We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Vihan Khanna. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Vihan below.

Alright, Vihan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Back in 2019, I was interning at a local film festival. I had been working with them for a few years, and I noticed that student filmmakers often had either very small categories or no presence at all. I also noticed that most film festivals did not have categories for amateur filmmakers. That is where I got the idea for Visionaries Film Festival. My goal was to start a film festival focused on spotlighting amateur filmmakers. I especially wanted to give a platform for student filmmakers. These students are often talented beyond their years but unfortunately often looked over since they are young. However, I recognized that they are the future of filmmaking. Some of these people will turn into the next Speilberg, Scorsese, or Kubrick. I also found that, at the in-person film festival, I was able to connect these young filmmakers with older more experienced professionals in the audience who might mentor or hire them. I didn’t know if it would work, but I knew it was something I wanted to give a shot. What makes me most excited is to know that I am making a difference in people’s lives. Any of them who make it big in the future will always remember that Visionaries Film Festival was one of the first platforms to help showcase their work. I hope that giving these young filmmakers screen time and awards for their amazing work will give them the confidence to continue to pursue their dreams. It definitely excites me to know that I may have played a small but important role in their journey to achieving their dreams.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Growing up, I was always a big fan of television and movies. When I was in high school, I saw that they had a television production course, so I signed up for it. This was the first time I got a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes of those industries. I instantly fell in love and wanted to learn as much as I could about it. I continued studying television production throughout high school, and I even studied film while in college. I was looking for a way to make connections in the industry to help me get internships and ultimately a job after graduating. I found a film festival happening locally and decided to volunteer with them. I hoped to meet older professionals working in the film industry through this film festival who could mentor me and give me career advice. Not only did I meet such people, but I also started falling in love with the film festival industry. I Ended up interning with that film festival for the next two years and even volunteering for several more years before I moved away.

I think what sets Visionaries Film Festival apart from other film festivals is our focus on amateur and student filmmakers. While most film festivals want to showcase the best of the best films and the next big blockbusters, my goal was to uplift the next generation of super talented filmmakers, and to instill the confidence in them that their work is good and their ream is work pursuing.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I started Visionaries Film Festival in 2019. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I was faced with three options. The first option was that I could end my film festival forever. The second option was that I could put it on hold indefinitely until the pandemic ended. The third option was to figure out how to change Visionaries Film Festival into an online film festival. I went with the third option and had to quickly pivot. Much to my surprise, the attendance online was much more than I had expected. I ended up running Visionaries Film Festival online for two years before pivoting back to in-person. The transition back to in-person was also not easy, but was still able to have a great film festival.

Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?

Every film festival has several revenue streams. First, filmmakers pay us a small fee when they submit their films. This pays for the time someone spends watching their film, judging it, sending feedback to the filmmaker, and deciding if it gets selected to play at the film festival. Next, we get money from sponsors. That is where the bulk of our operating money comes from. After that, we collect money when we sell tickets for people to come to watch our films. Finally, we can make additional revenue if we sell merchandise with the film festival name and logo on it. Oftentimes, this can be the second-highest source of revenue for a film festival.

Contact Info:

• Website: visionariesfilmfestival.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/Visionariesfilmfestival
• Facebook: facebook.com/visionariesfilmfestival
• Youtube: youtube.com/@visionariesfilmfestival8554