A Not So Glamorous Job

February 10, 2009

The MF Screening Committee is in the thick of it…

David and I often get asked if we watch all the film entries.

We try to watch as many as we possibly can—which will add up to multiple hundreds apiece before the submission season ends—but fortunately we have a very dedicated group of volunteers on our Screening Committee to help tackle the daunting task of watching and reviewing films for the festival.

I am the kind of geek who loves to look at spreadsheets and statistics, so managing the Screening Committee is one of my favorite jobs. One of the statistics that continues to blow me away is the huge increase in film entries the last few years. My first year as Program Manager (2006), we had about 350 film entries. Just three short years later, we are well on the way to doubling that number. Significant in any case, but especially for a small (but persistent!) niche festival in the middle of nowhere in Colorado.

What would happen if David and I tried to watch all the films? Well, we wouldn’t have a life, for one.

As of today, we have 340 entries. That’s 14,535 minutes of movies, or more than 245 hours. More than 10 non-stop days of adventurers climbing intimidating mountains, indigenous tribes in remote tropical locales, environmentalists revealing corporate deception and empassioned people of all flavors doing extreme and amazing things. We expect that number to double by early next month.

With help from the screening committee, we watch them all. Twice.

Posted by Emily Long