FILM SOCIETY RECEIVES GRANT FROM CONVENTION AND VISITORS BUREAU! MARFA FILM FESTIVAL WAS INCREDIBLE!
If you live in the village of Big Spring you might have heard that the BSFS received a grant from the Convention and Visitors bureau to help cover costs for our two outdoor screenings coming up this summer. I want to thank Debbie Wegman and Troy Tompkins for helping me apply for this grant, without them none of this would have been possible. The grant will allow us to focus more on making these events a great experience for all who attend.
There is a committee being formed for the set design we are trying to put together at the amphitheatre for our Raiders of the Lost Ark screening, if you are interested email Courtnee Johnson at courtkae00@hotmail.com to get involved. The goal is to turn the Raiders event into a full blown Indiana Jones experience, we want people to walk into the amphitheatre and feel like they are on the set of an Indy film. I have already posted on the short film contest we are having in conjunction with our Raiders screening, haven't had any entries yet, but we shall see. The whole purpose of the contest is to see how many people we have in our community that are interested in making films as well as viewing them. Spread the word, I would like to have several entries, even though we are only screening the top 3 before the film, all of them will be viewed at our meeting towards the end of July.
We will be electing our officers and etc. via email ballots in the next few days, as soon as we have our officers and such in place, we will apply for our non profit status. A big step for us as we move to take the film society to the next level.
Last week I loaded up and headed to Marfa, Texas to volunteer at the Marfa Film Festival to try and see exactly how a film festival is run behind the scenes. I got much more than I bargained for, not only did I see the inner workings of the fest, I met some incredible people, saw some great films, and came home truly inspired about the art, beauty, and passion of film. The people behind the Marfa Film Festival have created more than just a place for people to go view independent cinema, they have created an experience that in my mind is genuinely unforgettable. From the musicians who provided a lot of the live music, to the programming of the majority of some fascinating, thought invoking films. Most importantly, the people in charge of the festival were very gracious and kind, which made me more than happy to do whatever it took to help keep the festival running. Sure there was a lot of hard work and sweat that went into some of the things we did, but knowing what I was a part of made it all worthwhile. I'm encouraging anyone with any interest in film or art to attend this festival either as a volunteer or a spectator. I want to thank the people with the Marfa Film Festival for providing me with a highly inspirational week that has me more fired up than ever about bringing the art of film out to this part of west Texas. I hope to show up with an army of volunteers from the Big Spring Film Society in Marfa next year.
I'm hoping to have a meeting the first week of June where we will discuss the summer outdoor screenings, share some more stories from Marfa, as well as screen an experimental short film I grabbed a copy of while I was there. Great things are in the pipeline for the film society, I hope you are all as excited as I am.
Cheers
Brandon
The photos from Marfa are here on Flickr
