by Wausau Film Festival on April 5th, 2008 • No Comments »
Though festival has made some major in roads with notable directors and providing a venue for Wausau audiences to see films not normally accessible on its local screens I am putting the festival on hold indefinitely until a proper festival can be organized. Some local bands have expressed interest in being a part of the festival which I would gladly allow but the number of details to keep track of by myself and maintain the standards of excellence and professionalism with my main employer force me to post-pone the festival until another time. Thanks for support from Dino and some other Citizen Wausau bloggers here.
All the best
James Rubino
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by Wausau Film Festival on March 11th, 2008 • One Comment »
To make the festival work, their are two major tasks.
1) Get the word out to filmmakers.
2) Get the word out to the audience.
Getting the word out to filmmakers starts well ahead of the festival. To get the word out I use many online outlets to advertise the festival. Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter to create a cohesive publicity presence online. For fun I tried the Google adwords radio advert service. They accepted the professional ad I made in my dorm room on a $15 mic and rolled up sock-pop blocker and it was aired in the Park City, Utah the last weekend of the Sundance Film Festival.
To get the word out to the audience includes elements of all the above plus some modest media coverage.
Their are some sponsors interested but I worry that sponsorship would influence the festival away from the idea of filmmaking as entertainment that the festival started with. If you are seriously thinking about being a sponsor tying your message and business activities into supporting the entertaining aspects of filmmaking (or storytelling) is paramount.
If their are any brand managers or marketing buffs out their that want to build the festival let me know. I love the work but do not have time to put in to the details of the festival. I am also in need of a Technical Supervisor to ensure that all the lights are in synch with the sound. Last year I was able to do all of this on my own but given the current circumstances, this year it’s a little more difficult.
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by Wausau Film Festival on January 8th, 2008 • One Comment »
Folks,
Our Website it now operational.
Give it a look and tell me what you think.
I added a social network site via ning.com to add some interactivity for the fans and filmmakers.
You can visit the website at : Wausaufilmfest.com
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by Wausau Film Festival on December 8th, 2007 • 7 Comments »
Hello Wausau, this is Wausau Film Festival producer James Rubino.
Jarrod Crooks and I are currently working on putting together the next Wausau Film Festival. I talked today with Tom Houting, a manager at the Marcus Crossroads Cinema about having our next film festival there in place of the former Kelly Martini Bar site. The projected date is August 15th and I suspect this is going to be at the same time as the Big Bull Blues Festival.
I am proud to say that we will be getting an independent feature documentary on its first round of distribution through the festival circuit. It is called “Rockabilly 514” and covers the Montreal Rockabilly music scene (and Las Vegas) in its self-proclaimed rockumentary style.
Another film we will be showing is “Milrena from P7″. It is a short Romanian film by the late Cristian Nemescu. The plot is about Andrei, a 13 year old teenager, living on Bucharest outskirts, who decides one day to steal a trolleybus in order to impress Marilena, a prostitute he fell in love with. The plot is provacative but I believe it captures the insanity being a young male in love (to prove himself).
The major comment after last year’s festival was it featured very violent selections. It was unfortunate that the festival happened immediately after the Virgina Tech tragedy. The 2008 festival will feature films for a more mature audience without the violence but we hope to make it up to families by holding films made for younger audiences in the morning and continuing to support new filmmakers in the early afternoon with a audience juried contest and then provide the more mature independent features at night.
More about our call for entries, sponsorships, grants, and volunteering in my next post.
All the best,
James Rubino
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