EDITOR'S NOTE: The 27th annual Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival begins Friday at the Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa. This is the first of four articles highlighting the longest-running, all-documentary film festival in North America.
It takes a small village of film enthusiasts to pull together the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, and each volunteer is essential to make it all run smoothly.
Jennifer Gerber, executive director of Hot Springs Documentary Film Institute, says about 40 volunteers comprise the screening committee that helps determine the programming of each year's event. This year's volunteers screened roughly 1,100 films from across the globe and narrowed them down to 127 over the course of several months.
"We open submissions in early January, and that's when filmmakers can start submitting to our festival," Gerber said. "Before that, the screening committee begins to form and our screening committee chair, Chris Wilks, is the one that's reaching out to people, anyone that's signed up that's interested, he starts getting them signed up on the site and educating them on how the process works."
Starting in February, the committee begins meeting monthly and each film is viewed by three people, she said. Members rate the films, and once a month the committee gathers to discuss the films that stand out with the thought in mind of whether the films are festival worthy.
"Between June and July, all the top scores are added and tallied and scored by Chris Wilks, and then we get to see a list of the top scoring screening committee picks," Gerber said. "From there we facilitate down to what seemed to be the favorite films of the screening committee, and they get one more chance to create their top 10 list in case there was a film that didn't score as high but they were really passionate about it. They get to give it an extra little boost."
The committee considers a few different points when determining if a film is worthy of Hot Springs' festival, including how the film made members feel, if the films are technically pleasing and if their messages are ones that are important or relevant to those attending.
"We're an Oscar-accredited festival, so we want our films to be held to that standard," she said. "It's hard because there's a lot of films that we like, so it's how do you draw the line between a great film that you love and a film that's festival worthy that deserves to be in our festival? That's where the fine-tuning of those scores can be kind of tricky."
Developing the festival's programming is a two-tiered process, with the committee-selected films and those invited by Programming Director Derek Horn, and two other programmers who Gerber said do not live in Arkansas.
"They all work for festivals so we've attended Sundance, we've attended festivals early in general, watching all the slates that come out, and inviting films," she said. "Between the invited films and the screening committee selects, that's how the program is made. The invited films, we've probably watched another 500 documentaries."
Kristine Artymowski, owner of Whittington Place and a member of the screening committee, watched 543 films this year.
"I started this two years ago in 2016 and that year, I watched maybe 310 films," she said. "Last year I watched about 435 films and then the screening committee chair, Chris Wilks, challenged me to watch more, but I had already kind of set that goal for myself to watch over 500."
From mid-January to August, Artymowski said screening films becomes her job, devoting time each day to watching and rating films for the festival.
"I have a second degree in radio, television and film from the University of Texas at Austin that I got in 1991, and I never actually worked in the field, so I love that I'm able to do this now," she said. "I'm very happy to have found something like this."
Volunteers are not limited to screening films, Gerber said. There are roles throughout the festival that need to be filled with volunteers who are committed to making the event a success. This year, there are approximately 100 volunteers giving their time to the festival.
"All of the leadership with the volunteers is done by Kim Everhart and Helen Bumpas," Gerber said. "Kim's our volunteer coordinator and Helen is our transportation coordinator, and without them this whole operation would collapse. They're incredible and they've been doing this for many, many years. They also have a reputation with the volunteers of making sure that it's organized, that they are trained and that it's a positive experience. I give a lot of credit to them. I think because of their leadership, our volunteers come back from year to year."
Volunteers contribute their time by ensuring the VIP lounge is brimming with Southern hospitality, working the box office and ticket sales, tending to the cinemas, selling concessions and merchandise, and transporting guests and filmmakers to the events.
"This year we'll have close to 80 filmmakers visiting the festival this year so they're flying in and out of Little Rock all day long," Gerber said. "Sometimes they leave at 3 a.m. to catch a 5 a.m. flight so the drivers are so vital to the operation to make sure our filmmakers are greeted warmly when they get into town and make their departing flights on time no matter when that time is."
While most of the volunteer shifts are filled, Gerber said anyone interested in volunteering is encouraged to contact festival organizers.
"There's always a schedule change, someone suddenly can't come, or they're sick, so we always love having extras on hand," she said. "There are still a few shifts open, but it's starting to get pretty set. But we always will take more."
Local on 10/16/2018