u/HeIlLUsium

As a filmmaker myself, I’ve started noticing what feels like an unhealthy number of people trying to make a “festival film.” You probably know the type I’m talking about—handheld camera, slow pacing, and themes like a small ethnic community, LGBTQ+ issues, the hardships of a woman’s life, and so on.
I want to be clear: I have absolutely no problem with these stories, mostly I love such movies. They’re important and deserve to be told. But after studying at film school, I’ve started noticing a tendency that honestly makes me uncomfortable.
I’m from a very small ethnic group myself, and one day I’d love to make a film about my people when I feel ready. One of guys who also studying in a same film school approached me because he knew where I was from and said he wanted to make a film about my community. At first, I was genuinely happy to hear that.
I asked him what inspired him. He was surprisingly honest. He said he had heard about me, Googled my ethnic group, saw that there are only around 1.5–2 million of us, read about the conflict surrounding our people, and thought it would make a great festival film because it’s a culture that most audiences know very little about.
So I asked him another question: Do you actually want to tell this story because it means something to you, or because you think it’ll do well at festivals? He admitted that the festival potential was a big part of what motivated him.
I don’t even have a problem with his honesty. If he ends up making a great film that introduces more people to my culture, that’s a positive thing. What bothered me was the idea that someone might choose a story primarily because they believe it’s what festivals want, rather than because it’s a story they genuinely care about telling.
That’s where I start questioning the relationship between art and recognition. Of course, we all want validation. We all want our films to be seen, appreciated, and maybe even screened at great festivals. But shouldn’t art begin with something you personally care about? Shouldn’t the goal be to make the film you believe in and then share it with the world in a way, that other will believe too ?
It also feels like this has become more noticeable over the past few years. Major festivals seem to have become increasingly focused on representation and inclusion. Again, I support more diverse voices being heard. But sometimes it feels as though filmmakers start chasing subjects because they believe those topics have a better chance of being selected, rather than because those are the stories they genuinely want to tell.
Maybe that’s why so many festival films can start to feel similar. Handheld cinematography, a slow, minimalist style, a Muslim woman dealing with tragedy, or an LGBTQ+ character struggling with family acceptance. These are all meaningful stories when they come from a place of genuine passion. But when they’re treated as a formula for getting into festivals, something about that feels off to me.
I’m curious what other filmmakers think. Have festivals unintentionally encouraged certain trends in storytelling, or am I looking at this the wrong way?

So I was playing Division Rivals like it was FUT Champs finals, and suddenly I realized how many issues in this game keep repeating over and over again. Here’s my list of the most annoying things in FC26 that I’m 99.9% sure every player experiences almost every match:

45th and 90th minute goals — happens almost every game.

Opponents running to the corner, then making a pass that somehow goes through every defender straight to a goal — happens every second match.

Constant high pressing. Players just spam pressure nonstop, go full Neanderthal mode, and you still can’t do anything because they instantly win the ball back.

Opponents playing with zero stamina, but it doesn’t matter because the game barely punishes them for it.

People spinning around endlessly and going trough defence because defending simply doesn’t work properly.

Opponents not even controlling their defenders, just letting the AI defend while they chase you with a midfielder.

When someone can’t break through your defense, somehow , so they just spam finesse shots from outside the box and score anyway.

Claudia Pina and other small female strikers somehow being impossible to push off the ball.

Everybody playing 4-4-1-1 (2).

Hockey scores every match: 6-7, 5-8, 9-4…

Currently stuck on the edge of Division 2. I can’t win a few matches to get into Division 1 because I’m playing against zombies. You all know these players — their squad just runs at you, like it’s World war Z, loses the ball, immediately intercepts it back, and presses you with their strikers like they’re prime Maldini.

Most of the time they have like 5–10 IQ, so sometimes I can pull off a draw against them, but usually the scores are 5–6, 4–7, and stuff like that.

What’s the best formation and tactic to punish this playstyle? Thanks in advance.