Page 660 . Volume 14, Issue 2 November 2017 Between Like and Love: Cinephilia and connected viewing in film festival audiences Kirsten Stevens, Monash University, Australia Abstract: Film festivals have long been held as a refuge for a classic form of cinephilia. They echo, as Liz CzaĐh ;ϮϬϭϬ: ϭϰϭͿ has Ŷoted, the ĐiŶephiliĐ iŵpulse thƌough theiƌ pƌoŵise of a uŶiƋue, uŶƌepeataďle edžpeƌieŶĐe aŶd the ƌaƌe ĐhaŶĐe to ǀieǁ ŵaŶLJ filŵs iŶ daƌkeŶed theatƌes up on the big screen. Yet if film festivals generally are safe-havens for cinephiles, they are also cultural events that must compete for the attention and patronage of a wider audience. As emergent digital technologies plot new lines of connectivity and establish new modes of participation and viewer behaviour, expectations surrounding audience interaction and event experiences are shifting. In response, recent years have witnessed a growing number of film festivals (Melbourne, Toronto, Sundance, among others) employ an array of apps, social media and online platforms to engage audiences and expand events. This essay explores the tension that emerges from film festivals balancing their cinephile identity against the impulse to engage with technological change. Focusing on film festival audiences, this essay explores the changes that have accompanied the increased presence of the internet and personal web devices within the festival space. Looking in particular at the recent example of the Melbourne International Film Festival, which worked to both encourage and discourage the use of mobile phones and social media at set times within its screening venues, this essay explores the construction of appropriate audience behaviours at film festivals. It asks: to what extent are practices of connected viewing, such as second screening and multi-platform interactions, reconcilable with established modes of cinephilic film festival decorum? In so doing it opens up questions around the function of festivals as both social and cinematic events and examines what future might exist for the expression of cinephilia within the digitally connected festival. Keywords: film festival; cinephilia; digital; audience; social media; connected viewing