How to Kickstart a Film Festival—RVA Style

The Reel Dame Film Festival celebrated women in film. But someone had to organize it first.

5/2/11 12:14 PM

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Reel Dame Film Festival poster

Have you ever watched Wes Anderson's film Rushmore? I'm brimming with as much school spirit as Max Fischer, only with slightly more focus. I am all over Virginia Commonwealth University's art and media scene. If you're familiar with the hyper-creative nature of the university, you know that includes many nooks and more than a few crannies: School of the Arts, School of Mass Communications, MATX, Brandcenter, Creative Writing M.F.A. Program, Cabell Library's Book Arts and Comic Arts Collections, Student Media Center, the da Vinci Center for Innovation, etc. (etc., etc.).

But even as one of VCU's biggest pom-pom girls, I know the university needs a boost here and there. Such a vibrant school needs, for example, a more apparent film culture. All the dreamy, passionate types wandering around campus make it a darn good setting for one.

So—bada-bing!--I started a film festival.

Well, it wasn't quite that simple. Few worthwhile endeavors ever are. My student group, The VCU Society for Women in Cinema, applied for a Special Grant from the Student Government Association, won said grant, and then spent a year pulling at our cheeks in agony. Even with a generous $15,000 budget and a wealth of university resources on our side, we had our woes. Putting together a film festival is hard work.

The society organized The Reel Dame Film Festival, an event geared toward promoting females in the art and business of cinema. All throughout the weekend of April 8-10, we programmed a variety of shorts and features by and about women. (Heck, we even played Jack Bennet's Caprice, a horror film with a feminist perspective.) Some of our guests included Stacey Steers, Peggy Ahwwesh, Mary Beth Reed, Sonali Gulati, and Sara Elizabeth Timmins.

The weekend went smoothly and we received plenty of compliments. Nobody would've guessed we were like John Cusack's character in Being John Malkovich--that is to say, meticulous puppet masters. Richmond is a beautiful and intriguing city in more ways than one, but it is also a small city. For an event like ours, it meant that we had both the fortune and misfortune of only having a few options.

First came the question of location. Richmond is blessed with several great screening venues, but we had to think about which one made the most sense for Reel Dame. Did we want the historic charm of the Byrd? The sheer grandeur of Landmark? The hip factor of Gallery 5? We ultimately chose Grace Street Theater, which is operated by the VCU Department of Dance & Choreography. Many VCU Art History and Cinema classes meet there. VCU's Southern Film Festival takes place there. The space is modern and clean with excellent projection and comfortable seating. It is also central to campus and central to Richmond. Most importantly, however, is the fact that it is a VCU facility, reinforcing Reel Dame's association with VCU.