There’s a good reason the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences requires a film festival to have ten consecutive editions before it will even be considered as an Oscar-qualifying festival. It takes that long, or longer for a festival to establish an identity, make smart film selections, and simply prove its long-term viability.
Well, the Phoenixville Film Festival is only in year four, but it is well ahead of schedule in terms of creating an identity, and balancing a great show for the public, with producing an event that’s valuable to filmmakers as well.
The Festival kicks off September 17th and goes through Sunday, the 20th. Kyle B. Thompson, executive director of the festival talked with me about this year’s festival, and their slow, but steady growth through the first four years:
As we’re chatting, it’s two or three days out from the festival. What is life like for a festival director two or three days before a festival?
Honestly, we have a really great board of directors. My team has done fantastic work, so I’m happy to say that so far it’s just been pure excitement the last couple days. I can’t say that for the first and second year that we were doing this, but right now it’s been good. We’re excited. We’re fine-tuning a lot of the details. We’re getting things ready and making sure things are perfect for the filmmakers, screenwriters, and movie lovers attending. So it’s exciting.
And this is the fourth annual edition of the festival. Those first few years, you’re just trying to make sure it happens, right? Have everything lined up, make sure people show up, and make sure there are movies on the screens. But now you’re getting into a stage where there is an identity forming around the festival. What do you think of as the identity of the Phoenixville Film Festival?
That’s a great question, and I don’t know if I really know the answer just yet. Every year, we’re trying to find ways to make it better. As a filmmaker, I’ve had the opportunity to travel to a lot of film festivals, and I was a programming director for a film festival prior to this one. I think what we’re trying to do is bring not only our community together, but also give filmmakers who may have had poor experiences at film festivals something worth coming to. Phoenixville alone is worth coming to, so putting a film festival there makes it even better and gives filmmakers a reason to come out. I think that may be the identity.
I have thought that your festival, for only coming up on its fourth year, is far more filmmaker-focused than some other festivals, even smaller festivals in the region. It seems like it takes a while for festivals to get that piece in place and take care of the filmmakers. One thing I would say about your festival: talk a little bit about the venue.
I think that is the foundation of our film festival. The right location is important for film festivals. When I travel to film festivals, I look at the location. Is it a place I want to go see? Is it a place that has a community? The Colonial Theatre, obviously known for the 1958 Steve McQueen movie The Blob, is such a great theater to host a film festival in. What’s even cooler is that they’re a nonprofit. As a nonprofit film festival, we work hand in hand together, and we know what the goals are for any nonprofit.
The theater is awesome, and it’s right in the center of town. If you’ve never been to Phoenixville, it’s this beautiful theater in the center of town. It has the old neon lights, and I think that is a big draw for filmmakers: being able to see their film in a real movie theater on digital cinema packages, or DCPs. It’s a really cool theater. I encourage everyone to come visit regardless of the film festival because there is so much history to it.
As a festival director, are there any tips or advice you would give to filmmakers submitting projects in the future that might make your life easier, or give them some of the intangibles that can help filmmakers when they submit for a festival?
I wish my programming director was here to talk about it, because he watches every single movie from the very beginning of submissions. But I think one of the biggest tips for filmmakers is to make sure that what you’re putting forth is your best work. Some of the technical elements, such as sound, are a big deal. A lot of our judges will struggle to get through a good movie if the sound is poor; it ruins things for them. Walter Murch said that sound is half your picture, so if your sound is not great, that’s a big deal.
Something as small as making sure your link works is also a big deal. We have a lot of submissions. We charge a submission fee because we’re a nonprofit, and that’s how we generate some income to help support the festival. Sometimes people pay $30 for a submission fee and then the link will not work. We reach out and try to get the link to work, and we never hear back, which seems weird.
Ultimately, if we were going to narrow down what we’re looking for in Phoenixville, it is really good stories. Stories that Phoenixville would want to see. Obviously, there is a big horror scene there, but we try not to have it tied to a certain genre. We do some horror films, but we do not want to be just a horror film festival because they have Blobfest for that. We are looking for really good stories that look great and sound great: things we do not typically see in movie theaters. We do not take anything from major studios, mainly because we want to keep it for independent filmmakers—people who are trying to get a voice out there. That would be my tip for them.
You also travel to a lot of festivals. When you go to other festivals, first of all, are you there as a civilian? Are you able to just enjoy it? And what are you learning or able to take back from going to other festivals?
I typically go as a filmmaker myself. I did a short film a couple years ago called Parrot that had a pretty awesome festival tour. Not only am I going as a filmmaker, but now also as an executive director of a film festival and as someone there to learn.
I’m looking at whether the location is really cool. That is what intrigues me about going to a film festival. But I also look at what films are going to be there, who I can meet, and what filmmakers are going to be there. I’ve been to a lot of film festivals where you go and it is just the filmmaker and their friends. It is more of a family-and-friends screening, and you do not get much value from it. For me, I want to go and meet somebody I can talk to years down the line and work on a project with.
In my previous film-festival life as a programming director, there are people I met at that festival whom I still talk to today, and who are coming to Phoenixville now. It comes down to what the filmmaker wants out of it. I do not want to say the name of the film festival, but I went to an Oscar-qualifying film festival a couple years ago. I had a film that played in it, which was an honor, but the experience was not great at all. It was a very small experience, and as a short filmmaker, we did not take much away from it. Great filmmakers spend a lot of money on this. They travel, and sometimes they pay for hotels and flights.
To go to a festival that had a pretty big Oscar-qualifying tag and be disappointed helped fuel some of what the Phoenixville Film Festival wants to live by today: How do we make sure this is a great experience for everybody?
As far as this year’s festival, is there anything in particular you are looking forward to? Any particular blocks or evenings that you are excited about?
I’m super excited for this year’s film festival. Our opening night includes a film called The Haunting of Pennhurst, which is a documentary about Pennhurst. It played Tribeca. The really cool thing about it is that we are starting to do these themed screenings. A lot of the haunters from the Pennhurst haunted-house attraction are coming out to be on the red carpet with everybody. That is a really unique theme.
There is also a great feature film called Honey June that is playing. It also did Tribeca. It is a great documentary. Our short-film blocks are phenomenal. We have a movie that closes our Friday night called Surprise, which is a hilarious short film from a filmmaker in Los Angeles. I could go on and on about some of the films playing this year that I am excited about. We also have some really great documentaries. We have a film called Crime and Parody playing Saturday at 3:00 p.m., and the filmmaker will be there.
We also have some really cool workshops. One that sticks out to me is the longest-running workshop we have done so far, called “Connecting Through Creativity.” It is a unique workshop where filmmakers or guests participate in an activity around art, connecting through that, and finding your inner self. It is run by Samantha Artese, a licensed therapist in New York City and an art therapist. It is not a therapy session by any means, but it is a really cool activity. All of our attendees have raved about it, and we keep bringing it back because everyone seems to really love it.
I think people go into it thinking it will be a therapy session, and nobody wants that. But they walk away feeling creative and empowered to do things outside of it. It is a really cool workshop.
For the first year, we are introducing master classes. We have panels and workshops that are free to the public, but this year we are introducing master classes led by professional industry people. We have one called “Build a Stop Motion Puppet,” led by Big Howl, an award-winning animation company out of Philadelphia. The one that is really popular right now is “The Sound of the Story,” led by one of our board directors, Keith Giosa. Outside of the film festival, he is a sound designer and composer who does a lot of sound work. He is leading us through the entire post-production process for sound design, which is going to be really exciting. Hopefully the master classes will be a hit, and we will see how it plays out.
There are some festivals that are geared more toward film viewers, so to speak, and there are not that many activities for the filmmakers, people who are in the industry, or people who want to be. Those panels, and especially your workshop, sound like defining characteristics of the festival.
Exactly. I have been to festivals where there are not even Q&As at the end, which is very strange to me. A lot of it is catered to moviegoers, but we want to make sure this is a festival for everybody, whether you are a movie lover or a filmmaker. We even do screenplay readings. If you are a screenwriter who has not had your film created yet, you submit your screenplay to us. For selected screenplays, we read a piece of the screenplay to a live audience in the Barry Theater at the Colonial Theatre. We call it the Screenplay Speakeasy, which is a place where screenwriters can be involved, too.
This year, we are doing Q&As for the screenwriters, based on feedback from a filmmaker last year. They said, “You guys should do that.” If you come to our festival, there is something for you to do, whether it is networking. We throw networking parties Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. We do our awards ceremony. We want to give people a chance to meet and talk.
I have also been to festivals where it is nothing but screenings. You are in back-to-back screenings for hours, and by the time you walk away, your eyes are burning and you do not get a chance to talk to anybody. We want people to walk away having a memorable time at the Phoenixville Film Festival.
As the director of a film festival, I am curious: when in the process is your favorite part? Is it when submissions are rolling in and you know it is going to happen? Is it the festival itself? Is it the day after because you got through another one? What part of the process do you enjoy the most?
Right now is my favorite part, because the anticipation of it coming up is really exciting. We start planning at the beginning of the year. In January, we start planning, and it is a slow start. We have submissions coming in, but my favorite part is probably from August until the festival, because that is when all the fine details come together. We know which filmmakers are attending, who we are going to be able to talk to and meet, and hang out with. We also see who is coming to the screenings. It is great to see that a screening is going to have a full house and an awesome audience that night. That is the stuff that gets me really excited.
When you put a festival out there, at least for us in year one, we were thinking, “Nobody is going to come to this.” Now we make our announcements and know what films are playing, all the way up until the actual festival is the best part of it.
That Monday after the festival, I am usually asleep for 12 hours. We all leave Sunday, sleep in, and take it all in. It is always sad to see it go, but the favorite part is when the fine details come together.
All the details are coming together, and I hope everyone can make it out and check out the Phoenixville Film Festival. Again, September 17th through the 20th, and PhoenixvilleFilmFestival.com is where folks should head, right?
Yes, and tickets are available. We still have some great screening blocks to check out, and the free workshops are still available.
Kyle B. Thompson, executive director of the Phoenixville Film Festival, thank you so much for joining me today.
Thank you so much for having us. I appreciate it.