Dear Friends and Colleagues,
As The Film Verdict team looks forward to another year of growth with even more reviews, festival coverage and engaging editorial, we would like to share with you a few of our successes over the past year that helped bring the international film community together.
The Film Verdict is growing
In 2023 we hit several significant milestones, not least our 1000th film review. It reflects an amazing output in just over two years of publishing full-length reviews of features, short films, documentaries, animation and virtual reality by world-class film critics recognized in their field and based around the globe. Our reviews and in-depth, industry-smart coverage made TFV a required resource at more and more film festivals who rely on our daily review digital magazines.
Among the new writers to appear in The Film Verdict were Los Angeles-based critics Alonso Duralde and William Bibbiani; the Berlin-based editor, journalist and critic Adham Youssef, heading our newly enhanced Middle East operations; and Dublin-based podcast wizard Matt Micucci.
Our audience and readership interaction also grew significantly, while our curated database continued to pinpoint those real, actionable readers who use the TFV platform professionally.
TFV offers equitable opportunities to filmmakers around the world
Taking a fresh approach to the international film industry, The Film Verdict introduced several impactful new digital platforms and opportunities for film promotion, from podcasts to the metaverse. TFV brought international filmmakers closer together through its platforms and film reviews, to create an environment of equitable film commerce.
Paying attention to our Spanish-language readership, our Latin American critics, editors and translators Lucy Virgen and Patricia Boero did an exceptional job focusing on the key films of the year and empowering them with CineVerdict reviews in Spanish.
In March, TFV in collaboration with the MILC Media Metaverse launched the ALPHA Short Film Festival, the first of its kind in the metaverse, with hundreds of tickets sold and thousands of individual streams. Expanding on this concept, in September TFV created a partnership with the prestigious Oldenburg Film Festival and MILC, launching the first parallel metaverse film festival, an innovation that attracted up to 3,000 new digital festival attendees.
Then in December, The Film Verdict added a very successful new franchise to its International Contender Series: a digital screening theater in the metaverse which included three unique screening rooms specifically developed for Oscar contenders in a TFV building displaying all 86 international films that were submitted on film posters and with links to our TFV reviews. The TFV Screening Theater attracted over 470 visits to the full screenings of selected films and to the TFV lobby in its first few days.
For 2024, continued innovation and growth; more reviews and festivals
The Film Verdict remains committed to its wide variety of high-quality film reviews and editorial content, designed for a targeted international and professional readership. It will be a year full of discoveries and even more coverage of the global films and formats we have become famous for.
Stay tuned for important developments as TFV launches new international platforms that will push buyers and sellers to explore new regions and films, while TFV continues to pioneer new markets and territories.
Our 2024 Festival Calendar
As The Film Verdict enters the new year, it is currently committed to attending 23 international film festivals (you can find a link to our festival calendar on the website) with its professional team of film critics, editors and podcasts journalists.
Along with Deborah Young, TFV editor and chief critic, and the entire team at The Film Verdict, we wish you a successful and meaningful new year. See you soon!
Eric Mika
President and Publisher
The Film Verdict
