First public performance of a work
A
premiere
, also spelled
premiere
,
[1]
[2]
(from
French
:
premiere, 1
er
,
transl.
first, 1st
[3]
) is the
debut
(first public presentation) of a work, i.e.
play
,
film
,
dance
,
musical composition
, or even a
performer
in that work.
[4]
[5]
[2]
[6]
History
[
edit
]
Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the film premiere to showman
Sid Grauman
, who founded
Grauman's Chinese Theatre
.
[7]
The first ever Hollywood premiere was for the 1922 film
Robin Hood
, starring
Douglas Fairbanks
, in front of the
Egyptian Theatre
.
[8]
By the late 1920s the
red carpet
had become synonymous with film premieres.
Classification
[
edit
]
There are a number of different types:
Types
Category
|
Definition
|
Ref
|
World
|
The first public presentation.
|
[9]
[10]
|
International
|
The first public presentation outside the country of production.
|
[9]
[10]
|
Continental
|
The first public presentation in a specified continent.
|
[9]
|
Country
|
The first public presentation in a specified country.
|
[9]
[10]
|
Regional
|
The first public presentation in a specified region.
|
[9]
[10]
|
State
|
The first public presentation in a specified country's state.
|
[10]
|
City
|
The first public presentation in a specified city.
|
[10]
|
Online
|
The first presentation as an initial publication on the
Internet
.
|
|
International online
|
The first publication on the
Internet
after public presentation domestically in the country of production.
|
|
A single work will often have many premieres. For example, in film, the 2019 United States movie
Aladdin
held its world premiere at the
Grand Rex
in
Paris
, France, on 8 May 2019,
[11]
its first regional premiere in
Jordan
on 13 May 2019, and its United States premiere on 24 May 2019.
[12]
[13]
Likewise, in music,
Beethoven's
Symphony No. 9
received its world premiere in the
Theater am Karntnertor
in Vienna on 7 May 1824,
[14]
and subsequently received a
premiere in England
at the
Argyll Rooms
in
London
on 21 March 1825.
[15]
When a work originates in a country that speaks a different language from that in which it is receiving its premiere, it is possible to have two premieres for the same work, e.g., the French-language version of the play
The Maids
by
Jean Genet
received its British premiere (which was also its world premiere) in 1952,
[16]
and subsequently its English-language premiere in Britain in 1956.
[17]
Festivals
[
edit
]
Significance of a premiere
[
edit
]
The type of premiers that a work receives will impact on how the work is treated by festivals, including the categorization of the work in screening sessions, e.g.
Fantastic Fest
, and even as the basis of its submission requirements, e.g.
Sundance Film Festival
eligibility rules require that United States feature films, both narrative and documentary, have retained their world premier status, whilst international feature films, both narrative and documentary, have retained the international premiere status.
[18]
Premiering at a film festival has been used to gain publicity for a film, even without a distributor already in place, and can even allow last minuting editing.
[19]
Director
Alex Winter
said, of film festival premiers, "It helps me get a sense of what my work is or isn't communicating. We've often made little tweaks and changes after we've premiered it at a few film festivals."
[19]
Online premieres
[
edit
]
Concerns existed about online premieres, when in 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, festivals had to become either partially online, e.g.
SXSW
and
Tribeca
, or fully online, e.g.
CPH:DOX
,
Visions du Reel
.
[20]
Director Alex Winter even went so far as to pull his documentary
Zappa
out of both SXSW and CPH:DOX rather than let the film premiere there, saying "Our main concern was sales. Being online with these festivals would be the equivalent of a streaming distribution deal."
[19]
On 29 May 2020,
[21]
upon the cancellation of a number festivals, including the
Tribeca Film Festival
, an International film festival called
We Are One
was organised where films were globally streamed, via
YouTube
,
[22]
in an event containing 13 world premieres, 31 online premieres, and 5 international online premiers.
[23]
Director
Lina Soualem
[
fr
]
, who reluctantly kept her film
Their Algeria
[
fr
]
in for an online premier at We Are One said "At first, your automatic feeling is, 'No, I don't want to do that, ... I felt distressed because this would be the first time I would show an audience my film, so I was upset that it (would have to) be online." but said she relented as "I was observing (the
Doha Film Institute's
Qumra event
) online, and it was a good experience. I spoke to many programmers and professionals, and little by little, I understood we are all in the same situation and times are so uncertain that if I decided to say 'no,' I wouldn't know what would happen next with the film."
[19]
Fionnuala Halligan of
Screen Daily
questioned the legitimacy of the festivals without physically screened premiers, saying "Is premiere status demanded by A-list festivals still valid, and if not world, then national or international, or online ? how much do they matter in the time of Covid?"
[20]
On the complications of incorporating online premiers during the new online reformatting of festivals, Halligan said that another burning question was "Would a geo-locked online premiere at a smaller festival jeopardise a filmmaker's chances for showing their "international premiere" at another, perhaps larger, more covetable event (for which the selection hasn't yet been announced)?"
[20]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"premiere",
Oxford English Dictionary
- ^
a
b
"Premiere"
.
Merriam Webster
.
Archived
from the original on 28 November 2023
. Retrieved
28 November
2023
.
- ^
"Abreviations des adjectifs numeraux | Academie francaise"
.
French Academy
(in French).
Archived
from the original on 17 August 2016
. Retrieved
28 November
2023
.
- ^
"Premiere"
.
WordNet
(3.0 Online ed.).
Princeton University
. 11 June 2010.
Archived
from the original on 27 November 2023
. Retrieved
26 November
2023
.
- ^
"premiere|[pri-meer, -myair]"
.
Dictionary.com
.
Archived
from the original on 28 November 2023
. Retrieved
28 November
2023
.
- ^
"premiere|noun"
.
Oxford Learner's Dictionary
.
Archived
from the original on 28 November 2023
. Retrieved
28 November
2023
.
- ^
Betts, Raymond F. (2004).
A History of Popular Culture: More of Everything, Faster, and Brighter
. New York & London:
Routledge
. p.
12
.
ISBN
0-415-22128-5
.
- ^
Baker, Lindsay (22 February 2016).
"Where does the red carpet come from?"
.
BBC News
.
Archived
from the original on 8 March 2016
. Retrieved
29 November
2023
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"Film festivals' premiere status"
.
Fest Agent
.
Archived
from the original on 23 May 2023
. Retrieved
26 November
2023
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
"Why is your film's premiere status so important?"
.
Medium
. 18 May 2022.
Archived
from the original on 17 May 2023
. Retrieved
28 November
2023
.
- ^
Eric King (8 May 2019).
"See Will Smith and the stars of Disney's live-action Aladdin at the Paris premiere; plus: two new clips!"
.
Broadway
.
Archived
from the original on 9 May 2019
. Retrieved
9 May
2019
.
- ^
"Will Smith calls 'Aladdin' remake highlight of his career"
.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
. 13 May 2019.
Archived
from the original on 17 September 2021
. Retrieved
27 November
2023
.
- ^
"Will Smith calls 'Aladdin' remake highlight of his career"
.
The Washington Post
. 13 May 2019
. Retrieved
14 May
2019
.
[
dead link
]
- ^
Morrisroe, Patricia (8 December 2020).
"The Behind-the-Scenes Assist That Made Beethoven's Ninth Happen"
.
New York Times
.
Archived
from the original on 9 December 2020
. Retrieved
29 November
2023
.
- ^
"Philharmonic Concerts: Third concert, Monday, March 21st".
The Harmonicon
.
3
(28): 69?70. April 1825 – via
RIPM
.
- ^
Genet, Jean
(1963).
The Maids
. Translated by Frechtman, Bernard. London: Faber.
ISBN
0-571-05461-7
.
- ^
Tallmer, Jerry (23 May 1956).
"Theatre:
The Maids
"
.
The Village Voice
.
- ^
"Submitting Your Project to the Sundance Film Festival"
.
Sundance Film Festival
.
Archived
from the original on 7 November 2023
. Retrieved
28 November
2023
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Aftab, Kaleem (9 April 2020).
"Should Filmmakers Accept Online Festival Premieres?"
.
Variety (www.variety.com)
.
Archived
from the original on 3 December 2022
. Retrieved
29 November
2023
.
- ^
a
b
c
Halligan, Fionnuala (23 April 2020).
"Comment: Industry in a bind over festival premieres"
.
Screen Daily
(www.screendaily.com)
.
Archived
from the original on 18 October 2021
. Retrieved
29 November
2023
.
- ^
Morgan, David (28 May 2020).
"
"We Are One" presents a free global film festival online"
.
CBS News (www.cbsnews.com)
.
Archived
from the original on 30 October 2023
. Retrieved
29 November
2023
.
- ^
"We Are One"
.
Archived
from the original on 30 October 2023
. Retrieved
29 November
2023
– via
YouTube
(www.youtube.com).
- ^
Kay, Jeremy (27 May 2020).
"We Are One global film festival announces line-up"
.
Screen Daily
.
Archived
from the original on 29 November 2023
. Retrieved
29 November
2023
.
External links
[
edit
]
Look up
premiere
in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
- Media related to
Premieres
at Wikimedia Commons