Universal Cinema Film & TV Journal’s Amir Ganjavie recently interviewed Taylor Montalto the Programming Director for the Charlotte Film Festival. What follows is part of that interview.
Amir Ganjavie, UniversalCinema Magazine (UM): Can you briefly describe your festival, the categories, and the submission process?
Taylor Montalto (TM): So we have Narrative Features, Documentary Features, Narrative Shorts, and Documentary shorts. We also have a Social Justice category and a Student Film category. We are a five-day film festival, happening this year from September 27th through October 1st. So now we’re still in the submission reviewing process. We just passed our early deadline. We have our ahead-of-the-curve deadline on April 30th. And we’ll be accepting submissions up until July 21st. For the past several years, we’ve hit new records every year. So last year we closed with I think it was like 771 was our final number [of submissions]. And we programmed about 115 roughly.
And our festival program is primarily films that are submitted, [though] we also do Special Presentation Films, [where] we bring in films directly from distributors, especially our opening and closing night film. Those are always invited films. But the large bulk of our programming is films submitted to our festival (via FilmFreeway).
(UM): And what makes your festival different from other festivals?
TM: I think with Charlotte in particular, we’re very community driven. We’re very regionally based. We’re not Academy Award-qualifying or industry-focused. So, nothing to the scale of Sundance. That’s really not what our mission is. It’s really just to focus on our local community and our local filmmakers and our alumni filmmakers, supporting them. Our logline is “discovered different,” so we cater to a lot of more obscure films, especially with our Late Night blocks. So that’s something we take into consideration when we’re building our program, looking for the films that may be very niche, and wouldn’t necessarily do [well] in a larger scale festival but something that we can definitely support on a more regionally based level.
(UM): And how do you define what a good film is for your festival?
TM: I think [it’s most important] for us is to hit all our major demographics. So, we’re always looking for obviously female filmmakers, or non-binary, BIPOC. We like to try to hit a certain percentage of those in representation. And that’s anywhere from the director, the writer, the producer, really anyone involved with the creative process of the film. Then, the film itself, does it have high-quality sound? If it has really, really bad sound, that’s an indicator that we probably wouldn’t like to have that in a large theater space. And then if it has a really solid story, but maybe it’s not produced to a very high production value based on what resources they have, but it’s a really solid story, that’s something we look for as well.
(UM): If a film is introduced to you by a distributor or another festival organizer will those films get considered more seriously?
TM: It depends. I actually helped our programming director with the Atlanta Film Festival, I helped them program some of the animation shorts for the Atlanta Film Festival this year. And we came across quite a few films that definitely made their rounds in the festival circuit. So it has been seen by a lot of different people around the United States, so if it’s something like that where it has been picked up by so many festivals and it’s close to streaming or being picked up for distribution, [it may not be necessary to] hold space for it. But if it has played at some very well-renowned festivals, a few select festivals that have recognized the caliber of film that it is, that’s something that we do consider programming.
And whenever I look at actual submissions, I always like it if the filmmakers themselves put in a filmmaker note or a letter or something directly to the programming team. And it’s very personalized. I like it when filmmakers do their research and they look, is this something that would fit well in our festival? Because not every film is for every festival. Because we are such a niche film festival. I think people look at that when they’re considering which film festivals to submit to.
(UM): And in terms of topics, is there any kind of topics you won’t screen because they could cause controversy? For example, suppose a filmmaker makes a very good, high-quality movie, but it’s anti-abortion, would you screen it?
TM: We really like to keep ourselves open to touchy topics. And especially if it’s something that represents a demographic or like transgender rights or something that’s really big and hot in politics right now. I think it’s important to have a platform for the filmmaker to be able to screen their work, and if they’re able to actually visit the festival and be there for a Q&A discussion afterward, that’s something I champion for actually. That’s not something that we would necessarily shy away from.
(UM): How important is it to have crowd-pleasing movies at your festival? Are you open to more experimental films?
TM: Because we’re a five-day festival, our opening night is really just one opening night film, and that’s something that is broader, what we would think a larger audience would want to go to. And then our Thursday and Friday, it’s kind of a mix of shorts and features. But then Saturday and Sunday it’s full, features all day, and Friday and Saturday night, in particular, is when we’ll do our Late Night blocks, which are anywhere from horror to experimental to psychologically disturbing heavy dramas. So, and then earlier in the day, we’ll do some comedy blocks, some lighter material mixed in with some more general dramas. So throughout the day, we try to hit what some general audiences would like, but then later in the night is when we’ll kind of program what we think just really specific audiences would like to check out.
(UM): In terms of support, what kind of support do you provide for films that are accepted into your festival? Do you offer any financial awards or additional regional screenings?
TM: We do offer a discount on submissions to regional filmmakers as well as student filmmakers. We also work with Iranian Film Commission to submit work from Iran free of charge. We will always get a bulk of films every year from Iranian filmmakers that we sort through. And obviously our alumni filmmakers, their fees are 100% waived from year to year. Also, we work with local schools to screen and submit films as well.
(UM): You mentioned that you are supporting countries like Iran and I’m curious because considering what’s happening in Iran right now do you consider questions, for example, who was funding a movie in your selection process? For example, if an Iranian movie is being supported by the Iranian government, is that something you consider when deciding whether to screen it?
TM: We do [take] that into consideration. From year to year, we receive hundreds and hundreds of Iranian films in particular. And it’s because it’s such a tight process too for programming in five days. We’ll probably only average, less than 10 films that actually make it in that are from the country of Iran. We really try to look for female filmmakers in particular. And stories that are, new age, but also high quality.
(UM): And what kind of networking/industry opportunities do you have for filmmakers at your festival?
TM: Obviously, we encourage our filmmakers that are traveling from out of town to come and actually be there, because at all our screenings, if there is a filmmaker in attendance, we like to have Q&As. We do parties throughout the festival itself, and we always invite other local film organizations to come. This past year we actually did a talkback. We did one with other regional-based North Carolina film festival organizers, and then we did one with regional filmmakers. That was a way for them to network and attend the festival. They automatically get a pass to the festival.
(UM): And do you have any kind of year-round programming?
TM: Specifically for the Charlotte Film Festival, right now in our capacity, we just do the five-day event. But, because we are housed under the umbrella of the Charlotte Film Society and the Independent Picture House in Charlotte, we have our own year-round programming that we do with that. It’s just regular film screenings. We’ve also been incorporating film series. We did a Horror Film series in October, and we did a Black History Month [series] in February. Right now, we’re doing a Film Noir series, and we have a Grindhouse and an Arthouse Film series coming up. Those are year-round, and we also do some other educational screenings, some documentaries where we’ll bring in some people to do talkbacks afterward. We do that throughout the year through the picture house.
(UM): Any final thoughts?
TM: I guess just that we’re always looking for support, people who are interested, whether [they’re] a cinephile, a student, or have some type of film experience or interest in independent film. We’re always looking for support and watching submissions, because we are volunteer-based. And if there are any other thoughts on our year-round film series, ideas, and programming. Because we are entirely independently owned, we can screen whatever we want, whenever we want. So that’s kind of the beauty that we have with having our own creative space for that. So, we’re always looking to collaborate with other organizations, whether they are in the state of North Carolina, throughout the United States, or even in Canada. So [we’re] always looking for conversations in that.
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