Research MVFF

1. What time is your interview scheduled and who will you be talking with when you call/skype?
Sterling Hedgpeth, Programming manager

2. Who started it and who runs it?

Mark Fishkin started it in 1977 as a 3 day showcase of film. It is now an 11 day international film festival.        

3. What is the mission of the festival/conference? (copy and paste the first paragraph)

The internationally renowned Mill Valley Film Festival offers a high-profile, non-competitive environment perfect for celebrating the best in independent and world cinema.

The nonprofit California Film Institute celebrates and promotes film by presenting the annual Mill Valley Film Festival, exhibiting film year-round at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center and building the next generation of filmmakers and audiences through CFI Education. For more information please visit www.cafilm.org or call 415.383.5256.

4. How does this compare with their actual programming choices from the past two years? Be specific in describing what they program (mode, categories within mode, niche, Political? Global? Local? Gender? Sexuality? Race? Any themes that you see? etc...)

Being such a long festival, MVFF really has everything. Kids films, docs, shorts, active cinema, scientific, comedy, world cinema… the list continues.

5. Where is the event?

Mill Valley, California

       

6. When is the event? (Give dates from last year if not current)

October 2-12, 2014. IT’S COMING UPPPP!

       

7. How do you submit? Snail mail, online, withoutabox, through their site, etc...

Snail Mail and withoutabox

       

8. When are the deadlines to enter? Early? Reg? Late? How much does it cost to enter?

       

9. Who’s eligible, what are the guidelines to enter?

Anyone is eligible, just under right the right category. Every category has their own guidelines. Features have to be over 50 minutes.

10. Is there a Student category?

No, but there is a youth produced category.

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11. What formats do they except for jurying? DVD, Vimeo, Flash drives?

DVD

12. What formats do they except for exhibition/screening?

       

13. How many films screened at the festival last year?

Over 200

       

14. How many films or papers do they program per block?

        This festival is so big that it really depends on which block you’re going to.

15. How do people register to attend? Is there a cost to attend as a guest?

General Admission: $14.00


California Film Institute (CFI)

Members: $11.50


Seniors (65+) and Students: $12.50


Children’s FilmFest (all ages): $10.00


Shorts Programs: $8.00

All access badges:

Single: $2,500

Dual: $5,000

16. Look at sponsorship page and see what businesses. Grants and private entities give money to the event. Figure out how many of each kind and note any leads that might be useful to us.

Whoa, they have major sponsors including Wells Fargo, Lucasfilm, Nordstroms, vimeo, and a whole bunch of international sponsors. I don’t think any of their sponsors are in our league right now.      

17. What are their sponsorship levels? 

The sponsorships are broken up into the type of sponsorship they’re providing rather than levels. For example: Film Festival Circle Support, Government Support, Hotel Sponsors, Major Media Support, etc.

18. Did they have a kickstarter or indiegogo? What incentives did they have for each level of donor?

Nope.

       

19. Are there ways in which they have expanded the typical film screening event? How have they branched out from sitting in a dark room in front of a screen?

        They have active cinema which include calls to action and even a nature hike. The artists in residence right now are METALLICA. YES… There’s online voting for a film to get into the festival. They have concerts, memorials, and throwbacks (Star Wars). There’s a lot going on.

20. Is the layout easy to navigate? What makes it easy?

It is pretty easy because the drop boxes have pretty much everything you can think of…except submissions, which are on withoutabox. I don’t know if the submissions area isn’t on the website because the festival is coming up and there’s really no need to have it.

21. Is the layout difficult to navigate? What makes it difficult?

Nothing except for the submissions.

22. Can you find the information you are looking for on the homepage or via a link on the homepage?

Yes.

23. Aesthetically, what catches your eye? What's cool about it?

     It’s very clean and simplistic. The colors they are using are blue and red which is the most pleasing contrast of colors.

24. Aesthetically, what doesn't fit in? What makes it look bad?

There are no defining features. I love simplistic but with something to make it stand out.

25. Should there be more information? Is the page too bare?

No. There’s a ton of info about the upcoming events right on the homepage that catch your attention.

26. What would you do differently if you were to redesign this website?

I would had some time of characteristic that de