The Mountainfilm Experience

Our show poster (created/distributed two weeks before the show)

I love film festivals, although I can't say I've been to many. But I have been to a few of the tours that showcase the winners from the festival. Since we have come to Maine, I have really enjoyed going to the Banff Mountain Film Festival, world tour. It's hosted in Ellsworth at The Grand every February, just when people are getting cabin fever and need a good boost. I've also gone to Reel Rock, which is usually played in Bangor. Last year, I heard about another one but it was a 2.5 hour drive to Portland. It was Mountainfilm. This year, I saw that it was on tour again but again, wasn't anywhere near Bar Harbor. Out of curiosity, I decided to look into what it would take to bring it here. I contacted Mountainfilm and a few local businesses to gauge interest. Everyone of course, seemed interested and wanted to get something on the calendar. We got Cadillac Mountain and Cool as a Moose to sponsor a chunk of the costs, along with the Criterion Theatre. It was exciting to be a part of this event, and help organize it. I worked with Heather Martin, Director of the Criterion Theatre, to get the event planned. Heather was great to work with, but there was a lot of things that could have been done to publicize the event better. We didn't reach out to communities outside of Bar Harbor, we didn't print posters, we didn't have longer than four weeks to plan this, we didn't get the local papers involved. I could go on, but I won't. We only had about 20 people show up to the matinee, and 40 people to the evening show. There are a lot of things we could have done to advertise the show.

Skip Armstrong in Bar Harbor for Mountainfilm

The positives from participating and organizing this event were huge. I got to connect with people in the local community, such as those that run the Criterion and the marketing guru for Cadillac Mountain. One of the guys at Cadillac Mountain wants to collaborate on an initiative to build a mountain bike trail here on MDI. I also got to connect with people in the Mountainfilm community, such as Marissa Mattys who was the MC for the event and is an aspiring actress, and Skip Armstrong the director of many outdoor films and owner of Wazee Motion Pictures. He happened to be shooting a film in the area right when Mountainfilm was showing in Bar Harbor. Three of his films were in the tour. And lastly, it was great to try to do something fun for the community. Hopefully we get another shot at doing this next year. I think there are a few things we can do differently to improve it. The actual show was phenomenal, with awesome films. Mallory and I were disappointed with Banff this last February. Last night, we weren't disappointed with any of the films. It was nice to be able to have a hand in picking the films! It was fun for Madie and Finn to go to the matinee with me, and then the evening show with Mal.