Find out what festival screeners think

A smart move from the Festivus Film Festival; this series of YouTube videos presents volunteer screeners talking about the films they pulled from the stacks and got through to programming. It's a great way highlight the films in your festival, present yourself as an organization that keeps its filmmakers' interests in mind, and draw attention to your event in the process. There's a bunch of these on the Festivus FF Youtube channel.

How to "do" the Toronto Film Festival

I've been to Toronto before for Hot Docs, but this will be my first trip there for "Toronto" - the shorthand for the Toronto International Film Festival (I've never heard anyone outside the staff call it "TIFF.")

Larry Richman, on the other hand, seems to have been a number of times, and offers this three-part guide of "tips for real people," ranging from line etiquette to specific advice about particular venues.

Check it out. Part one, part two, and part three.

Festival Tips from The Pigeon: Impossible Blog

Fellow Austinite Lucas Martell has been hitting the fest circuit with his new short, Pigeon Impossible. (You may recall that I linked to an episode of Martell's podcast a while back.) Here's what he has to say about getting to know the festival staff.

One big thing that I learned at Palm Springs: do your research. More specifically, know the names and titles of the key people working at the festival. There’s usually 3-7 people ranging from print traffickers, to the festival director, programmers, and media coordinators. If you don’t get something from the festival introducing these people beforehand, they’ll definitely be in the printed program. Be sure to glance over those names so that when you run into them at a party, you’re able to put a face to the name and say thank you for all their hard work.

Read more on The Pigeon: Impossible Blog.