Classic City Vibes

Filmmaker Chris Pendry

• Athens Regional Library System • Episode 85

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Learn about local up and coming filmmaker Chris Pendry.  Chris Pendry is a talented multi-hyphenate artist. From acting on stage, writing new works, and making short films in the UGA Masters in Film Arts program, Chris Pendry has had a busy year making art and adding to our beautiful creative scene. Check out his latest films Chase and This Body is a Test (here are the links to watch): https://youtu.be/Ho9itJEiOiY & https://youtu.be/sPkrFz804XQ.

Speaker 1

All right , welcome to Classic City Vibes today , our first ever live episode recording . We have with us Laura Hogan and Anthony Zuniga from the Athens Film Festival . Thank you both for coming today and being part of the show , looking forward to seeing what a live one goes like for us . So first of all , just tell us about the Athens Film Festival . Your role let's start with your roles . What are your roles in ?

Speaker 3

Athens Film Festival . You want to go first ? Yeah , so I'm Anthony Zuniga . I am the event or head of event services and volunteer coordinator .

Speaker 2

I'm

Welcome to Athens Film Festival

Speaker 2

Laura Hogan . I'm the head of marketing and publicity .

Speaker 1

And how did the project originate and when did you get involved with the project ?

Speaker 3

Yeah , so the project originated , we believe , a little bit over a year ago . However , we got involved end of April . Around there beginning of May , we met Chuck and Sam , who are our colleagues in this whole thing , and they needed some help running it , because a festival takes a lot of help . So they recruited us in and we've been . We've been rolling on it since May oh , we got someone coming in yeah , um , hello , someone just walked in .

Speaker 2

So basically the film festival began , yeah , over a year ago . Chuck said why don't we have an Athens Film Festival ? And you know what then happened was they were like , well , why , I guess no one's doing it , we might as well do it . And so Chuck and Sam decided to start a film festival here in Athens , because there have been little ones over the time that have come up , but they've never been one that's lasted and been kind of really involving the whole community , and so that is kind of like that way back when of it . Um , I can keep going .

Speaker 1

No , I love that . So it's total diy , what you know ? Why is there not one ?

Speaker 2

we'll make one yeah , I love it . You know a lot of people just be like well , I guess there just isn't one .

Speaker 1

Instead , they're like well , I guess it's on us well , you kind of have to have that mentality in filmmaking , right to a certain extent , because it doesn't come to you . No , it sure doesn't ?

Speaker 2

I mean you wish they do , like a rare chances , I guess , right , like . But then you find out the real truth , like you know , like harrison ford wasn't really discovered um the way they say he was , like I mean , you know he was a carpenter , but like that was just one of his jobs or whatever he'd He'd done other acting stuff , right ?

Speaker 1

Yeah , he wasn't just pulled from a .

Speaker 2

Hey you come here , yeah , hey , you come here , yeah , no .

Speaker 1

Sure I can do that . So , in the planning so far in your role , what's been the biggest surprise for you ?

Speaker 3

Ooh , biggest surprise , I think , just the amount of support we have for people wanting to volunteer . We have someone here too that is interested , so thank you so much . But yeah , I was really overwhelmed in a good way to see the amount of people that want to be involved and help , and even if it's just a few hours of their time , that was a good surprise .

Speaker 2

So I guess I've had a lot of surprise . I mean , one of them like , for example , we almost got Sundance . So all of a sudden my questions were like hey , what can you tell us about Sundance ? And I was like I'm here to talk to you about the Athens Film Festival . I do know about that , but we're just in the running . I'm not running Sundance . You have to take a step back .

Speaker 2

And now Atlanta is still one of the candidates for Sundance , but we are not , which is , I think , that's okay . We put in a good effort and I'm very proud of our city and we are a wonderful city for film and a film festival . But maybe just you know , one like the Athens Film Festival is where we're at , and just also just all the outpouring of support from Georgians . I have been amazed , like when we went to the Atlanta Film Festival , the number of people who said , oh , you're from Athens , athens doesn't have a film festival , what ? And wanting to get involved . I mean , to this day , like as of yesterday , even I had people being like wait , I didn't know , can I still submit a film ? I didn't realize this was happening , which is good news for next year , but it is too late . I'm so sorry you may not submit your film for this year any longer . It is full .

Speaker 1

So maybe Sundance saw what you guys were doing . So you got Athens covered , that's right . How did you get the word out to filmmakers or , when you come in , more were there ? Was that already kind of a thing ?

Speaker 3

Yeah , so when we came on we already had a lot of submissions . We had over 5,000 .

Speaker 2

Yes .

Speaker 3

Yeah , and that's pretty unusual , but it's because we didn't charge for our submissions .

Speaker 2

yeah so Chuck wanted and Sam wanted to make it a real community event and reflective and open to all the filmmakers . Um , and so , as a result , he did not charge a submission fee on film freeway , which led to some but 5,000 films that were having to be watched and viewed is a lot of films , and some , I mean , you have to think , even if , like some of them , are feature films , so that can be what Two hours even , and some were just like two minute shorts , but that's a lot of hours watched by the people who were on that committee .

Speaker 1

so I would think even like a two minute short almost takes more of your attention to make decisions on films that short than like feature length , where it's you got more time to kind of like grow into it and kind of immerses you . Right , I would just what was your experience ? What did you as a judge ? What was that criterion for ?

Speaker 2

I mean , we weren't judges in this portion okay but I can say that they did have like a panel of people , um , and

Festival Origins and DIY Spirit

Speaker 2

I would say that probably the biggest . I mean they had like a spreadsheet and they were , you know , judging and like film freeway . Let's do like right criteria , but do wonder I haven't asked that . And I'll have to ask Chuck that question now because , like , we only had so many feature film slots , right , there's only so many hours in the day and people only want to see so many feature films and yet we have a lot of short films . And even just like one of the biggest blocks with like the number of films is the animated block , because a lot of them are very short . So that's , I will have to ask him because I don't . Yeah , do you know ?

Speaker 3

well , I mean we've we've had to work on just writing some descriptions and you know questions for q a's that we're gonna have to do during the fest . So , just on a personal note , I thought seeing the short films was a little easier . It's a little more digestible . You know a feature you have to really sit there . And I don't know if anyone else is like this . But the way I watch any sort of netflix or anything , that second five minute chunks because I'm always just so busy , so it's like when I'm eating I prop up my phone . Um yeah , so that's kind of how I was . I was navigating through it . So the two minute ones , the three minute ones , are super easy . It's like boom , let me just go ahead . They're great . I mean those blocks , you sit through them . I mean some of them you'll find they're your favorite . Some of them you won't like so much , but hey , that's , that's what film's about , and a lot of them are just really great , eye-opening and inspiring .

Speaker 2

So that was my experience I would say , though , 80 films , you know , is a lot . So even just the ones we've watched , I felt like that was lot , so I can't imagine the number of movies .

Speaker 3

We're hoping to expand that committee going forward because , goodness , we're going to need a lot more watchers .

Speaker 2

Spoiler alert there will be a fee of some kind next year , so I apologize in advance if you did not submit your film for free , but it was cool to see just the international submissions too , because it was just so open , people from around the world .

Speaker 3

I mean , even just here we were seeing such diversity in the films . Someone else coming in ? Hello , hello , hey .

Speaker 2

Oh , welcome , sit down , we're live . This is great .

Speaker 1

Tell us about some of the local partners in the theaters that you're working with .

Speaker 2

We are very lucky . Yes , because we're at four different venues for the theaters . Um , this year we have cine , which is a presenting sponsor , downtown they're all downtown and walking distance the morton theater um , flickr , and then the globe upstairs . Um , I would like to just make a brief note , since we this , the only one that is not really ada accessible is the globe upstairs . Yes , unfortunately , um , so we are trying to be strategic in what is shown there , but all the other venues , obviously , yes , and we're .

Speaker 3

We're super lucky to have those venues because they've been all about it . They're also of the same mindset . They're like why hasn't a film festival happened yet ? How can we help , you know ? So it's been great to see their support . And then we're also having a few hangouts and stuff like that Some happy hours at Cine .

Speaker 2

We'll be doing stuff at Creature Comforts and Paloma Park and Little Kings , and then the Little Kings , and then the Globe Upstairs also has that , and we also even at the Globe Upstairs before we have a Laugh your Ath off on opening night and there's an encore performance and we have some local stand-up comedians from Athens Comedy Scene who will be kick-starting that block as well . So that's kind of cool , and we also just have a lot of generous supporting sponsors from around the community in all sorts of ways . I don't want to leave anyone out , so I'll just tell you to please go on our website and you can see a complete list of all of our sponsors and we're very , very thankful for all of them , and if you'd like to be a sponsor , there's probably still time- there's always time to be a sponsor .

Speaker 2

We'll find a way , yeah .

Speaker 1

What makes a successful film festival ? We were talking about Sundance earlier . What , in your terms , what do you think makes a festival ?

Speaker 3

successful . What I think is the people , the community , People coming through seeing the films , being a part of the scene and just meeting everyone . That's what we want to see . We want to see the community , we want to see Athens come out , show out and see these films . We want to kickstart this film industry in Athens . We want to see more films being produced out here and I mean , it's a beautiful city for it to be the backdrop to the stories that already exist here and the stories that so many people want to tell . That's what we want .

Speaker 2

And a film festival is amazing . We have a whole bunch of world premieres . We have filmmakers coming from literally around the world . I mean , we have someone flying in from Brazil , we have people coming from California not just , you know , georgia filmmakers and so getting to be in an experience where A it's the first time that this film has been shown in like a large group , right , that's a world premiere . That's an amazing experience for the filmmaker , the cast members , but then also you're in the room with cast members , with crew , with you to have Q&A so you can actually ask questions of the filmmakers .

Speaker 2

And I think there's that's also just as a as a filmmaker , the coolest experience . Like when you're , like when you perform on stage , you get to see the

Film Submissions and Selection Process

Speaker 2

audience reaction in real time , right , like it's a communal community of you know , communal response or whatever is the word I'm trying to say . But , like in film , you don't get that until you do all this work and until you get to go see it with a group of people . That's when that final step gets to happen and that's where they happen sometimes as film festivals , like these short films you're not going to see on Netflix or anywhere else , like a lot of these films like this is where you go to see them and this is their place yeah , and that you can't beat some local filmmakers too .

Speaker 3

that , too , that you know they're bringing their crew , the people that worked on it , their families and this is their moment to shine to put their story out , that they worked so hard and to see a full house . That'll mean so much to them . So that's what we think will make successful people coming out and supporting us .

Speaker 1

Just in general , how do you see the current film kind of scene in the Athens area here ?

Speaker 2

I mean we're growing . I mean , obviously , we now have Athena Studios . We just had the Woman in the Yard just shot there locally , which is a Blumhouse production , which is like the first major production from a major studio to film at Athena Studios here in Athens . The MFA in Film Program is now at at uga and it's in its I want to say it's going into it . Maybe it's fourth year , um , I think it started in 2020 , so that sounds about right , right , um , and that also is bringing , because uga before didn't have a master's in , you know , in filmmaking , and so now you have an mfa in film which is also attracting people who want to come here and stay here and continue to hone their craft , which is very exciting . And I think also , just , you know , people are realizing that you don't have to go all the way to Atlanta to do these things , like we don't have to . You can do it here in Athens . We have the resources , we have the people . You want to say more ?

Speaker 3

Yeah I think I'll piggyback off of that is that I think it's blossoming and we need to keep watering it , we need to keep nurturing it and supporting that , because there are people that want to produce their films out here , there are people that want to start and a lot of people , like Laura was saying , that have been working for a few years . They just got to keep commuting out to Atlanta and I don't know if you made that drive but doing that every day .

Speaker 3

So , yeah , it'd be great to have that here in Athens , and so many people have expressed wanting to work here , people from Atlanta too . They come in and they're like why hasn't it happened ? That question keeps coming up .

Speaker 2

I think also , you have to think Athens is an easy place to get around . We do have so many different locations here and because of the university , we already attract people who are more creative and like to read and to write . So there's always been that side . And we're a music city and we're an artistic city , but we're also I mean , why can't we be a film city ? Yeah , I mean , it fits all the same buckets definitely .

Speaker 1

I always think of like film festivals in like two different ways one from like a filmmakers or people who make films perspective and one from people like me who just love films yeah so someone's listening to this and they're a filmmaker . What's ? What's some things going on with the film festival that , like you would say , definitely check this out , come do this network .

Speaker 2

Here they're those oh , there's so many networking opportunities . Do you want to talk a little about some of like the parties or things that are happening ? Like as a filmmaker , like that's the most benefit , like going and learning and meeting right yeah .

Speaker 3

So , as a filmmaker , lots of benefits you can have from the Film Fest . We've got a happy hour at Cine for every feature that's going to happen there . So networking there like an hour before the film , you know , get a drink , talk to people , maybe find your new job for the next few months . You never know how it works in this industry and that's well . That really is how it works . It's just networking . The other benefit you can get is we'll have a crowdfunding and crowdsourcing .

Speaker 1

Yeah crowdsourcing .

Speaker 3

What is the word ? Workshop ? Workshop , thank you , thank you , I gotcha . Yeah , so we'll have a workshop that you know can come in learn how to . That's really where the industry is moving right now is crowdfunding and crowdsourcing . Um , so you know , learning how to move those grassroots movements and getting your film funded .

Speaker 2

That's how you get it produced yeah , and that'll be done by marty lang , who we mentioned is he's the director of the uga mfa and film program , and then aaron strand , who is an athens native and he recently crowdsourced it successfully his film Withdrawal . That was shot here in Athens and that's at one o'clock on Friday , august 16th at Cine .

Speaker 1

She's remembering that from the top of her head for those of you who are listening which is impressive for me because I don't remember any dates . What about from the other side of it ? You know just as who you know love films and we want to support and make sure that's a success . What's the what ? What's the best way for us to make sure that this is successful , as as film lovers in the community ?

Speaker 2

come and watch as many films as you can , go to as many events as you can and bring your friends .

Speaker 3

Yes , the morton , like it's huge talk about , yeah yeah , I mean the Morton can seat over 400 people . I think it's 458 around there . So bring your friends , you know , bring your family , tell them to come . You can even buy just a single pass to a movie or a film . You don't have to come the full day or come the full day . It's going to be a great day .

Speaker 2

And ask questions . You can ask questions in these Q&As , I think right .

Speaker 3

Yeah , you can . There are going to be some times to ask some questions . We'll open it up to the audience for a few questions and also not even just during this Film Fest . Support these places even outside of the festival . These places support us throughout the year . They're here , not just during football .

Speaker 1

So just support . So most film festivals over the years kind of develop their own personalities and I know y'all are just part of a bigger team , but just you personally . What would you like to see the kind of personality of this develop into , If that makes sense ?

Speaker 3

So , huh , I'm not quite sure yet , because you plan something and then it goes the other way . But what we've been seeing , it kind of developed this personality of the music scene that we had in Athens that's been now handing off and working hand-in-hand with the film scene . We've been kind of seeing this rock-and-roll feel with it . So we're going to have wristbands and badges , people at the door checking you in , so almost feels like a concert when you'll be walking in . So that's the kind of vibe we've been feeling , like an Athens vibe .

Speaker 2

Yeah , I feel like it's going to be a very representative of Athens Festival . I think that that's part of what attracts people to come . I mean , obviously we're lucky because it will showcase people from around the world , but also , again , we are Athens , we have a huge college here that has people from around the world attending , so that also still kind of fits our vibe in our niche and like we're a little bit quirky but we're super fun .

Speaker 1

Yeah keep that as weird . I mean , quirky is the best thing you want from a film festival anyway , right , right .

Speaker 3

Yeah .

Speaker 2

I think so .

Speaker 1

Well , talk about some of the films . Is there any particular ? Ones I know it's hard , you don't want to leave anybody out , but some of the maybe high points you want to point out to people , I mean I'm super excited to start , I guess .

Speaker 2

To start with , I'll talk about Ugly Sweater , which is our opening night feature film , and Lauren Musgrove , who's won ? I believe she's an eight-time Southeast Emmy winner . Again , that's off the top of my head , lauren . If I quoted the wrong number and you have more , I'm sorry . She's a UGA professor . She will be there . It's at CNA and this is their like Southeast premiere of that film and there'll be a Q&A after that and stuff . So that's super fun . It's a little bit more , especially if you are into it's a feature film . It's a little bit more like lighthearted than some . So if you have , like high schoolers or middle schoolers who wanted to come with you to a film , like that would be the choice that I would recommend . We also have a documentary showing that benefits Lovecraft on Saturday and that would also be a good , family-friendly one in a totally different direction . And then I guess there's so many things about other films .

Speaker 3

Yeah , I'll

Local Venues and Community Support

Speaker 3

talk about more , but you know I don't want to leave anyone out or spoil any of these films , right ? But uh , two of my favorite shorts , um will be guests with benefits . That's going to be playing at the morton , and then we have walkman , which was in our trailer here . That's an incredible story . It's by Jeremy Tao and he's from Winder , so not too far away .

Speaker 2

Yeah , and he wrote that film Walkman that you saw the trailer for if you were here live , yeah , before this actually during in athens during covid , so that's kind of cool yeah and I , I would say just in general , I'm excited about all of the films we have in the georgia real peaches blocks .

Speaker 2

um , every , every single block we have of short films contains a georgia film or an athens film . Um , and they're , they're just . It's amazing to see what the caliber of talent we have here . Um , and like chipper is going to be shown on that Friday at the Morton and that's Jason Warner Smith's last showing of that film . He's going to retire after this . It started at the Rome International Film Festival but he's from Athens , so it's coming back here for its last hurrah , which is kind of cool too . I mean , all of those films are great . We have a whole bunch of MFA graduates that will be shown at CINE and all of their films are wonderful . And then just the international films . Like I said , we had someone coming in from Brazil . We're having a world premiere of Boys About Town at the Globe upstairs with the filmmakers coming in from LA , and that's a comedy .

Speaker 3

I can't keep going . There's too many . There's so many filmmakers that are going to be coming out too , filmmakers that are going to be coming out too , just flying in and everything . So I mean , you're going to be able to meet a lot of cool people and , just you know , see some cool films .

Speaker 2

Yeah , I think there's every block . I mean , everyone has a different taste in film so I can't say you're going to like all of the ones that you see . Or you could see a feature film and be like this one wasn't for me and I like it , Like that's also the part of the fun of a film festival is when there are so many things . You might not like everything and that's okay . Or you might love everything and be like me just going . I can't tell you which one I like the best because there's just too many choices that's the beauty of art , you know , is there , are there awards or there ?

Speaker 2

is an award happening uh saturday at cna at 9 30 pm it's late , um , and there's for sure jury selected awards , um , and things like that , and that'll all be happening . We have , like some , I , at 9.30 pm , it's late , and there's for sure jury-selected awards and things like that , and that'll all be happening . We have , like some I don't know the details of the artist's name at the top of my head , but there's custom awards that have been designed for the festival by a local artist .

Speaker 1

Yeah , very nice , All right . So we always ask people on the podcast to come on about a book or film that and you can do more than one that has that like an impact on your life all right , so since we're talking about films , I'll start with a film , uh , one that really has an impact is life is beautiful .

Speaker 3

I can't remember who . What the filming , who the filmmaker ?

Speaker 2

is .

Speaker 3

Yeah , I mean Buongiorno Principesa .

Speaker 2

Oh man , that film just changed everything .

Speaker 3

I was like oh my goodness .

Speaker 1

What was it about that film ?

Speaker 3

So I loved that it was a foreign film and you could still understand the story through it , like it still touched you , no matter what part of the world you're from . The other thing I loved about it was , I mean , just how much of a gut punch it is after being so beautiful , you know . I don't know if you've seen it , I don't want to spoil it , but it's set in Nazi Germany or , I guess , in Italy . Yeah , fascist Italy , fascist Italy , yeah . So sorry about that , I guess . Yeah , thank you , goodness . That film , a book , I don't know why . This was a little weird , but Brave New World , aldous Huxley . It's just a strange book . It got me into the whole futuristic , dystopian stuff and , yeah , I just , I love that . I love that book . It's super weird . A lot of the stuff is coming to

What Makes a Successful Film Festival

Speaker 3

be , so that's also weird to me .

Speaker 1

That's kind of the first , I believe . Right , that's one of the first .

Speaker 3

Yeah , it was it kind of started .

Speaker 2

So I literally am the kind of person who never goes places without a book . I'm reading multiple books at a time . My Goodreads gets mad at me , so I'm not going to give you just like one book , but I will . I thought about this and I will now give you a book that is also a movie and both are wonderful . And that is the Princess Bride , which is the lamest answer ever . But it's actually not the book by William Goldman , who is actually a wonderful book to read . I highly recommend you read it . It's great for all ages and it has way more exposition and things in it than the movie does . But the movie is filled with talented , talented , talented performers and it has literally everything . It makes you laugh , it makes you cry . There's that's the whole part of the book . It is supposed to make you like movies and like books , and so I think , think , like I mean everyone like yeah , and so they send me for everyone in that , and it's really like lame and hokey , but it's classic and has cheesy 1980s music over the end , you know .

Speaker 2

And they race off on their horses into the you know the night . It's got everything . Yeah , it has everything .

Speaker 1

All right . So since we are live , which we never get to do , is there any questions from the audience ?

Speaker 4

Yeah , you had one earlier , I think it was . I can't remember what it was , I kind of forgot which . Oh yeah , it was about crowdfunding . I think it's really cool about crowdfunding because that's what a lot of filmmakers struggle with nowadays , especially post-strike , when the AMV TV , the studios would not help their filmmakers get funded because we don't trust this idea , and it's interesting because studios only care really more about profits rather than really the art .

Speaker 3

Yeah , I can sort of respond to something to that , just because we've been trying to get our films kick-started or know wanting to do something right , and what we've been learning is that it's . It's about , like what you said the studio is not really being behind your idea . You got to get behind your idea , thousand percent , you know , and being able to pitch it is that's .

Speaker 4

That's really the yeah the challenge yeah , it's pretty much the challenge . Because I think it's very interesting for filmmakers , because a lot of filmmakers tend to make mistakes by signing on to big productions rather than starting off on their own . And when they start off on their own , they get more creative liberty and more creative respect . Take , for example , christopher Nolan . His first film from 98 to 99 was the film Following , which is 75 minutes long . It's on the Criterion Collection , shot in black and white , I think , on 35 millimeter , and it took him weekends to make that film in London .

Speaker 4

And this was before he had partnership with Warner Brothers and Universal and I mean he was only like 28 , 29 when he made Following and it was a successful film . He premiered it , I think , in a few festivals and he too had to raise his own money before his name then came in , and then Warner Brothers and Universal came to him and I'm going to say that's awesome .

Speaker 2

And .

Speaker 2

I'm going to take this back to actually broaden it too . So one thing that's cool about that workshop as well is , like crowdfunding and crowdsourcing is not just for filmmakers nowadays , like I think it's while . This workshop is designed for filmmakers , and creating a pitch deck and knowing how to pitch your idea is this is all for filmmakers . But you need to have that skill . If you are a music artist in Athens and you don't know how to get people to support your album I mean they're crowdsourcing their albums you have to get the gigs . You have to be able to put yourself out there and say who you are , what makes you unique , whether you are a visual artist .

Speaker 2

Yeah , yeah so like the skills in that workshop , while it is specific to film and there's certain , like you know , sites specifically for film fundraising etc . Like that's something that I think nowadays , in the world we live in , is kind of universal .

Speaker 1

If you are a creative person or a small business owner , even like game designers and things like that .

Speaker 2

It's all done through crowdfunding and things like that .

Speaker 1

Yeah , but probably would you

Athens' Growing Film Scene

Speaker 1

say maybe filmmaking more so than any , Because film is more expensive to make than to make an album or to write a book or something like that . So I would think , this is just me thinking that maybe film is unique in that aspect that you would need a lot of money .

Speaker 2

I think also because film requires people , think it needs a lot of people . Even if your film is three minutes long with two actors , that is still . You have to have somebody doing sound . You have a cinematographer , you have to have an editor . Afterwards you have people on pas on set . You have someone you know like there's a lot of different and that's like if your film is not union , I mean there's a lot of things you have to go through and it takes time . I mean they say you know a page you know of a script is like a minute long , but like how many chunks is it ? Because like eight sections within a page usually that they break down by shots and stuff . So you know , yeah , I said eight , didn't , I maybe almost , uh , but that's a lot and so it's a lot of people and a lot of time and components so right to the film festival .

Speaker 1

Um , do you have a film or a short that you're most looking forward to seeing on the big screen ? Because I assume you haven't seen them on the . You know , you've probably watched them in preview . But you know , not necessarily your favorite , but just one that you're most interested to see transition from I assume you've watched them more on your TV or computer or something to the big screen .

Speaker 2

I mean , I'm definitely interested in , well , Ugly Sweater , as I already mentioned , because it has animation in it too , as I already mentioned , because it has animation in it too . So seeing that on the big screen , I think will be really neat . And I'm also , I would say , like the international films , because watching on your computer is very small and so you can't see especially when you're trying to read subtitles , you can't see all the nuances , whereas on a big screen you actually can take in that full panorama .

Speaker 3

I'm looking forward to the animated stuff , because a lot of that stuff goes crazy places and you can do a lot with animation , with a story , so seeing that on the big screen is really cool , or would be really cool . I'm excited .

Speaker 2

It will be cool , yeah , but we see it in two weeks . Depending on when you're listening to this , it could be tomorrow and the event might have happened already .

Speaker 3

Yeah that's true .

Speaker 1

In which case , thank you so much for listening . In that case , be looking for 2026 . Athens Film Festival , date to be determined .

Speaker 2

Yes .

Speaker 1

Talk a little bit . What about the logistical issues that go behind the scenes and making something this big ?

Speaker 3

It's got to be massive right yeah , so I think it's just like you know , we came on in in May , so having only was like three months , that we had pretty much . Yeah , when we usually people have a year , you know they finish the festival , other festivals and then they start planning for the next year from the get-go . So it'll be nice to have that time for next year . But that brought a lot of issues , I know , reaching out to the volunteers like I wish I had another two more weeks to really develop , get more people out there but the people that have reached out are people that are experienced and they're ready to work . So I'm excited for that and again , thank them .

Speaker 2

I would say , just like a logistics thing , that is , it's a cool thing , but we didn't charge submission fees , like we said . So most film festivals , in addition to having already done a festival , they have charged submission fees , so they have money to work with to do more things and do stuff . So we are very much , you know , on a I don't want to say shoestring because that sounds bad but , like you know , like we are crowdsourced as we go to right , we're learning , we're trying to really rely on the community and word-of-mouth and people's kindness . We have a lot of interns that I genuinely can say I would not be able to do it . You guys are listening , are ? You are amazing . I could not do this without you because literally there's not enough hours in the day and enough of me and I don't have all the skills . So you know right , we can't .

Speaker 3

So you were very lucky yeah , and I think I'm

Featured Films and Highlights

Speaker 3

just excited to see how the different venues work . So they're all you know . All the teams are great , but each venue has its own things to work with and all of that . So we'll see which ones flow , which ones we need to just work a little better with , and we're just excited to have them . We're really thankful too .

Speaker 1

Yeah , I wonder your first year if you'll kind of learn some just stylistically too , like these kind of films show better in certain venues and your audience . Is that kind of thing ? Do we have any more questions from the audience ? Well , tell everybody where they can find information , where they can get tickets , and tickets are cheap yeah , we have .

Speaker 2

So individual tickets start as low as eight dollars if you wanted to come just to a single showing , and then we go all the way up to passes which are currently as of so . Today is august 1st and they are on discount , and so the three-day pass is currently 65 , but if you again are listening to this , that price will go up , so you should buy now .

Speaker 1

Tickets are available at athensfilmcom and the festival is august 15th through the 17th be there and if you're listening afterwards , the tickets are going to be muchly reduced in price because then it will be over .

Speaker 2

But we'll take donations for next year . You're welcome to chip in alright .

Speaker 1

Well , thank you both for coming out today . I'm excited to have Athens Film Festival going on and I hope it will be a great success and for many years to come thank you .

Speaker 2

Thank you so much .