“A Festival for Students or a Festival for Locals?”

By Drew Collins (BFF 2019, Bates Class of 2020)

I was lucky to be one of the 22 students on the board for the 2019 Bates Film Festival. But, I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I sat down on the first day of the Fall Semester. From the moment I stepped into the room on the first day, I felt a sort of excitement around the room that I had not really felt in any other academic setting. What I realized is that everyone in the room, including myself, had the chance to put forward their voice through film and this festival in a way that one often does not have access to. So, as a board member, I had a chance to have my say in what was best for Bates College to witness and be exposed to, which then in turn gave me a sense of responsibility. 

“What I realized is that everyone in the room, including myself, had the chance to put forward their voice through film and this festival in a way that one often does not have access to. So, as a board member, I had a chance to have my say in what was best for Bates College to witness and be exposed to, which then in turn gave me a sense of responsibility.”

The point of this post is to honestly review what worked well and what failed to meet our expectations within the marketing realm. So, I’ll be addressing the questions of why we targeted certain audiences and how this panned out over the festival. Moreover, I will offer insight into some of the issues we faced and potential solutions to those issues.

One of the earliest topics we took on as a group was establishing our target audience. Understanding who we were making the Bates Film Festival for was an essential first step in choosing which films to showcase. Telluride co-founder Bill Pence offers his perspective on film festivals in chapter one of Jeffrey Ruoff’s Telluride in the Film Festival Galaxy.  Pence suggests that while the films screened may be the raison d’etre for film festivals, the larger atmosphere and community should be the focus of any history. I agree with Pence.  The community aspect was what really stood out to me with my role in the Bates Film Festival. I was told early on that the Bates Film Festival ought to focus on the Bates students as our audience, rather than the Lewiston community. This was not because we thought that the Bates community was in any way more deserving of our focus, but rather that past outreach to the community had not been particularly effective. So, much of our focus went towards curating a film festival that would appeal to students and faculty, and many of our film choices were intended for Bates. What ended up happening, though, was a flipped result from our expectations. Our final audience came in from the local area at a higher rate than the previous festival and fewer students made appearances at films. 

“we were thrilled to see the community come to Bates’ campus to watch the riveting films mainly aimed at our own students”

This ended up being our most interesting surprise. The unexpected involvement from the Lewiston community ended up actually dominating the festival more so than the students did. This may have been credited to an article posted in the Lewiston Sun Journal, which publicized the festival the day before its start. These Lewiston locals not only attended many of the film screenings and the VR experience, but also were some of the most common speakers at Q&A’s and panels. This was not something that any of us were expecting, but needless to say, we were thrilled to see the community come to Bates’ campus to watch the riveting films mainly aimed at our own students.

Always in Season played at the 2019 Bates Film Festival

The lack of Bates student attendance is one of the most important parts of the festival worth noting, because our intended audience did not turn out in the way that the board projected. For example, we had an underwhelming turnout at Always in Season, a film about a potential lynching in North Carolina and how this likely lynching is connected with the brutal history of American lynchings. This was one of the most culturally relevant and eye-opening films shown at the festival. Yet, had it not been for the seven or so Lewiston locals that attended, there would have been two students at the showing. This was an astonishing discovery and it made me think about what exactly the Bates Film Festival means on the Bates College campus. Every board member cares about this Film Festival because it gives each student an opportunity to have a say in what they think the Bates population should witness. As a member of the documentary section, I, as well as my peers, focused on bringing the information that we thought would be most beneficial to our student population. Yet, not many students seemed to be that focused on the films we selected. The question really is, “How can we draw more student attention to this festival and harness the academic potential it has?” Perhaps the most unique part of this festival is that it is run mostly by Bates students, and after seeing such a small turnout at some events, I think we might want to use this student involvement to our advantage. I am not sure that we marketed our student involvement well enough because I think it might have drawn out a larger audience. When you look at an organization like AESOP, one of the most commemorated components that makes it so special to Bates College is the fact that it is a student-run organization. When you think of the Bates Film Festival, upperclassmen involvement was not a center point but rather just an aspect that may have been overlooked by the student mass. Bates loves nothing more than supporting each other and the work that each other have done, so I think we ought to market the students’ involvement because I think it will allow the campus to get around the event over time and become a more significant part of Bates’ culture. 

Making sure we determine a festival identity is another important aspect that we cannot overlook. I think the festival would be in a much better place if the Board had more conversations centered around questions like: What are we? What are we trying to accomplish with the festival and the films that we are showing on a year by year basis? Why is it important for students to attend? Why is it important for community members to attend? There have been a handful of ideas for the festival identity, but this post is focused less on the content of these ideals and more on how we ought to push our identity when that is determined. Marketing student involvement might be a solution, but there is a larger conversation to be had about crafting a consistent and effective identity for the festival.

‘It might be beneficial for the Festival attendance to ask professors to consider the festival as an academic experience and to have students write on certain films that work into a course.”

Marijke de Valck

Lastly, author Marijke de Valck explains in Film Festivals: From European Geopolitics to Global Cinephilia that film festivals have seldom been the topic of academic research. Press coverage on film festivals is omnipresent, but it often fails to provide us with an encompassing cultural analysis of the phenomenon that transcends the individual festival editions, both historically and on a contemporary level. Seeing how Bates is an academic institution, it might be worthwhile to focus on how the Bates Film Festival opens up topics of academic importance through marketing our focus of providing such a diverse collection of films from a diverse group of filmmakers. While this is reliant on professors taking action, instructing their students to attend the films, and asking them to think of the films and discussions in an academic way, doing so would benefit the film festival. It might be beneficial for Festival attendance if we asked professors to consider the festival as an academic experience and to have their students write on certain films that work into a course.

Without a doubt, the Bates Film Festival is a great platform for filmmakers to get their message out, but increased student engagement would enhance the value of screening here. In future years, I think it would be smart to determine what makes the Bates Film Festival the Bates Film Festival and then market that to Lewiston and Bates. Taking action like promoting the academic importance of the festival and asking professors to spread the word about certain films may be an important step in bringing in a greater Bates crowd. I am extremely excited to see where the Bates Film Festival is headed in future years and will help where I can to see its continued growth.

Works Cited

de, Valck, Marijke. Film Festivals : From European Geopolitics to Global Cinephilia, Amsterdam University Press, 2007. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/bates/detail.action?docID=419760.

 Ruoff, Jefferey, Telluride in the Film Festival Galaxy, St Andrews Film Studies, 2016.