Is “paying for knowledge” possible in the film industry?

Based on the user research conducted in the first stage of the investigation, the problem statement is defined as follows:

“How might we make a college student who wants to participate in film festivals (who) address the problem of collecting incomplete and distributed information on several different platforms, meanwhile, cannot find a genuine channel to meet with potential working partners and industry professionals (what) so that she/he can save time and have a better film festival participating experience (why)?”

Nowadays, there are multiple channels to collect information, which is often considered a good thing. However, when it comes to film festivals, the bigger problem lies in the process of searching for information – there is not enough promotional messages online appeared as an integrated website that shows all the available festivals. In addition, students, a relatively large group participating in film festivals, also report the lack of resources to contact potential actors or other filming partners, as well as professional training (to understand the core highlight each film festival values when evaluating submitted works). Thus, the proposed solution will be focused on building a communicative platform that mainly supports information-sharing and partner-searching. Therefore, with the help of this platform, student participants will have more chances of finding reliable knowledge and possible collaboration opportunities.

My progress of developing the current project can be accessed here.