Film festival to have virtual, in-person components
The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival will return for its 29th year this fall as a mostly virtual experience, with several physical components also taking place, festival officials said Tuesday.
Karina Nagin, the festival’s executive director, said it will “look a little different” this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. For example, rather than having screening after screening on theater screens, most of the films will be shown on a virtual platform. The festival will be held from Oct. 9-17.
Nagin said the change will allow more access to the festival than ever before. The virtual platform will be downloadable and can be accessed using computers, smartphones and smart TVs. This will allow people from across the state to be able to watch the festival films, she said.
“A wonderful part of the virtual platform (is that) our audience will be able to access films at any time,” Nagin said.
The platform will also host “panels, Q&As, and workshops, virtually as well,” Nagin added.
Nagin said that, as in the past, festival customers will have the ability to buy individual tickets, or they can purchase a festival pass that is good for each movie. Prices and event schedule will be released in September. The platform will be “free to download,” she said.
The platform will host a pre-festival screening of “Gather” at 7 p.m. Aug. 20. The film “follows a chef from White Mountain Apache (Arizona) opening an Indigenous cafe as a nutritional recovery clinic; a young female scientist from Cheyenne River Sioux (South Dakota) conducting landmark studies on bison; and a group of environmental activists from Yurok (Northern California) trying to save their river,” a news release said.
This screening will be held, Nagin said, to show how the platform will work. She also called “Gather” “a really beautiful film” that is “very family friendly.”
Nagin said a “silver lining” of the pandemic is that it has allowed the organizers to come up with a way to allow more people to experience the festival. She said they will see how this year goes, and plan to keep this virtual component a part of the festival once they are able to hold physical screenings again.
While Nagin wasn’t able to reveal any of the physical components of the festival, she said they are “still exploring ways to have in-person events.” For example, the festival hosted a drive-in movie recently which Nagin said was a success that “sold out in 48 hours.” She said around 200 cars or around 400 people attended the events, showing there is “demand for it.”
Despite the challenges the pandemic has caused, Nagin said they are still looking forward to the festival. She said her “team has been incredible and stayed committed to putting on an event” and they have received a lot of support from the community.
This will be Nagin’s first festival as the executive director. “Definitely not what I envisioned coming into my first festival,” she said, but added she is excited to still be able to bring these movies “to our community” and to “support independent filmmakers.”