Film festivals around the world are constantly seeking more audience-centric solutions to refine their Audience Awards selection process and boost audience engagement. Traditional approaches, often reliant on email or paper-based systems, are slow and often see low participation. Additionally, paper-based solutions are not eco-friendly and are inconvenient for both organizers and festival attendees. This is where digital solutions like Votemo are poised to make a significant impact.
Votemo's audience engagement platform is specifically designed for film festivals, offering quick setup, real-time result monitoring, and data export capabilities. Notably, during the festival, Votemo operates autonomously, releasing the appropriate polls according to the festival’s schedule. This functionality allows festivals to set precise voting timeframes, enhancing security measures.
The digital instant voting solution significantly increases audience participation, sometimes even tenfold. Additionally, Votemo enhances the festival experience by promoting audience interactivity, offering increased visibility for sponsors, and building a sense of community by collecting audience contact information for future communication.
Below, we highlight film festivals that have successfully used Votemo for their Audience Awards, demonstrating best practices in organizing communication and crafting call-to-action messages to boost vote counts and improve sponsor impressions.
Montclair Film Festival: Celebrating the Power of Storytelling & Audience
Montclair Film Festival had already decided to take a more environmentally friendly approach by reducing paper usage. Switching to digital voting was the next logical step, especially since counting votes by hand was also time-consuming. Three years into our collaboration, the Montclair Film Festival has seen increased participation in voting every year.
The audience's opinion and participation are highly valued at Montclair Film Festival. Each year, the organizers use every opportunity to engage with their audience and encourage participation in discussions, from masterclasses and panel discussions to social media interactions and audience award voting.
Every Vote Counts
Montclair Film displays calls to action and Votemo QR codes after each screening, inviting the audience to rate films on a scale of 1 to 5. It's a shared goal between the organizers and Votemo to get as many people as possible to vote. In addition to visual announcements, Montclair Film appointed a team to promote audience award voting at the venue and encourage visitors to make their voices heard.
"Votemo helped us successfully make the shift to electronic balloting. The backend of the product was user-friendly, and the customer service assistance during setup made this transition so easy. Our audience appreciated the more sustainable option for voting, and our staff appreciated not having to count ballots until early morning on our busiest days! We look forward to continuing this relationship with Votemo and Montclair Film." — Jennifer Cambras, Director of Production and Special Projects
Hot Docs: Streamlining Audience Awards with Innovation
A premier destination for top-tier documentary content globally is undoubtedly the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. The integrity of the prestigious Audience Awards hinges on receiving an adequate volume of votes, necessitating a solution that not only adheres to high-security standards—ensuring one vote per viewer, per film—but also offers straightforward access, a user-friendly interface, and clear communication across various audience touchpoints.
“Audience voting has always been an important facet of our festival, and Votemo made it easy to bring online voting into the cinemas.” — Communications Team, Hot Docs
From 27 April to 7 May, Hot Docs used Votemo to monitor audience preferences daily, culminating in the identification of the year's Audience Award recipients, including the Rogers Audience Award and the Hot Docs Audience Award winners. As a non-profit, Hot Docs is committed to promoting and celebrating documentary art while forging production opportunities for filmmakers.
FilmFest München: Celebrating 40 Years with Audience-Centric Awards
In its landmark 40th year, FilmFest München (23 June–1 July 2023), the largest summer film festival in Germany, offered all attendees the opportunity to vote for Audience Awards contenders via the Votemo platform. Annually, the festival showcases around 200 films, with numerous filmmakers converging in Munich to debut their creations and engage with audiences in a convivial, summery atmosphere.
FilmFest München, Photos by Bojan Ritan
"Votemo facilitated a seamless transition of the Audience Award voting process directly to cinema locations during this year's FILMFEST MÜNCHEN. Previously, our website-based tool posed an additional obstacle, so the shift resulted in an uptick in voting. Votemo's backend was notably user-friendly, saving us considerable time, particularly during evaluations. Their team provided invaluable, prompt support, and we eagerly anticipate future collaborations, including the upcoming FILMSCHOOLFEST MUNICH in November." — Communications Team, FILMFEST MÜNCHEN
Nantucket Film Festival: Diversity in Storytelling Honoured by Audience Awards
Each June, the Nantucket Film Festival in Massachusetts, USA, celebrates the rich tapestry of human experiences through the art of screenwriting and storytelling.
In support of this commendable mission, the Festival team collaborated closely with Votemo, empowering audiences to vote for their favourite films across multiple categories: Narrative Feature, Documentary Feature, Narrative Short, and Documentary Short.
Images by Nantucket Film Festival
HÕFF: Audience Awards Spotlight on Fantasy and Horror
The 18th Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival (HÕFF, 28-30 April 2023) bestowed its audience award on "Sisu," a Finnish action thriller by Jalmari Helander. Audience voting was conducted via the Votemo platform throughout the festival duration, with each film represented by a distinct QR code. Posters featuring these QR codes and voting instructions were strategically positioned at the venues, simplifying the voting process for attendees. HÕFF, a remarkable and widely popular film festival, operates under the auspices of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.
HÕFF, Photos by Jaan Leppik
Conclusive Takeaways:
The integration of Votemo into these diverse film festivals highlights its versatility and effectiveness in enhancing audience engagement and streamlining operations.
For festival organizers, key takeaways include:
Digital Transformation: Implementing digital solutions like Votemo not only simplifies the Audience Awards voting process but also enriches the overall festival experience, encouraging higher audience participation.
Enhanced Security and Integrity: Using platforms that enforce one-person-one-vote policies and secure data management instils confidence among stakeholders and preserves the awards' credibility.
Sustained Engagement: Engagement shouldn't end when the festival concludes. Tools that collect audience data help build a lasting community, fostering ongoing engagement and providing valuable insights for future events.
By acknowledging these pivotal factors, organizers can significantly elevate their festival experiences, creating memorable, engaging, and seamless events for all participants, while upholding the prestige and integrity of the Audience Awards.
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