New at Mountainfilm 2013
Mountainfilm turns 35 this year. While we’ve had a long and illustrious history of trying new things (with varied success), we’re still trying to make improvements. This year, in particular, we’ve added several new programs and initiatives.
The Library, Reimagined
Our smallest and pluckiest venue, The Library, was slammed with long lines and unfortunate turn-away numbers in 2012. To fix the issues that seem endemic to the venue, we decided to completely re-imagine how we use it. We’re going to experiment with a few different kinds of programming: targeted, workshop-style talks and in-depth conversations specifically geared to appeal to only a small percentage of our Mountainfilm audience. Check the online schedule to see what we’ve lined up for you at The Library.
Lastly, keep in mind that the Library has only 66 seats. If you’re not there early, you might want to head to a bigger venue for another program.
The Fitzroy Pass & What You Should Know about the Bigger Venues
Our audience has grown in the past five years, but we’ve only added one new venue: the outdoor Base Camp. Why? Simply put, we still have theater capacity to accommodate our entire audience. Our four in-town venues (The Sheridan, Nugget, Masons and Library) are our smallest and quickest to fill, so we’re hoping to drive more traffic to the larger two venues, the Palm and High Camp. How? By creating a new, extremely discounted pass that allows access to only the two biggest theaters.
For those of you who are scared of getting turned away from full theaters, take note: In 2012, we never turned away anyone from the Palm or High Camp, so head to these places for better odds of getting a seat. If it starts to get hard to get into the big venues, we’ll add theaters or cap the number of passes we sell next year.
Booze & Banter
Our morning Coffee Talks have become so popular and overcrowded that we thought, “Why not add more of them at different times and add libations?” We’re taking the familiar model of intimate morning talks and panels and amping it up by making them into a way to enjoy happy hour. We’re collecting a couple of new community partners to host these talks and will experiment with programming in 2013, but we’re hoping to make Booze & Banter regular festival fare.
Feedback
Your festival feedback was instrumental in developing all of these changes, and we’d love to hear from you about how it all works this year. If you have thoughts about how to make any of these things more awesome, or other ideas for the festival, please contact us.
