The Frederick Festival of Film was created in 2002 as a subsidiary of the Frederick Festival of the Arts to promote film, video and digital independent moviemaking in the mid-atlantic region, by creating a forum for filmmakers to present their works, encouraging active participation in the independent film community, and providing for education in filmmaking.
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History
During the filming of an anniversary video for the Frederick Arts Council, Festival of the Arts executive director Jasmine Sneed and videographer TJ Grable brought their resources and contacts together to create a regional independent film festival. Both had been working independently on plans to expand the film community in Frederick, and decided attracting filmmakers from within Frederick and nearby communities to screen their films at a noncompetitive festival was the best forum for this.
The Festival debuted in June 2002, concurrently with the Frederick Festival of the Arts, with thirteen short film screenings by local and regional filmmakers, as well as entries from New York and Missouri, for capacity audiences at the newly renovated C. Burr Artz Library in Frederick, MD. The films were shown in a looped program over two days.
Five filmmakers made personal appearances to introduce their films and participate in a panel discussion. After screening at the 2002 Festival, Robbie Chafitz, a Frederick native whose film Time Out also screened at the Sundance Film Festival and was later purchased by The Showtime Network, landed a recurring role in the Comedy Central show “Contest Searchlight”.
The 2003 season, also held in June, included new locations at the Weinberg Center for the Arts and The Cultural Arts Center of Frederick, and the addition of the 72-Hour Filmmaker Contest, a grueling competition over a 72-hour time period. Returning in 2003 was the filmmaker discussion panel, featuring 9 filmmakers from the festival and a special guest appearance by Eduardo Sanchez, co-creator/director of The Blair Witch Project. The Festival increased its non-competitive screenings in 2003 to 15 films, incorporating feature-length films for the first time. Over the course of the 3 day event, 17.5 hours of films were screened. A film planning committee was formed in 2003, led by TJ Grable and Jasmine Sneed, to produce the annual event.
The 72-Hour Filmmaker Contest unleashed teams of film crews upon the city of Frederick in a 72-hour period. Each team employed guerrilla filmmaking techniques to make their films any way possible. 14 teams set out on June 3, 2003, 9 returned to vie for the title on June 6. The films screened at the opening night premiere and a $250 Best in Show prize was awarded.
The festival continued to grow in 2004 as the film schedule expanded to 26 films during the regular festival screenings on Saturday and Sunday, and 12 teams competed in the 72 Hour Filmmaker Contest. In addition to the return of the filmmaker discussion panel, the festival also added an actors discussion panel, awards for Originality, Creativity, Technical Expertise, Style, Overall Achievement and an Audience Choice award. A corporate sponsor, The Frederick News Post, signed on to the festival in 2004 as well. The festival changed its dates from June to September partly to differentiate itself from parent organization The Frederick Festival of the Arts, and partly due to inactivity during the planning period after the 2004 festival.
The 72 Hour Filmmaker Contest also grew in 2004, with prizes given to the top 3 teams, including a grand prize of $250. A record 38 films, from a submission pool of over 50, were screened over 3 days. The Festival became international in 2004 with the acceptance of 2 films from Canada and Scotland.
A community outreach project was designed in 2004 for local college students to submit artwork proposals in a contest to create promotional art for the festival. The Presenting Sponsorship from the Frederick News Post allotted the winning team of the 72 Hour Filmmaker Contest a $250 Best in Show Prize, and supporting prizes were offered through a sponsorship with Media Services, inc.
In 2005, audience attendance surpassed 500, and the 72 Hour Filmmaker Contest brought 19 teams to compete for over $2,300 in prizes. 14 filmmakers from 4 states attended the festival and spoke to audiences during the Filmmaker Panel Discussion. A second awards ceremony honored 5 entries from the Festival of Film for excellence in filmmaking with unique, hand crafted awards by local artist studio, Artifact Design and Build, Inc.
After the 2005 festival, another period of inactivity occurred as the festival planning committee struggled to keep veteran members and recruit new members to replace vacant seats on the committee. A change in structure at the parent organization brought renewed scrutiny on the operations of the film festival as a departmental entity of the Frederick Festival of the Arts.
While a "Best of the Festival" event was being planned for March 2006, internal strife among the film planning committee and tension between the film festival and the Festival of the Arts led to a break in strategy for the two groups, as film was no longer a focus to the more fine arts oriented Festival of the Arts. During this time, the Frederick News Post also discontinued its sponsorship of the film festival citing lack of progress, leaving the majority of the monetary and promotional considerations without backing. As a subsidiary of the Festival of the Arts, the film festival was prohibited from seeking funds from pre-existing arts festival sponsors, curtailing the pool of support available for producing another year.
While the budget and operational strategy was under review by the Festival of the Arts, the film planning committee held a vote to disband the film festival following the March 2006 event, and to use the event as a farewell, showcasing the favorite films over the years. The film festival's website, www.frederickfilm.org, remained active until August 2007, displaying a farewell message after the March 2006 event.
After the dissolution of the Frederick Festival of Film, several filmmakers who had screened at the festival combined resources to produce 72 Film Fest, a sequel to the 72 Hour Filmmaker Contest. With many of the same rules and concepts, the 72Fest set new records on attendance, submissions and prize giveaways.
Inactivity After 2003 Festival
After the 2003 film festival, festival chairperson TJ Grable decided to step down to pursue his own filmmaking interests. Over the next 5 months, the festival fell into inactivity as the Festival of the Arts considered whether to pursue another film festival. The idea was revived by John Schillaci, who persuaded TJ Grable to rejoin the organization. Having lost crucial planning time to produce a spring festival in 2004, the date was changed to Fall 2004 to allow for the proper preparation time.
Inactivity After 2004 Festival
At the close of the 2004 festival, chairperson TJ Grable was once again interested in moving on to other pursuits. Many on the planning committee were also having the same thoughts and numerous resignations were tendered at the end of 2004. In early 2005, TJ reclaimed the role of chairperson for the 2005 season.
2005 and the decline of the Festival
The 2005 season was not as successful as 2004 in terms of attendance or filmmaker participation. Technical problems were also on the rise with inadequate equipment and improperly mastered DVD's causing malfunctions during screenings. The change in strategy of parent organization Frederick Festival of the Arts also alienated the film festival committee and began a segregation of the organizations. While, in the early days of the festival, it was accepted that the film festival would eventually spin off to its own 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with the help of the Festival of the Arts, the new board of directors at the FFOTA was unsure of lending its financial and legal support at the risk of its own operational strategies.
As the film festival planning committee began to fragment into opposing views for the festival's future during this period and corporate sponsors looked to new ventures, the end of the festival was quickly approaching.