The 2011 Couchfest Film Festival's international expansion from Seattle, Washington, to 11 countries around the world in October helped foster a deeper appreciation for quality cinema. An estimated several hundred movie lovers -- many of whom learned about Couchfest through Facebook, event flyers, and word-of-mouth -- were treated to a rare experience of enjoying short films in strangers' houses. In a recent interview with festival founder Craig Downing, I gained a better understanding of why Couchfest is among the very few movie events that bring out the best in their audience.
In what ways did audience response to this year's Couchfest lineup differ between countries?
Some places were so excited about it that we've inspired them to do their own festival, like a [hypothetically] "Couch Barbecue Fest" or "Neighborhood Slip 'n Slide Fest" where they have a Slip 'n Slide go through multiple front yards or something.
We received calls from Warsaw, Poland, with people asking if we could do Couchfest again or "can you give us more films? People came the next day, thinking that the festival was still happening and were p---ed that they missed it, after hearing how awesome it was." In London, monthly film screening organizers at the Electric Fleapit also realized that they could get access to unreleased films between Couchfest and other festivals such as the Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto, and take their venue to another level if they want to.
Did the location of available hosts influence your decision to take Couchfest worldwide or was the expansion of this year's festival something that you had in the works all along?
Last year, I was stranded on an island in Belize with this drunk 18-year-old pirate and I was thinking about how every time I would do Couchfest, I'd get these emails from people like "hey dude, I'm in f---ing Cincinnati, what's up?" and I would think "Damn, I can't take the whole thing to Cincinnati," and then I realized, "why not?" Once I have these 65 films and have already done the work to encode them, it really doesn't make a difference to burn another copy and say "Hey dude in Cincinnati, get your friends together…here's the DVD!" It's pretty much just a duplication process, once the films have been acquired and on DVD.
The logistics of doing it worldwide can be stressful but once you burn a DVD for 10 houses, there really isn't that much more work to make it available for another house to do the same thing. My lymph nodes, however, might not agree with me. I also felt silly kind of sequestering these awesome films -- films that I would get in a bar brawl for; I would defend any of them.
I've spent four months in a dark theater, picking films and we were very selective; our program is the best of the short films from festivals in North America and Europe. We were sitting on a great festival program while there was amazing interest in places like Pensacola, Florida; Edinburgh, Scotland; and Moscow, Russia, so that is when we decided to see what happened if we expanded it.
What other film festivals have you noticed are worth visiting by their offering of a fun, community centered experience for movie loving audiences?
People are recognizing that you really can't fall into the same, traditional formula for film festivals, which are insert-city-name-blank film festival. You have to bring more to the table now because every city has their own film festival. Some of the film festivals that I went to that were great ideas and fun are the International Random Film Festival, where they randomly select films from the submissions to screen, randomly select a location from anywhere in the world, and then descend on that location and put together a film festival; that's always fun and crazy.
I've always been a big fan of Rooftop Films and there are some where you can take your bike, swim-ins, festivals in caves. Future Shorts is also doing a great thing, so there are lots of alternative film festivals going on that are doing more than just sit in the dark, watch a bright screen, and leave; it [traditional screenings] works but why not do something fun with it?!
How can screening hosts build audience interest in films made by people whom they are unfamiliar with?
In the past, we've created Web pages and a separate website for their location and a lot of them develop their own Facebook pages and are out there on Craigslist, putting up flyers. Some people also took our logo and made their own flyers, sandwich boards, and yard signs; just having a DVD, television, and a couch --you're already a winner with us. Everything you do beyond that is kind of a bonus. People were making up handwritten signs and gathering an organic audience for themselves.
What is the strangest memory from this year's Couchfest that makes it a truly unique event?
We had a film program in Haiti; something that I'm really proud of. Here's a country that eats pineapple mud cakes and drinks choleroid tea, and we were able to deliver some of the best shorts there. No one is delivering a film festival in Haiti, let alone a short film festival, so that's something we've done for a country where maybe people aren't really thinking about there being a market for film festivals. Of course, it didn't have a huge attendance but if there was anyone that was willing to go and have a little bit of distraction -- that's a win for us.
Weeks after the film festival, I'm still getting pictures of people who attended the festival, where 30 people are jammed into a little house up in Peru and I was like "wow!" I didn't realize that there were even this many people who were this excited or even knew about the festival going on. The festival happened on the 24th and in the morning on the 25th, I received emails that were like "dude, sign me up for 2012 -- seriously, send me an application!" So that reminds me that there is interest -- a guy's couch in Slovakia was showing the same films that were being shown in more established, industry-recognized film festivals. That's kinda awesome.
If there is one exciting/scary/unbelievable thing that movie fans didn't know about this years Couchfest, what would it be?
The festival started at 11:00 and I remember getting a call at 10:45, where two of my hosts were wondering when their DVD player was going to show up. That was interesting because we were very clear that hosts have to provide their own DVD player; it was a mad rush, 15 minutes before this worldwide event was happening and some of the houses in Iceland didn't have their DVD player. People who were part of the film festival basically participated in the world's largest one-day international film festival. Because of its DIY feel, I don't think that people realize that they are part of that. It's something that makes me proud because they made that happen.
Is Couchfest going global in 2012 or staying local?
It pretty much depends on the support that we have from sponsors. If IKEA said "we love the idea -- we have couches, you have great films. You're kinda quirky, we're kinda quirky" and I say "hey, why not do Couchfest films on Saturday and then do the Best of Couchfest on the side of your store or inside your store on Sunday?" And if it goes something like that, the festival can be more worldwide. So, the plan is to go worldwide -- how worldwide? I don't know. This year, I tried to get it to take place in Antarctica. Next year, I'd love to try to sneak a DVD film onto the Space Station.
Who knows how global or intergalactic it will go next year but there is definitely a plan to keep it global, especially after seeing the people in Ukraine giving each other high fives after watching a movie. I can't not do that again; there's a good chance that we'll probably be as big or bigger next year.
How can movie lovers get involved with Couchfest to support the festival?
We have the Facebook, Twitter, newsletter combo, and if they want to sign up to see our announcements for applications to become a host for next year's festival, they can do that. They can also find out when it's happening and if there is a location where they live. If you're a film lover and you want to participate, just sign up to one of our channels and be up to date with what we're doing so you don't miss out on potentially the biggest, smallest film festival in your backyard.
What makes Couchfest films stand out among other selections on the 2011 film festival circuit?
We don't focus on the schwag or anything more than our mission, which is bringing people together with mind-blowing films. We are insanely obsessive about the quality of the films that we have. There are opportunities to chitchat at other festivals but a lot of these things happen at after-parties, and that is fun too but if you like great films, quirky people, and quirky events or meeting interesting people and want a moment to put your iPhone down or not be in a dark theater by yourself; this is an organic, authentic community sitting down on the cozy couch. If offers an opportunity to enjoy the people that you're watching these films with and it creates an opportunity to discuss and debate and get feisty about what you're watching.
Over the years, many film festivals have ceased operation due to lack of funding, audience support, or to re-organize after failed attempts at becoming that go-to event for watching movies. What keeps you going after running Couchfest for four years?
Our budget is debt, but we keep doing it because of the response we get. As far as we know, there is no other film festival that does what we do. It's the go-to film festival for cozy movie-watching with your neighbors or other film lovers. We make sure to keep going because we love what we do.
If I'm going to write a newsletter and I want people to read it, I'm going to have to enjoy writing it. If I'm not having fun writing a newsletter, I start over; I don't want to bore people. We just try to keep to our own personalities and inject ourselves into what we're doing so that we can still be passionate and remember that it's all about the films and the audience. We see so many great films, so that fuels us to continue to go on.
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