Matthew Toffolo: What is your Film Festival succeeding at doing for filmmakers?

Crystal Pelkey: ​Our film festival provides an opportunity for amateur filmmakers to be on the same stage as professional filmmakers. It’s a place for creative storytelling to take center stage and telling that story in less than five minutes is a unique challenge that many filmmakers embrace and succeed at.

Matthew: What would you expect to experience if you attend the festival this year (2016)?

Crystal: Our audiences can expect to play an active role in our festival, in that that ​​they score each film and ultimately pick the top three cash prize winners!​​ Audiences can also expect to see many genres of film: animation, comedy, drama, documentary, experimental, and music video. to name a few.

Matthew: What are the qualifications for the selected films?​

Crystal: The finalists are selected by a panel of judges–the film must be under five minutes, be appropriate for all audiences (rated G).

Since the audience chooses the winners, the primary qualification, other than it being five minutes or less, is really overall impact–audiences are encouraged to consider things like, creativity, quality, cinematography, etc. while scoring each film.

Matthew: Do you think that some films really don’t get a fair shake from film festivals? And if so, why?.

Crystal: There are so many wonderful films and filmmakers out there, and many festivals are limited by time, schedule and resources, so it’s often impossible to screen all the entries and give every film a fair shot. I know it’s very difficult for us to select our finalists, and some great films often get left out.​ ​In terms of programming, producers have to consider things like variety of genres presented, duration of films in conjunction with the festival time frame, content, overall impact of the work presented, etc.​

Matthew: What motivates you and your team to do this festival?

Crystal: ​We are the only short film festival of our kind in our region (Northern, Minnesota) and our audiences have supported our festival over the past ten years (sold-out houses) so that momentum helps keep our team motivated to produce the best festival possible and continue to improve it from year to year.

Matthew: How has the festival changed since its inception?

Crystal: ​Our format has stayed the same– in that films have always needed to be five minutes or less, and that the audience chooses the winners. Over the years, we’ve added local celebrity emcees and this year we are honoring a local filmmaker that has made great films and helped put our community on the map.

Matthew: Where do you see the festival by 2020?

Crystal: ​Maybe by 2020 we will be accepting 20 minute short films? :)​

Matthew: What film have you seen the most times in your life?
Crystal: ​Friends would tease me and say “The Notebook” (that may be true), but I have a very happy family memory of seeing The Fugitive in the theater when it first came out, and I’ve probably seen it 100 times. Similar story for Shawshank Redemption.

Matthew: In one sentence, what makes a great film?

Crystal: ​A great film is one of the greatest gifts–it can transport you out of a moment in time, and allow you to momentarily forget all of your troubles, and at the end, it may even allow you to understand yourself better, and this wild ride called the human experience.

Matthew: How is the film scene in your city?

Crystal: ​We have a great film scene in Duluth, MN. We have a local art house cinema that continues to bring films to our city that we may not get otherwise. We have an exciting film festival that takes place in a barn every summer (Free Range Film Festival) and ​we have an annual Duluth/Superior Film Festival each Spring that often brings Hollywood starts to our beautiful city on the shores of Lake Superior.

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Interviewer Matthew Toffolo is currently the CEO of the WILDsound FEEDBACK Film & Writing Festival. The festival that showcases 10-20 screenplay and story readings performed by professional actors every month. And the FEEDBACK Monthly Festival held in downtown Toronto on the last Thursday of every single month. Go to www.wildsound.ca for more information and to submit your work to the festival.