International Women's Film Festival still needs volunteers

The second annual Hot Springs International Women's Film Festival is seeking volunteers to help run the festival on March 30 and 31.

Bill Volland, festival director, said he needs additional volunteers to help man the concession booth and ticket booth, usher filmgoers to their seats, and needs technologically savvy people to help project the films and operate the sound system.

"If someone volunteers for five hours, they will get a pass for the rest of the festival and we will give them half off concessions. I'm looking for someone I can train up to run projection. That would free me up for other important things during the festival," he said.

More than 40 hours of films from 65 different filmmakers from across the world were submitted to the festival and filmmakers eagerly await the news on whether or not their film makes the cut. Volland said he plans to reach out to filmmakers in the coming weeks and announce the festival's schedule shortly after, but much work remains to be done before the festival kicks off.

"Selections haven't been made yet but a lot of them have been judged. As soon as the submission deadline passes, that's when I'll start compiling the judge's grades and comments and go through any films that haven't been judged," Volland said.

Roughly 24 hours of film submitted in seven different categories will be shown during the festival. Each film is either written, produced, or directed by a woman, features a woman as the leading star, or has a story that follows a woman. The categories include student films, animated films, experimental films, music videos, documentary shorts, documentary features, short films, and feature films. After taking the scores and comments from around two dozen judges into consideration, Volland will pick winners from each category.

"There's so many different types of film. The International Women's Film Festival encompasses so much. As of right now, there are a couple of feature documentaries and shorts that look really good. As we get closer, I'll have a better idea of some of the films I'll want to include in the festival," he said.

This year, Volland plans to host his friend, Angela Vanzandt, of Little Rock, to promote an international organization called Women in Film. Vanzandt recently coordinated the formation of the Arkansas chapter. Volland said she might come in as a speaker in the festival and will definitely speak about the organization.

Volland said he expects some of the filmmakers who end up having their film shown in the festival to attend; however since he has not announced the festival schedule, no filmmakers have confirmed. Volland said he still plans to host a meet and greet and an educational film seminar.

Tickets to the festival are $10 for a half day, $22 for a full day, and $42 for a festival pass. A ticket to the film seminar will be offered for $23. They can be purchased at https://hotspringswomensfilmfestival.com/.

Local on 02/19/2019

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