For the past 13 years, every fall independent filmmakers have descended on Northampton to take part in the Northampton Independent Film Festival (NIFF). Armed with their documentaries, shorts and feature-length films, they showcase and discuss their work in an environment filled with both like-minded film buffs and reel novices.
Since its inception—NIFF was founded by Dee DeGeiso and Howard Polonsky in 1994—the festival has slowly become an annual staple of the Northampton arts scene. Cinephiles have been able to count on NIFF to present a well-rounded roster of independent international and regional films.
NIFF's popularity and reliability are perhaps the reasons why it was particularly disconcerting to many filmmakers, moviegoers and festival planners when up until a few months ago, it was uncertain whether there would be a NIFF, 2008. The problem? Lack of money. The answer is simple; the reasons behind it, less so.
Given the fate and subsequent operational changes of both the Academy of Music and Pleasant Street Theater in Northampton due to fiscal problems, a film festival having money problems sounds all too familiar to Pioneer Valley residents. But what is unclear is the reason why NIFF, which had been going strong for well over a decade, ended its 2007 festival so in the red that its future was uncertain and board members this year were left to solicit sponsors only weeks before the festival begins. Uncertainty about the event's future was evident in a letter from the organizers dated September 16, 2008: "NIFF has several thousands of dollars of debt as a result of the soft economy and increased costs necessary to produce and promote the event…" states the letter to "Friends of NIFF." "We are asking that all local businesses consider a donation to the festival which will be recognized in a distributed schedule and projected live prior to all screenings."
What the letter doesn't explain is that the "increased costs" are not simply the result of an ailing economy and inflation. Last year, in order to reach a wider audience, the board of directors expanded the festival significantly. Instead of showing films over the span of one week, the board decided to extend the festival to two weekends.
"We made the decision to do two weekends because we felt we could draw more people on the weekends than week nights," said Doug Guthrie of Comcast, president of the festival's board of directors. "We wanted to expand the festival to reach across the state—we were doing everything we could to appeal to a larger group of people."
Other additions to the '07 festivities included more venues: screenings were held at the Academy of Music, and numerous venues on the Smith College Campus. Upwards of 130 films were shown, as opposed to some 80 films slated to be shown this year.
Besides the extra films, venues and dates, the board of directors offered multiple discussion panels with filmmakers and a concert by singer/songwriter John Sebastian. All these "extras" created a need for more staff, so the number of paid staff rose to 12, including a festival director and program director. To offset those costs, the board widened its advertising base in an attempt to increase ticket sales.
"We started to spend, anticipating that all of this would come back to us," said Guthrie. "We overshot our marketing budget—we did it purposely. We were being prudent, we weren't reckless& but when everything came in, we found ourselves unable to pay our bills."
Bills that went unpaid until this year include advertising fees and the full salary of the festival director, Jeffrey Dreisbach (he received roughly half last year, according to Guthrie).
While Guthrie maintains that the "biggest failure was our inability to project what we would take in ticket sales," another board member, WGBY President Russ Peotter, thinks that, in hindsight, the board may have been spreading the festival out too wide for the number of filmgoers in the Valley to sustain it.
"What happened last year was a surprise to me," said Peotter. "I thought we had a strong festival, and I just think… we probably stretched the audience a little too thin with a lot of venues, two weekends. That kind of defocused our market and we didn't sell enough tickets to make up for it."
Thousands of dollars of debt coupled with the scheduled departure of a number of board members spelled a bleak future, if any, for the festival earlier this year. In an attempt to stave off its demise, Peotter appealed to Boston Underground Festival Programmer and NIFF board member David Kleiler for help. Together they convinced Guthrie, who was among the board members slated to step down, to remain on the board and attempt to mount an '08 film fest.
With the help of volunteers, the remaining board members, led by Peotter, Kleiler and Guthrie, sought new sponsors and donations and gave the festival a complete overhaul. All paid staff positions were eliminated. Instead of massive screening to select films, a few volunteers individually screened submitted films and made recommendations. The number of films has been cut by over a third and screenings are slated for one weekend instead of two. The board's initial thought was to present at a single venue—the Academy of Music—but it has added Pleasant Street Theater. "Carol Johnson [of the Amherst Arts Cinema, which books films at Pleasant Street] made the offer to use Pleasant Street virtually for nothing, because they usually aren't screening anything in the afternoon," Peotter explained.
The two major sponsors are Comcast and WGBY. Peotter told the Advocate that WGBY's additional support this year has been "not with cash," but "largely a volunteer thing." Comcast has given the festival more than $10,000, as reported in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, and the board members have successfully garnered several new sponsors, including Bloomberg TV, Cinemax, A&E, E Entertainment and Business West, who have helped the festival regain its financial footing.
Recruiting sponsors has not been a strong suit of the board of directors, according to Guthrie. Last year the board hosted a Northampton Chamber of Commerce event in hopes of convincing local business owners to sign on as sponsors and give donations. Due to poor planning, that initiative failed.
"We paid for food and drinks," Guthrie said. "We really thought if we could bring the business community in, we could [recruit sponsors], and yet I don't think we had the proper means to close the deal with these guys. We should have had someone walking around with clipboards asking people, 'Can I sign you up for a contribution?'"
This year, however, the board was able to solicit a wealth of new sponsors, making it possible to present "The New World," the 2008 Northampton Independent Film Festival at the Academy of Music and Pleasant Street Theater Oct. 24-26. Although this year the event is a pruned version of its former self, Peotter has high hopes that it will rebound in the coming years.
"I think we definitely want to get this thing bigger than it will be this year," he said. "But I'm not sure how big it would be yet. Basically, we'll have to see how it goes."
For a schedule of films and screentimes, log on to www.niff.org.
