By Eli Greenwald, Bates Class of 2026
How do film festivals influence each other? There are so many film festivals all over the world, and they are always in conversation. In just four short weeks of working on the Bates Film Festival, I have learned that each festival has its own purpose – a narrative, theme, or genre that makes it unique. However, festivals often look to each other for inspiration, new ideas, and new films.
The Sundance Film Festival is one of the most iconic and important events in the film world. Set in a mining–turned ski town in Utah (until it moves to Boulder, CO next year), this gold mine of independent cinema has been turning out hits since the 1980’s. In its final year in Park City, the festival offered another impressive lineup, and the BFF Board of Directors has paid close attention. We scoured the program of over 100 feature–length and short films and deliberated on which could be a good fit for this year’s BFF and its focus on the arts.
“Of the films receiving the most votes, every board member selected a movie and reached out to its representative. We now wait eagerly for the replies.”
This is not an easy task. There are 18 of us coming together to share our unique perspectives on which films are worth pursuing. Not only are we making this decision based on the description of the films, we are also weighing whether to select a film based on our own personal interest and whether it fits with the theme and audience of the BFF. We each developed a list of ten films from the Sundance program that we thought we should pursue. The results: no two people had the same list. There were some standouts, ones that both seemed interesting and fit with our theme, but there were also so many that did not make the cut.
This was the same way we selected films from the Aspen Shortsfest, but I found the Sundance selection to be a much more difficult process. My cousin attended Sundance this year and recommended her two favorite films to me. I added them to my list. Unfortunately, however, neither fit with our focus on the arts, and two great Sundance films missed the BFF cut. Sundance also mixed in some “Legacy” screenings this year– older films that have previously screened at Sundance. Our board, however, decided to prioritize new work, so most of the Legacy features missed our cut as well. In the end, the board worked well together to find films that fit our message. Sundance’s purpose is to give independent films a stage to gain mainstream success. Even though there are many films from Sundance that I would love to be able to share with the world, we too have to stay true to our theme and mission.
Of the films receiving the most votes, every board member selected a movie and reached out to its representative. We now wait eagerly for the replies, but the selection process will remain difficult as only so many films can be chosen. Regardless of how many of these filmmakers submit their films for consideration, I know we will have an incredible list of films from which to choose.
