Who's Watching? with Jonathan Ali

Who’s Watching? is a recurring series on For Immediate Release. We spend so much time wondering what film programmers (curators) are looking for — this is where I turn the camera around.

Jonathan Ali and I first crossed paths when he joined us at IDA’s Getting Real conference as a programmer in 2022. He is one of the most thoughtful — and candid — programmers I know. When I launched this series, he was one of the first people I thought of. I’m glad he said yes. Let’s begin…

The film that made me want to work in festivals was… Manakamana (Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez, 2013). I was already a few years into the work when I programmed it, but it’s the film that made me want to keep doing what I was doing.

If I could only program one genre for the rest of my life… it would be creative/hybrid/experimental/essayistic documentary.

The filmmaker I'd most want to have a drink with after their Q&A (dead or alive) is… Alive: Radu Jude. Dead: Perry Henzell.

Deep in submission season, the film that makes it all worth it is the one that… introduces me to an exciting, original, new voice.

The best audience reaction I've ever witnessed at a screening was… at a midnight madness screening in Miami of the Haitian supernatural kidnap-thriller-comedy Kafou (Bruno Mourral, 2017), with a mostly Haitian audience. Insane.

What do filmmakers misunderstand most about how festival programming works? I can’t speak for all festivals and programmers, but for me, the answer is: It’s not personal. And that cuts as many ways as you like.

Is there a film you rejected that still haunts you? No.

I knew I was in the right job when… I still don’t know if this is the “right” job. But I cannot see myself doing anything else—fortunately and unfortunately.

Anything you’d like to add for filmmakers to know? Filmmakers, don’t be afraid to push back against some of the more nefarious practices in film festivals today. Refusal to pay screening fees or offer some form of compensation for your work or stipend to attend the festival, provisional acceptances that demand you don’t give your premiere to another festival until official confirmation/rejection (a relatively recent and especially invidious practice), unreasonable premiere policies—these are unacceptable and should not continue to be normalised.

Yes, the competition for getting selected is great, but any festival that shows interest in your film should be willing to do right by it. You are the reason that festivals exist! Also, don’t be afraid to ask for a submission fee waiver.

Jonathan Ali is a director of programming for Miami’s Third Horizon Film Festival, a platform for critical Caribbean and diaspora cinema. Other festivals he works for or has worked for include Toronto, Locarno, Rotterdam, Sheffield Doc/Fest, London’s Open City Docs, Scotland’s experimental Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival, True/False, Tribeca, and his native Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival.

Jonathan has curated programmes, mostly of repertory and contemporary Caribbean cinema, for the British Film Institute, Cinemateca de Bogotá, Stadtkino Basel, FICValdivia festival, and Criterion Channel, where he is a curatorial advisor. His byline has appeared in Documentary and Sight and Sound magazines, among others.

Follow Jonathan on Instagram @jonathanrali

If you want to go deeper on how to navigate the festival world — strategy, submissions, programming decisions, all of it — I’m writing a guide. Pre-order it here.