ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study of a newcomer on the festival circuit, Valletta Film Festival. Launched in 2015 – some 80 years after the world's first film festival, the event is in its infancy in festival terms. A film festival now opens every 36 hours somewhere in the world. The varying notions of success have currency in a range of contexts in which film festivals are discussed and debated. The Valletta Film Festival is the brainchild of filmmakers, Oliver Mallia and Slavko Vukanovic. During festival time, the festival team increases significantly with approximately 70 episodic volunteers per edition. Interestingly, both D. Dayan and A. Fischer omit the same participant group from their conceptualisations: festival volunteers. In relation to the US context, N. Stedman argues that volunteer management has undergone a process of professionalization whereby the "vocation" of the volunteer administrator has become recognised as a profession in its own right, as opposed to an adjunct area of responsibility.
