Joseph Shahadi (Fri)

Friday. Eight days until Opening Night of The 2012 Art of Brooklyn Film Festival on August 4^th.

It was a long day yesterday so this morning starts a little slow. It’s a slog but there’s still a lot to do.

Yesterday we worked all day, held the free The Warriors screening in the evening (complete with costumes), and afterward the Directors, Program Manager and I walked through the space and planned how we are going to set it up for this year’s festival. By the end of a long night, we’d created a schematic that includes space for displaying the finalists of the 2012 AoBFF Poster Contest, an area to conduct press interviews, a merchandise table and a lounge area. We also decided where to hang our banners and how to deal with the unattractive view of the scaffolding from inside the space (a grid of posters over the windows). Earlier that afternoon Jason met with the people who will be running sound and our Assistant, Eden Seiferheld, to tour the Founders Hall and Maroney Theaters, check the equipment and make decisions about microphones (yes for panels held in Founders Hall Theater, no for the smaller Maroney Theater). We are confident now that everything is in order and we’ll be ready to set up once we get full access to the space on August 1^st.

On Opening Night August 4th we will host a free screening of the 1991, Brooklyn-set Steven Seagal cult classic, Out For Justice, along with a Seagal look-a-like contest. To promote the evening we created a second poster with a mask of Steven Seagal’s face that can be cut out and turned into a mask. The illustration by Program Manager Al Acceturra never fails to make me laugh. I am looking forward to seeing an entire theater of Steven Seagals…

As we come up on our last week before our Opening Night the level of detail becomes increasingly granular. Do we need tablecloths? What color should they be? Which chairs should we use in the lounge? How many should there be? Etc. etc. Anthony spent this morning designing the banners and mailing the digital files to the printers. Ultimately we decided to brand both of them with this year’s design so they will both be red and black and feature the filmmaker/rat figure from our poster. This prompted a discussion between he, Jason and I about retaining the rat as a logo/mascot for the future, but we tabled it for discussion after this year’s festival. We have begun selling tickets in earnest, with new sales each day, but we are still reaching out to potential audiences with discount codes. I contacted the Executive Directors of two Brooklyn-based nonprofits who work with teens, letting them know that we are assembling a team of volunteers during festival week. We have people in place already for ticketing and selling merchandise, but because we are using a second theatre within St. Francis College, we’ll use teen volunteers to direct people to the seventh floor, where the Maroney Theater is located. I also coordinated with Al, our Program Manager, about assembling the swag bags for the filmmakers and purchasing frames for the awards the winning films will receive.

I finally made the last of the follow-up calls to the editors and reporters we sent press kits to last week. As of today we have press from Brooklyn-Based and Flavorpill, the blogs Strollerderby and GLOC, and the Time Out NY feature will hit next week. The progressive website Firedoglake.com will also stage a live, interactive interview with filmmaker Anthony Pedone whose documentary feature, Camp Casserole, will have it’s Brooklyn premiere at our festival on Monday, August 6^th. The interview will be part of Firedoglake’s LA based “Movie Night,” which is a live, interactive discussion of films and filmmakers, typed online in real time. The live Brooklyn audience for Camp Casserole will also have the opportunity to participate in the discussion. The film is about maverick indie filmmaker Steve Balderson and his method, which favors fostering strong relationships between collaborators over technical concerns.

I can relate.

I hope we will see you at The 2012 Art of Brooklyn Film Festival from August 4^th-12^th for premieres, new, independent films, panels and talkbacks with filmmakers, delicious street food, after parties every night, and stars and neighborhood folks, rubbing elbows.