(Adapted from an image on DC Web Fest’s Facebook page)
When DC Web Fest launched in April 2013, the Netflix series House of Cards had just premiered. The impact of the show’s binge-friendly release model, and the streaming platform’s entrance into the scripted series game, had only started to become clear. Few observers could have predicted the explosion of straight-to-streaming content that has transformed the entertainment industry in less than half a decade since.
But DC Web Fest founder Otessa Ghadar, now approaching her event’s fifth annual showcase for online media, had an inkling of major changes to come.
“When I was doing my thesis presentation [about a decade ago], I remember saying in five years, television will be dead, it will all move to television over IP [Internet Protocol]. Now we’ve absolutely seen that happen,” Ghadar says. “The fact that it’s now in our lexicon is a huge change.”
It’s one of many seismic shifts that shaped the original DC Web Fest, and continue to reshape it each year. This year’s event, which lasts from 4 to 11 p.m. at the U.S. Navy Memorial, prominently features web series and short film screenings as in previous years, as well as new elements — apps, online games and virtual reality demonstrations from companies like Google and Discovery.
Ghadar fought hard to play up the experiential component this year. “If you’re in the digital sphere, so much of what you do, whether or not you think of it as such, is through an avatar,” she says. “Having the opportunity to meet people in real life, in real time, is almost a rare commodity.”
Those experiences will take place in common areas throughout the event. Also on the schedule: two blocks of web series screenings featuring films from the United States as well as Canada, France, Lebanon, New Zealand, Japan and more; a panel of experts discussing trends in the industry; and an awards ceremony and an after party. Panelists include LA Webfest director Michael Ajawke Jr., Google patent policy analyst Aerica Banks, and filmmaker Stephani Deluca, who’s worked on Hollywood productions including Gossip Girl and Spider-Man 2.
Interest in the festival from such high-profile players and far-flung areas is a relatively new phenomenon. Before Ghadar had launched her festival, talking about the growing importance of web series elicited a fair share of blank, quizzical stares. After completing her master’s thesis at Columbia University’s film school, she frequently found herself bemoaning the lack of widespread public interest in online entertainment.
“After bitching a while, I finally had the eureka moment of, ‘Maybe I should stop bitching and start pitching in,’” Ghadar says. “If I’m complaining about this, probably other people are too.”
They were. Ghadar took inspiration from the LA Web Fest, the first one of its kind in the world, and drew on her experience curating portions of the New York Museum of Modern Art’s first-ever student festival a few years earlier. When DC Web Fest launched, it was one of only a few festivals with a specific online focus. Now there are dozens.
The explosion of options in the digital sphere has forced Ghadar to keep her event on the cutting edge. She expects virtual reality in gaming to start growing exponentially in stature, so she’s shining a spotlight on those projects this year. She’s had help in her efforts from major companies and studios that have only recently developed an interest in the work she’s highlighting. On the flip side, she does worry that major companies could end up squeezing out creatively vital independent partners. Ideally, she says, the two will find a way to co-exist.
Whether they’re immersed in the future or focused on the present, Ghadar hopes attendees come away with a new perspective on the power of web series and the like, as she did when she first discovered them.
“I’m a female director and a second-generation immigrant,” said Ghadar. “No one cares about my stories in Hollywood. But there is this amazing medium where I could actually build an audience, where I could find an outlet for my work and support other people’s work.”
DC Web Fest runs from 4 to 11 p.m. on Saturday at the U.S. Navy Memorial.T Tickets are available for $35 on the event website. And check out our list of Ten D.C. Web Series You Should See.
