Blog post written by Sarah Lockwood, Cinema & Photography ’15, FLEFF Intern, Blairstown, New Jersey.

Greetings fellow film connoisseurs, artists, environmentalists, and creative folk alike. My name is Sarah Lockwood. I spent my whole life up until the past few months in a small town in Northern New Jersey called Blairstown.

Blairstown’s claim to fame lies in the sole fact that decades ago, its charming campgrounds and eerie graveyards served as the setting for a film now considered a cult classic– Friday the Thirteenth. I live in smug satisfaction with the knowledge that I have driven down roads that, at one time, Kevin Bacon himself drove over, too.

My idea of a perfect evening is to spend a few hours in the cinema, only to emerge and discuss the film at length until my mind tires, or until my fellow movie-goers grow tired of me. More often than not, the latter occurs. The plight of an excitable film major, I suppose.

Not surprisingly, Friday the Thirteenth never quite inspired me. However, from the moment I was old enough to grasp that movies were not “real”, that they were created through human vision, I was hooked. From messily drawn pictures to my eventual (or shall we say irreversible) love affair with a digital camera, creativity has always been my primary outlet in life.

However, in a rapidly developing age of technology and communications, creativity no longer limits itself as solitary activity.  The internet provides the perfect medium through which human beings communicate with one another. It is with this intent that I search the web before spending money on movie tickets, have my own Vimeo account to host videos, and find myself blogging for FLEFF this 2012 season.

What drove me most to FLEFF was its appeal on many levels, though the true fun lies the amount of new information I learn with each passing day. For example, that FLEFF is one of the few festivals in the country that employs student interns. Additionally, FLEFF’s first even will be held in five days! Lavinia Currier’s Oka! will screen at Cinemopolis on Sunday, the 12^th.  

I am – as I am sure many of you are – extremely, extremely excited to ensure that this year’s festival surpasses even our own expectations.

On a final note, I invite you to answer two questions – Why do you believe humans choose to blog? And most importantly, what are you looking forward to most about FLEFF's 15th anniversary, MICROTOPIAS?

Blog posting written by Abby Sophir, Television/Radio, FLEFF Intern, St. Louis, Missouri. 

As former FLEFF Intern Brian Cicero described in a previous post, as interns we are divided into teams to accomplish specific tasks. This serves as a great opportunity to meet new people and get to know fellow interns.

At a team dinner last week, I got to meet Josh Nelson, a sophomore Cinema & Photography and History double major from Long Beach, New York. He shares what he has gotten out of his experience with FLEFF so far. 

"Through FLEFF I have come into contact with people who are very passionate about their beliefs," Nelson said. "These people range from inspirational filmmakers to community leaders and even students. It is great be a part of this experience as I am learning how to coordinate group efforts and, at same time, appreciate the communal environment. Everyone has important input, we just have to listen."

He said he has found that the Ithaca community as a whole is less fatigued and easier to get excited about an event that IC students. He now has a better understanding of the cooperation required for an event of this size. 

"Before FLEFF I did not realize how closely different divisions of the City of Ithaca worked together in order to construct such an event. I found that involving the entire commercial district of Ithaca, not just Ithaca College, truly creates a wider audience and gives new life to the festival itself," Nelson said.

Blog posting written by Lindsay Harrop, Cinema & Photography '13, FLEFF Intern, McMinnville, Oregon

One of the awesome things about FLEFF is not only that it incorporates so many different visual and artistic styles (from documentaries at Cinemapolis to performing arts to live music at Delilah's), but that there are so many unique people supporting behind the scenes.

I had the opportunity to catch-up with FLEFF intern Jackie Nedorezov and hear about her FLEFF experience thus far. Jackie is a sophomore Cinema & Photography major from Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. She's been able to integrate FLEFF into the Ithaca College campus in her own way. Here's what she had to say:

"On campus, I am the Film’s Chair for Student Activities Board (SAB), which is the second largest organization on campus. In this position, I am responsible for showing the films played on campus every other week.

We recently added a promotional video as previews before each film showing to highlight other areas of our organization. Because a lot of people who come to our films are interested in films, I added a little segment about FLEFF to encourage college students to attend. Hopefully that got the word out there!

In terms of operations for FLEFF, there is far more planning and preparation required for these events than I ever accounted for. I never really thought about how much work goes into getting the rights to book certain films and invite certain performers.

With all the work that goes into this, I know I’m extremely excited to help run this festival smoothly when it comes time in April!"

Thanks for sharing Jackie! Now for everyone else: what are you doing to spread the FLEFF word?