I recently was lucky enough to receive an invitation to a highly esteemed film festival and decided that I would make it happen to go no matter what stood in my way. The reasoning behind this is because of the value and power I believe film festivals carry, even when you do not personally have a film being showed in them. They are an extremely valuable tool and asset and when they are used to your advantage, they can make a big change in your career.
     The importance of film festivals first came to me when I started understanding why you need to network as an actor, no matter where you are in your career. The importance of meeting more and more people who are in the industry and leaving them with a great impression of who you are is something that will last with me throughout the rest of my career. There is no world where networking is unimportant. Film festivals are basically a networking event concentrated into exactly whom you want to be meeting and for the exact reason you want to meet them.
     The people attending festivals are filmmakers, they are talented, and they are actively pursing their dreams. These are the good people you want to be surrounding yourself with! When you have friends who are entering into festivals, being accepted, building their own careers, you allow yourself to feel inspired and motivated by them. A film festival is an opportunity to make a friend who is on their way towards success.
     You should be actively seeking out and attending events where you will meet people in your industry! There are so many opportunities to make friends and work with people and to miss out on that is to miss out on a world of chance!