The film festival organiser who let Fienta be the star

The DocPoint 2020 film festival took place in Tallinn from 28 February to 2 March, bringing audiences to two venues for 39 screenings of a wide range of documentary films.

Like every film festival, DocPoint relies on word of mouth, social media, and traditional media coverage, but also on a ticketing system that works reliably and makes registration easy. That is where Fienta became an important part of the festival organisation.

Why Fienta?

Festival Coordinator Elli Kalju decided to use Fienta as the festival’s ticketing partner after seeing how it could make registration and admission simpler for everyone. “We were a bit worried about how older festival-goers might react to the new system. We wondered whether it would be harder to find or understand, but it wasn’t.”

“It was the first year we had used it,” Elli continued, “and people weren't familiar with it yet, but the integration into the festival's website, which isn't always easy with other ticketing platforms, made the essential information much easier to find.”

Although the festival welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds, many audience members for the feature films were over 65. “Because we do have a lot of senior citizens coming along, it was really important that we had the option to do on-site sales.” DocPoint was the first event to use Fienta’s new on-site sales service, and Elli said it was extremely useful. “It was really easy, it took only a few minutes to set up, and even though we were the first to use it, it worked exactly as we needed it to.”

Elli’s role also involved helping a team made up largely of volunteers through several long days by keeping them motivated. “My main task was to make sure everything stayed on time and on track. Most people on the team have known each other for a long time, so it would have been easy for it to become too social. I was there to make sure everything got done.”

This is one of the reasons Fienta worked well for the team. “It's all self-explanatory. When I had to teach the volunteers, they learned how to use it in just a few clicks. As an organiser, you feel confident because you have control over what you do, how you do it, what information goes out, and who you're talking to.”

Highlights

Festival highlights included For Sama, nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary and the most popular film of the 2020 programme, as well as the Russian documentary School of Seduction. “The producer of A Punk Daydream said the Q&A after the screening was the best he’d ever taken part in, because local members of the community featured in the film came to see it.”

The overall feel of DocPoint is more relaxed than that of larger festivals in Tallinn, and both Artis and Sõprus cinemas allow attendees to enjoy a glass of wine or beer with the film. “People know they're going to learn something and gain a new perspective. It's smaller than other film festivals in Estonia, but I think people like the convenience and ease of it.”

When asked what Fienta made easier in her day-to-day work, Elli replied, “It was harder to contact people with other applications. With Fienta, you can send a message to participants directly, whereas with other systems you first had to submit a request. With Fienta, it's easy.”

While it can’t help with subtitling, Fienta does make it easier to understand attendance, manage admissions, and support festival marketing. It is not a bad thing to let the ticketing system shine when the programme itself is already the star.

See how Fienta can help with your festival ticket sales.