Director of Programming James McNally is attending this year’s Sundance Film Festival from January 20th to February 1st.
Back in September, I completed my second year working as a Venue Liaison for the Toronto International Film Festival. After the first year, I remember thinking “I’ll never do that again!” 16-hour days filled with stress, crowds, celebrities, little (or bad) food, and (for me, anyway) few opportunities to actually see films. But this past year, things gelled. I was more confident doing my job and being part of an amazing team (at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema) and organization, and I’d learned a few lessons.
Several of my colleagues were film festival veterans, and a few had worked (or technically, volunteered) for the Sundance Film Festival, one I’d always wanted to attend. Perhaps foolishly, I decided to apply when the volunteer application process opened up, thinking I had nothing to lose. As the process continued, I realized that my particular set of skills and my experience at TIFF made me a pretty desirable candidate, which provided a well-needed ego boost. I was offered a very nice full-time (80 hours during the festival) volunteer position working with the Film Office, and I eagerly accepted. Even better, I’m working directly with the coordinator of the International Shorts programme. I leave incredibly early on Tuesday morning and will be in Utah (!) until February 1st.
There are a few differences between this trip and the one I took to Clermont-Ferrand last year. There won’t be any language barrier, for one. And I’m working, so my time will be much more structured. Plus, I seem to know a pretty significant number of people who will be attending, so there are far more opportunities to meet up and socialize. But I am hoping that, in addition to being a fun personal experience, it will also be a productive trip as far as Shorts That Are Not Pants is concerned. I’ll be meeting most if not all of the filmmakers who have short films playing at the festival, as well as the programmers and other people involved in the creation and exhibition of great short films. I hope that I’ll be able to serve as an ambassador for our little series and help it grow even more this year.
So stay tuned to my little diary. It will be, like last time, a sometimes cringeworthy mixture of the personal and the professional. And I can’t wait to write it all down!