By Kody Greenhalgh (BFF 2019, Bates Class of 2020)
I had an amazing experience working with the Bates Film Festival team in the fall semester of 2019 at Bates College. Professor Cavallero and my classmates did a great job coordinating and organizing this film festival, and as a result, there was a successful week showing off numerous documentaries, short films, and narrative films. There was a lot of preparation and work that went into this festival week that happened behind closed doors that the Bates community does not see. Like Professor Cavallero said, “the planning, organization, and running of a film festival is something that few people ever get to experience. As a result, there is a great deal of mystery that surrounds these events and the individuals who put them on.”
“We chose to block certain films that could potentially go together in the same day to have a similar and impactful discussion on the films and why they were important to us.“
The Bates community only sees the festival during that one-week and not the other ten weeks of preparation. I have never been a part of a working team like this, especially at Bates, where the students actually had a say in the event planning, scheduling and other major aspects of the festival such as what food and drinks will be available at specific locations at specific times. Even though the professor initially chooses a short list of films and documentaries that we can work with for the semester, the students from both teams (Narrative & Documentary) view them, vote on which ones they want to showcase, and when they want to show them during the festival week. I think that aspect of the experience was one of the most important parts, because it gave me the opportunity to stand up and make a point on why I wanted to show a certain film here at the Bates Film Festival. Another important part of this idea about choosing specific films for our festival was tailored around fitting into our Film Festival Mission Statement. We chose to block certain films that could potentially go together in the same day to have a similar and impactful discussion on the films and why they were important to us. One conflict that came up with my documentary team was trying to pick between a handful of powerful documentaries. There were only one or two documentaries that everybody agreed on that should one hundred percent be shown in our festival. The rest were up to debate and certain people within the group had their own opinions on what other films should be screened. After arguing their points, the group was still torn between a couple of films, and we were not sure what documentaries were going to be shown. One effective way we voted was simply writing the name of the film on a piece of paper. That way nobody knew what the others were voting for so we got a true representation on what films we should show to the community.
“One effective way we voted was simply writing the name of the film on a piece of paper. That way nobody knew what the others were voting for so we got a true representation on what films we should show to the community.“
I am extremely proud of myself and my classmates for working together and working hard to make the second annual Bates Film Festival a good one. I also wanted to thank Professor Cavallero for modeling this event in a way that made it fun and entertaining. I have never done anything like this at Bates and I feel as if the Rhetoric department should keep this going. This ‘class’ did not even feel like class, it felt like a fun job where all of my classmates were a part of a team with Professor Cavallero leading the way. I am very thankful to share this experience with others because not too many people can say they worked on planning an entire film festival in college.
The scheduling of all the events was by far my favorite part of the film festival experience. I was actually part of a team that planned the entire festival which consisted of what films we wanted, the time and places these films would be shown, the food and drinks at these venues, the people who were going to talk on panels, and much more. In Telluride in the Film Festival Galaxy, Jeffrey Ruoff talks about director Satyajit Ray and how he saw film festivals as so much more than just the movies that were being shown. When explaining his story on how he was a part of the Berlin jury, Ray said “Film festivals are memorable not so much for the films one sees there as for the people one meets: directors, producers, critics, actors from all over the world” (Ruoff, 2016: 1-2). We welcomed a few filmmakers to Lewiston, Maine to talk about the films that they actually worked on. I believe actually having people who worked on the film be present for the audience so that they can engage with them in person is a very important aspect of a successful film festival week. This relationship with the audience is especially important to gain the respect of the festival as a whole. When transgender athlete Sarah Rose Huckman, a subject of the film Changing the Game, visited and held a panel afterwards, it felt very real and genuine to have her present. Even though this is Bates’ second time running a film festival I feel as if we did an incredible job planning and scheduling the films we had to work with in a timely manner around the visitor’s busy schedules. If Bates can keep running a film festival I would say keep trying to get ‘big time’ names here and if not, someone who worked on the film to make that experience for the audience a special and memorable one.
Works Cited
Ruoff, Jeffrey. Telluride in the Film Festival Galaxy. St. Andrews: St. Andrews Film Studies, 2016.
