Festival Corner

Genuine. That’s not usually a word associated with Los Angelenos. But, that’s how I found the participants and organizers of the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival when I worked as a volunteer this summer. Being a recent transplant (just 4 months in questionably sunny LA), I have been amazed by the openness, friendless and curiousness of the people involved with this festival. The staffers seem to really appreciate the volunteers, taking time to learn our names by heart, praising our assistance, allowing for flexible schedules, and reminding us how the festival could not run without us. That was my first impression.
 

Nothing really changed about their attitudes towards us; the volunteer coordinators truly excelled at their job, and I commend them. It is unfortunate, however, that the various department heads did not excel at utilizing the volunteers in a way that could have truly improved the festival. The need for volunteers was over-anticipated and under-utilized. We spent much time getting to know each other instead of actually contributing. Even the interns seemed lackluster in their approach to their jobs — not much was expected, and not much was returned.
 

One way the festival use of volunteers fell short surprised me. The volunteers who manned the entrance doors at special events were given very few instructions, and seemed to have little awareness of industry names and faces. These doors are the entry gates to networking extraordinaire. We were given little guidance in handling party crashers or unanticipated “plus ones”. While that may be great for indie filmmakers ‘getting in’ these schwag filled, free drink flowing glamor events, it doesn’t service well LAFF’s rep. The festival reeked of Mickey Mouse when the volunteers at the door had no idea how to distinguish VIP invitees from opportunists.
 

The discouraging thing was, with my real estate and marketing background and awareness of the entertainment industry, I could easily have handled many of the festival organizers jobs. But in this jobless environment, it is nearly impossible to obtain one of those (albeit low) paid positions.
 

The films? Whoops, I missed many of them trying to eek out a meaningful contribution to the behind-the-scenes. But, when I did sneak a peak, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight reminisce over the making of Midnight Cowboy 40 years ago, after they sat in the audience and watched the movie side-by-side. At the same time, it was annoying that the evening would have gone just as smoothly if the four of us volunteers had not even shown up. Although we appreciated the event as viewers, we were not utilized as volunteers. Maybe I’m in the minority for actually wanting to work and improve the festival, but isn’t that the true volunteer spirit? With so many talented filmmakers and film fanatics in Los Angeles eagerly awaiting a chance to be involved, we actually WANT to do something to help! Maybe that frustration explains why I skipped my last shift. Shhhh!

To contact Karen Henry email: khmediapr@gmail.com