Documentary Film Festival gets new programmer

With the start of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival only a few months away, film submissions have now closed and the programming of the festival has begun.

The festival received 1,056 submissions this year, and the job of narrowing down the films is in the hands of a new director of programming, Jessie Fairbanks.

Each of the movies has already been viewed by at least three members of the festival’s screening committee and many of the films have been viewed by “even more” members, Jennifer

Gerber, the festival’s executive director, said.

Fairbanks, the programming team and the committee, will shift through the submissions to form the lineup for this year’s festival. The programming team, Fairbanks said, also includes associate programmer Abby Sun and assistant programmers Robert John Torres and Robin Robinson. The screening committee is led by Chris Wilks.

However, Fairbanks said these will not be the only movies screened at the festival.

“In addition to submissions, we invite documentaries to the festival,” Fairbanks said, adding that “these solicitations are carefully selected from emerging filmmakers, established artists and fellowship programs.”

“Between submissions and solicitations, we build a program which represents the best in nonfiction filmmaking and highlights new voices in documentary storytelling,” she said.

Roughly 100 movies will be screened at the festival, a news release from HSDFF said.

While this is Fairbanks’ first year with the festival, she has been working in this field for over a decade. She began programming for festivals in 2012 and over the years has programmed for the Tribeca Film Festival, DOC NYC, Nashville Film Festival and Cinema/ Chicago.

Fairbanks said she is excited to be working with the HSDFF. Noting the festival is the longest-running documentary film festival in the country, she said “the festival has been incredibly successful these past 28 years because of the programmers who came before me. So, my goal is to build upon their amazing work, to continue to showcase the best documentaries in Hot Springs and to push our film program forward with bold and challenging films.”

“We are incredibly fortunate to have Jessie on this team,” Gerber said, noting this year’s lineup will “reflect (Jessie’s) experience. I’m really excited for the festival we are building together.”

The festival will be held from Oct. 18 through 26. Gerber said the lineup will be announced in mid-September.