The Essence of a Film Festival + Fundraiser Preparations

Festival Experience Studio blog post #6

Before I address the updates for the fundraiser preparations, I briefly wish to discuss Robert Koehler’s article titled “Cinephilia and Film Festivals” as he raises issues of film festivals that I need to get off my chest. Prior to this studio, I had never attended a film festival, nor really knew much about what film festivals were like, let alone the vast types of festivals that happen all over the world. As my classmates and I pursue the creation of our own festival, what I observe from Cerise Howard and other guest speakers such as, Richard Sowada and Mia Falstein-Rush, is that they each have such passionate energy for film festivals which have definitely sparked a passion within myself and my other classmates. Thus, after reading what Robert Koehler has to say about film festivals nowadays having an aversion to cinephilia is truly heartbreaking. In particular, Koehler describes the Sundance Film Festival as “the horror show of cinema”, and declares that the festival neglects the indie films and the experimental, non-narrative films which is what ought to be celebrated at these festivals. Then, with a devastating revelation, Koehler accused Sundance of losing its loyalty to cinephilia and instead, deteriorate into a sort of market “allowing the free and rollicking exchange between buyers and sellers”. It is really, truly disheartening to learn about this, but this gives me all the more reason to work harder for MIYFF and push our beliefs in support of cinema lovers and the true essence of film festivals. Our film festival may be small, but if we remain true to creating an environment for like-minded film lovers to enjoy the films of today’s youth, I think this will be a step in the right direction, away from this “threat” to festivals as Koehler describes.

Quick update on how we’re going with the fundraiser, we have titled the event as “Canned Film Screening”, and we will be showing two films that are SO bad that it’s SO good, Ben and Arthur (Sam Mraovich, 2002) and Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (Nicholas Webster, 1964). I am a lot more comfortable with Adobe Illustrator, and I am quite proud of making my first poster for this fundraiser, utilizing bright colors and geometric shapes to create the recognizable popcorn box in hopes to easily communicate to viewers what the event is about: a fun film screening.

(20/05/2019: Updated and final version of the poster)