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

FLEFF is upon us! We had a terrific kick-off last night with the world premiere of the Finger Lakes Uncorked! webisode series and grand opening gala at the Finger Lakes Wine Center in downtown Ithaca. Since then, I've run into a lot of people on campus asking, "Just what is FLEFF?" Besides AMAZING, here's a quick catch-up on some of what FLEFF is all about:

FLEFF stands for the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival, but it goes beyond what you'd expect. The documentaries and narrative films shown at the festival all revolve around the idea of how people relate to their environments and how our environments relate to us.

There are films with topics ranging from environmental exploitation (like End:Civ showing at Cinemapolis Friday, April 15 at 9:00pm with director Frank Lopez) to the recent economic breakdown (Fixing the Future showing at Cinemapolis Saturday, April 16 at 4:00pm with director and journalist David Brancaccio). There are also silent films with live musical accompaniment, new media presentations on campus and live music events at Delilah's April 14-16th.

A lot of the artists, musicians and filmmakers associated with FLEFF events will be present at their events to answer questions and interact with the audience - especially students.

The last live FLEFF festival in 2009 attracted over 10,000 people and this year is going to be even BIGGER. Most of the on-campus events are free but if you want to attend a Cinemapolis screening (and I'm sure you do) you can buy a Festival Five Pass for $45 ($35 with college ID) or an individual screening ticket for $9.50 ($8 with college ID).

So what are you waiting for? Check out the schedule of events this week on-campus and downtown at Cinemapolis and see what all the excitement is about!
 

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?
 

Blog posting written by Shawn Steiner, Film and Photography ’14, FLEFF Blogger, Elkridge, Maryland

Welcome to the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival! I’m Shawn Steiner and I am among the interns who will be bringing you the scoops, behind-the-scenes, profiles, and Q & A’s throughout the festival. I hope you will be joining us here and at Cinemapolis during these fun times.

Here at Ithaca College I am a first-year student majoring in Film and Photography with a minor in Writing. It’s a pretty far distance from my home in Elkridge, Maryland, but believe it or not I love the weather up north. Also, the school itself is fun! I am fortunate enough to be using 4x5 view cameras, a 16mm Bolex, and spend hours in the darkroom with my film. It’s amazing. Also, I'm able to work on ICTV shows such as Panorama and go out and shoot profiles of interesting events and people.

Things like FLEFF are adding to my love of Ithaca. Through these events I have had the opportunity to see and talk to numerous people I never would have seen otherwise. Just a couple weeks ago I saw Albert Maysles and his documentary Gimme Shelter at a sold out screening at Cinemapolis as the opening event of FLEFF and it was amazing.

As a film and photography major seeing all these films and people has been just a great opportunity to learn. Which I believe ties greatly into the idea of FLEFF.

FLEFF is an environmental film festival, “a different environment” from other types of festivals. It is here to teach as we are here to learn. And there is always something that we can learn from others.

We aim to bring together as many people from as many different backgrounds to do as many different activities as possible. I was surprised to hear that there were so many new media artists, musicians, and others along with the filmmakers coming to the event as well. Even that one of our partners is a venue for music, Delilah's on Cayuga.

This is one huge experience everyone should learn from because the environment isn’t just the trees outside. It includes society, the people, the arts, and all the other happenings of the world. But perhaps most importantly with this festival, we are to have fun.

I’m having a lot of fun so far, so why don’t you come join us? FLEFF isn’t just a week in April, it has already begun.