Ive been programming for film festivals for 20 years now and recently decided I’d like to learn more about what the filmmakers I’ve come to love endure. This is something I’ve avoided for years as I came to my work as a huge fan of short films and decidedly NOT a filmmaker. I’ve always embraced the idea that I want to consume and view films like the members of our festival audience and not through the eyes of a filmmaker. I still embrace this notion but recently decided that after all these years I’d like to be more helpful to the emerging filmmakers whose films play at the now three festivals for which I am either the programmer of all films or the programmer of the short films. In order to do so I feel the need to become more educated about what independent filmmakers experience before, during, and after their films play at our festivals. My mind has always resisted this path for fear that it would make my already difficult job even more difficult. I already care deeply for the filmmakers who submit films, having a pretty good idea of the challenges, expenses, and constant rejection they face. To know even more will surely make that sense of empathy grow further, again, making my job even more difficult. But I recently found my mind responding to this idea that “knowing even more will make my job harder” by channeling Joan Allen as Bonnie Waitzkin responding to Ben Kingsley as Bruce Pandolfini, in one of my all time favorites, Searching for Bobby Fischer. Pandolfini has just asked Bonnie to stop allowing Josh to play chess in the park. Bonnie replies, “No. It would kill him not to play in the park. He loves it.”. To which Pandolfini replies, “It just makes my job harder.”. And then Bonnie answers with the line my mind has channeled, “Then your job’s harder.”. So, here I am having accepted this fate. Amongst the things I’ve done to start, “The Film Education of a Veteran Festival Programmer”, is start listening to your podcast. I consumed five episodes on my first day and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. And I’m writing this review on the same day. I took a break from watching Liz’s short films on YouTube, having watched and enjoyed “This is a Short We’re Submitting to Film Festivals” and the music video “ You’re So Pony”, after having watched Alrik’s short film, “Strange Thing” on YouTube as well, to write this review. Thank you both for the incredibly valuable work you’re doing not only behind the camera but behind the microphone as well. You’re helping me more fully understand, what I already knew, that making movies is hard. But more importantly your also helping me understand how I might be able to be more helpful to the filmmakers who eventually find their way into my small but enthusiastic universe. Thank you so very much and I look forward to making my way through your history of podcasts while also tuning in for all the new episodes to come!
