Festival Assignment Pt. 2: THE INTERVIEW!

Monte Yazzie: Festival Director of the International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival

1.  I’ve read your mission, and researched your website/news articles, but how would you personally describe the mission/goals of your festival?

This is my fifth year with the festival. I started as a program manager. After some time I was offered the position as festival director which this is my first year. I want to give fans something to root for. I try to cater more to the film makers and people behind the scenes while pushing the focus away from just the actors on the screen.

2. What drew you to want to work here or to start this festival?

I started out in the audience. I was a fan. After 4 or 5 years in the stands I threw my name in the ring and was offered a position with the festival. I had my own blog and website that I used for film review. I started as a pre-screener and saw my potential where I started to move up. I transitioned to a judge and then got into the festival management as a program manager and finally became the festival coordinator for the IHSFF Festival.

3. What is your absolutely favorite thing about your festival?

My favorite part? That would have to be the volunteers. I love seeing passionate people within the community. The literary and creative types and just being in the same room during meetings while trying to pick the best films for the festivals. Almost everyone involved with the festival is a volunteer. But beyond that would be PASSION! It all comes down to passion and the people in the community who exhibit it.

4. What is most challenging?

It would have to be trying to create a program that is very diverse. There are a lot of genres to go through just within horror and sci-fi. Questions come up like how to scare people or where the line is? Is a film too scary or lacking the horror effect? Also contacting major studios for screening. We are a non-profit working for money to make the festival possible. Thankfully we have been a big success in the past several years.

5. What do you wish they had done differently or better when they were first starting out? What do you wish you knew then that you know now?

What I really wished I knew was the understanding that just because you don’t get a phone call doesn’t mean the end of the world. Not to take things personally. You should have perseverance. We are a community of people here to help. Also, I wished I had taken more time to support Arizona while we had our benefits. To help preserve the industry while it was at its strongest.

6. How many entries did you get this year? Make sure to ask them to distinguish between features and shorts.

For both horror short films we get about 150 entries and have to narrow it down to 20. When working with sci-fi shorts, we get roughly 80-100 and also have to narrow it down to 20. Features in both horror and sci-fi get about 25-40 entries and get narrowed down to 5 or 6. Then there are the showcase selections which we reach out to about 8 total films. They are chosen and are actively sought out to be a part of the festival.

7. How many films do you aim to screen each year? Again, make sure to ask them to distinguish between features and shorts.

We aim to screen about 20 of both sci-fi and horror shorts and about 5-6 feature length films of each genre. We also have showcase selections which total out to 8 films.

8. What is your pre­-screening process?

The pre-screening process consists of the films being given to about 4-5 people within the festival’s trusted circle who go through and watch the films to weed through them.

9. How many pre­screeners do you have each year?

We have about 4 to 5 people that we have selected especially to screen the films. The festival director, film organizer, short film sci-fi, horror, and independent viewers of which go through the films and then cumulatively we select who moves on beyond there.

10. Who is typically chosen as a pre­screener? How do you find them?

People through the festival who are involved in the Arizona community. They tend to have experience in horror and sci-fi. They are authors, podcasters and people who have interest in sci-fi or horror. They have some sort of experience in film.

11. How do you score entries? Do you use a scoring template/rubric? Are there scoring guidelines?

We have a very basic rating system that go from 1-5. It is very general. We tally all the scores and take all 4 or 5s and move them up to weed through for final entries. We try to be very lenient considering that the quality of film that we get nowadays is very high.

12. Do you have a jury after the pre­screening process has ended?

Our feature films have a jury process, other programs do not. They do have a competition. We do have awards for best actor, films, and other awards. Film reviewers, people in town, press tend to be the ones that act as judges. We have a group called the Phoenix critics circle who tend to be jury.

13. How far in advance do you send out your call for entries?

As the festival ends we let people know about the following years program and to submit again. Call to entries went out in July and get submitted through our film platform website.

14. When do most entries come in? Early? Late? In waves?

Most entries come out between late November and early December.

15. How many paid employees does the festival employ each year? How many volunteers?

Everything within the program is volunteer based. The only employed position within the festival is the Executive Director.

16. Do you use specific programming, trafficking, budgeting software? Do you like it?

The budgeting software we specifically are templates created by company sponsors. We used withoutabox as well as IMDB for our festival uses to keep track of programming and trafficking.

17. What community outreach do you do outside of your festival season to keep your event on the public's radar and/or to raise funds? (Workshops, mini­festivals, fundraiser dinners, etc.)

We have a 48 hour film challenge which is our biggest form of community outreach. We get a lot of funding and advertising through general sponsorship. We also have a showcase that we do with 3 films that we circulate 5 times before the festival which gives us some press. Finally we have independent workshops that we do for writing, actors, and film itself that we do to keep awareness. We do general charity awareness for other companies and set up booths at the events to advertise as well as sell a few tickets for the festival.

18. Do you give out swag bags to visiting filmmakers? Presenters? Guests? If so, what type of items do you include in those bags?

We have swag bags that people look forward to. We get something from all of our sponsors, movies, and materials that are used for marketing. We also tend to get t-shirts, vouchers, and other items that we get complimented over the year from people who get the bags. They are pretty cool bags.

19. Do you have local sponsors and, if so, how did you get them on board? Any advice for us?

To get local sponsors we say to have passion!!! We put a pamphlet together of films, experiences, and past festivals as an example. We try to look serious and professional while showing our passion to those that aren’t involved.

20. Do filmmakers pay registration to attend?

There is no paid registration for filmmakers to attend. The only thing they have to pay is the fee for submitting their actual film.

21. Are you able to provide filmmakers with funds to cover travel or lodging?

We try to cover everything within their experience once accepted. We cover lodging and travel. We also give them vouchers for the festival as well as 2 meal passes while here.

22. What "perks" do your filmmakers enjoy at your festival? What else do you encourage them to do while they're in town? (Free dinners, tours, exclusive activities...in Wilm, we'd try to take them to the beach, Screen Gems tour, etc.)

We try to create an environment to market themselves. We have an Arizona film industry night. All local production company, studio houses, visual special effects, etc get to come to man a booth with food and alcohol to meet and greet. Filmmakers that are a part of our festival tend end up working together. They come back having collaborated over a new film. What we try to do is help them get jobs post festival! A direct line to a job or a connection to change a path for the future!

23. Do you have special donor perks during the event? Or how do you thank them?

We have a Phoenix film society donor system. Sign up for membership. Early access and screening feature films. Early access to big films!

24. Any other ideas or advice that we haven’t thought to ask about?

Never lose your love for film! Give people a sense of community. Foster that community and give a wonderful place where people love the same thing! Never lose sight of the process of filmmaking. Focus on the creatives. THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE SCENES!