (Ibid). The
Judge’s Choice Award, as well as the Sci-fi/Fantasy prize for 2014, went to another foreign
entry, “Last of You,” from Israeli director Dan Sachar (Ibid). Ari Lubet, who accepted the
prize for Sachar, remarked, “Comic-Con is one of the best blends of all sorts of various
genres and television and film and to have emerging filmmakers come here and premiere a
show and be a part of the festival is a great opportunity” (Ibid). Additionally, panel judge,
actor Doug Jones, commented how, “with that film and television influence that Comic-Con
has in general, it only makes sense to have a film festival here as well, to celebrate the
upcoming independent filmmakers that will hopefully one day be in that studio system and
getting gobs and gobs of money for it…”(Ibid).
The Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival is unquestionably a festival
of discovery, but it is not a Launchpad in exactly the same way Locarno is. As a much
smaller event that is part of a massive, Hollywood-dominated event, the Comic-Con
International Independent Film Festival is more about helping aspiring filmmakers develop
a passionate and supportive fan base rather than propelling them immediately into the film
industry (Meyers). As an example, independent filmmaker James St. Vincent submitted his
20-minute post-apocalyptic Western, The Price, to various film festivals, where it was
chosen for official selection to festivals such as the Vail Film Festival, Manhattan Film
Festival, and San Antonio’s CineFestival. However, it was the film’s admittance into Comic-
Con that meant the most to the director. The reason for this, he said, is because “At the
cons, particularly Comic-Con, you can establish a fan base, and that’s what I wanted
because I was making a genre film. I wanted like-minded people to become interested in

10. my work” (Meyers). St. Vincent felt that his film received the attention it deserved at the
film festival, because, unlike most other festivals, the films are not screened in blocks
where audiences have to pick-and-choose which films they’d like to see, but rather are
given their own time slots followed by Q&A sessions, allowing audiences to really engage
with the film (Ibid).
It is precisely for this reason (the passionate fan base) that it makes perfect sense
for Comic-Con to have a film festival, and two seemingly disparate events fit together. It is
significant to note that Comic-Con attendees wield a power to generate buzz for the content
they take in at Comic-Con by writing about it via social media sites like Facebook and
Twitter (Morabito). With the rapid spread of information online, one member of the
audience at Comic-Con has the power “to impact thousands of potential viewers” (Graser,
“Nerd Herd”). The Hollywood Reporter describes a trickle-down effect at Comic-Con, in that
it’s not only about the major studios (even though they’re the ones that get all the
publicity), but also about smaller companies being able to reach the same fans (Murray).
Some of the same passionate fans that camp outside Hall H will frequent the genre films on
display at the film festival, and as St. Vincent said, the key in building a fan base is in
connecting with them: “If you make yourself available and make them feel like you’re one
of them, they will embrace you,” he said (Meyers). In his book on film genre, Barry Keith
Grant describes genre films as “a means for cultural dialogue, engaging their audience in a
shared discourse that reaffirms, challenges and tests cultural values and identity” (Grant).
Cultural dialogue was certainly at play when St. Vincent screened his film at the Comic-Con
International Independent Film Festival, for, rather than asking questions about his budget
or what kind of camera he used, his audience was more interested in “the universe, the

11. world-building and the characters” (Meyers). Sara Levine really encapsulates all that
Comic-Con represents with her assertion that, “In terms of fandom, nothing is bigger or
broader than the annual San Diego International Comic-Con” (Levine). Comic-Con, as a
whole, may resemble a glamorous spectacle like Cannes with its Hollywood influence,
whereas the Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival more closely resembles
Locarno as a Launchpad for discovering new talent; however, the two feed off one another
in attracting the same passionate fan base.

12. Works Cited
Accomando, Beth. "Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival Winners." KPBS
Public Media. KPBS Public Media, n.d. Web. 04 May 2015.
Comic-Con International: San Diego. San Diego Comic Convention, n.d. Web. 03 May 2015.
De Valck, Marjke. Film Festivals: From European Geopolitics to Global Cinephilia.
Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2007. Print.
Dickey, Josh L., and Marc Graser. "Pros & Cons." Daily Variety 315.51 (2012): 1-40. Web. 3
May 2015.
English, David. The Economy of Prestige: Prizes, Awards, and the Circulation of Cultural
Value. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005. Print.
Festival Del Film Locarno. Festival Del Film Locarno, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.
Grant, Barry Keith. Film Genre: From Iconography to Ideology. London: Wallflower, 2007.
Print.
Graser, Marc. "Hollywood Sneak Peeks Woo Geeks." Variety 407.9 (2007): 7-54. Web. 3 May
2015.
Graser, Marc. "Hollywood Woos Nerd Herd." Variety 411.8 (2008): 1-59. Web. 3 May 2015.
Idelson, Karen. "Film fest adds jury, honors." Daily Variety 288.7 (2005): A4. Web. 3 May
2015.
Kirkham, Elyssa. "This Is How Much It Costs to Attend Comic-Con 2014.” GOBankingRates.
25 July 2014. Web. 04 May 2015.
Levine, Sara. "The Pop Culture Engine: Mediology and the San Diego International Comic-
Con." CCTP748 Media Theory and Digital Culture. Georgetown University, 27 Mar.
2013. Web. 04 May 2015.

13. Lowry, Brian. "The Event's Early Days: Sweet Nerd of Youth." Variety 411.8 (2008): 1-60.
Web. 4 May 2015.
Meyers, Jeff. "The Pros of Cons." MovieMaker 21.109 (2014): 58-59. Web. 3 May 2015.
Morabito, Andrea. "Studios Flock to Comic-Con For Direct Promo Route to Fans."
Broadcasting & Cable 143.27 (2013): 24. Web. 4 May 2015.
Murray, Noel. "Revenge of the Nerds." Hollywood Reporter -- International Edition 400.29
(2007): 23-24. Web. 3 May 2015.
Phillips, Jevon. "Comic-Con a Nexus of All Things Cool." Daily Variety 280.9 (2003): A8.
Web. 3 May 2015.
Thompson, Anne. The $11 Billion Year. New York: Newmarket, 2014. Print.