Many people have asked me if I thought the Connecticut Film Festival was worth the state and local investment of taxpayer dollars.
It is a good question.
One that should have a public discussion.
The short answer is that I believe the festival was worth our dollar, however, it must do more for our community to have us continue to invest taxpayer dollars in the event.
As an outside observer, I was thrilled with the attendance at many of the seminars that took place in City Hall.
The people who attended the seminars were interested in the movie industry, screenwriting, or some other aspect of the business. They were there for all of the right reasons. The presenters were exceptional and were enthusiastic about their craft.
I personally fielded several calls from people coming to the festival from as far away as Los Angeles wanting information regarding entertainment and activities in Danbury.
I spoke to several hotels who indicated they had seen an upsurge in activity for the week of the festival.
All good evidence of success.
That tells me that people affiliated with the industry were here, but the festival was lacking in fans to attend some of the films (I attended Saturday nights screening at the Palace of “The children of invention”- nice crowd 80-100 people).
The fan attendance at the films was not as strong as last year. That is just an observation, I don’t have any actual attendance numbers.
Over the next several weeks we will begin calculating numbers of attendees as well as spin off of economic investment in our community.
Later, I will meet with the organizers of the festival, Wayne Shepperd who has been serving as our Director of Economic Development, and City Center stakeholders to discuss the future of the festival.
I believe that the Connecticut Film Festival has tremendous potential for Danbury.
Like any major undertaking, it needs to continue to improve to have our city continue its partnership.
Nice writing. You are on my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.
Allen Taylor
Comment by Allen Taylor — June 10th, 2009 @ 11:01 am
Mark, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Why did you block me?
Comment by Florence Leibowitz — June 10th, 2009 @ 4:02 pm
Mark~
I think the festival is new and it needs time to really take off. It would be a shame to end it now. Though I did not go because I really hear very little about it I hope to be able to some time in the future. Maybe the date should be changed to be during summer vacation from school.
Comment by Susan — June 10th, 2009 @ 4:15 pm
I enjoyed the CTFF. I served as a volunteer for 12 hours, as did my girlfriend, and numerous other area residents.
I wonder how much this cost taxpayers, and did any other towns share in the expense (I live in Bethel).
Comment by Jim R — June 11th, 2009 @ 12:36 am
I also watched “Children of Invention’ on Sat night. I went there with few of my other friends. we were actually very surprised and thrilled by the nice accommodations, professionalism and courtesy. I enjoyed the movie very much. i would def. attend the CTFF next year. Just thought i should also put my input. Thanks CTFF.
Comment by Ahmed — June 11th, 2009 @ 11:29 am
hey mark, nice kind words.
you failed to mention however, the economic recession’s contribution, or un-contribution. ticket prices were still affordable.
my event, Interactive, had 41 events in 3 days at the Danbury Arena. All tix were $7 and special day passes were $30. many events were free. we had good first year attendance.
dave
Comment by dave bonan — June 11th, 2009 @ 11:47 am
Susan hit it right on the head. The film fest is just starting to pick up steam, and the turnout and exponential increase in events/workshops/etc is evidence to that.
The festival is getting larger every year, and for it to have a larger impact on the community, it needs to grow and evolve. This takes time — and yes — money.
I attended the festival, and in doing so patronized local businesses that I have not for a long time. I forgot how nice an atmosphere Two Steps Grill has, as well as many of the local shops on and around Main Street/Ives Street.
I believe it would be in Danbury’s best interest to keep the festival here.
Comment by Chris Bryant — June 13th, 2009 @ 10:00 am
The article is usefull for me. I’ll be coming back to your blog.
Comment by KattyBlackyard — June 14th, 2009 @ 8:44 pm
I do not feel the CT Film Festival was marketed at all and with its current ’state’ that any serious filmmaker would attend. The website was not accurate prior to it. It seemed to be an overall amateur low budget production.
Connecticut has a lot of potential with its tax incentives and a lot of big media personalities living there and being from there.
There is no reason that Connecticut Film Festival cannot be the next great festival. It is only a short distance from New York City. Maybe it needs to specialize or categorize itself as only films below <$1million, but if it is going to be worthwhile to Connecticut there needs to be a change.
Best,
Tommy Swanhaus
Comment by Tommy Swanhaus — June 26th, 2009 @ 1:35 am