During the 2013 Cucalorus Film Festival, I was able to attend 5 screenings, which included Borgman, the Vasyugan experimental shorts, Short Term 12, Brew Your Own (by our own Zach Boylston), and The Act of Killing.
Aside from enjoying the festival from an audience member's standpoint, as one of the Visions4 directors, I immediately noticed the marketing excellence of the festival. I rarely went into any establishment or went on any local website/social media site without seeing advertisements for the festival. I know that Cucalorus only employs 4 or 5 people, but that small number does not at all reflect the reach of the event in general. I want a newspaper edition of the Visions4 programming schedule to be places in boxes around town now, and even an online version of that paper--with schedules, interviews, reviews, etc. I don't know how realistic that is, but what the hell right?
Another coordination aspect that I admired was the high level of organization. That being said, I do not know how many things went wrong or how often the festival had to deviate from the initial plan, however the fact that I did not notice, and others did not notice, is commendable. It is inevitable that things will go wrong in an event like this, but it is how the staff deals with it that matters, and if it is dealt with smartly and efficiently, the filmmakers and attending audience will never be phased.
In summation, I have learned a few things from attending the festival, and have even been inspired to begin a few new projects for Visions, such as the newspaper. Overall, the distinct attribute of Cucalorus is their voice and character. I believe that Visions can be seen as a different case because of the year to year staff, however the undergraduate element must be consistent, and each new staff must find their own personality and commit to it fully in image and voice.
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