ThereseG

Hey, thanks jpop! I saw your post earlier but wasn't sure if the offer was extended to us, too :) If we can work something out long distance, maybe there are some possibilities! And, regarding your above post: hopefully Cleveland will continue to move forward in the arts arena.... Corporate sponsorships are a possibility for sure, it's just a matter of knowing the right people to make the right connections for the right "amount" of sponsorship :)

ok :) Anyone with great technological skills want to volunteer/donate/dedicate their time, expertise and knowhow to a sassy lil indie film non-profit? How 'bout become a Board Member? Or, know someone who might want to do so? :)

oh, yeah I totally agree that we need to take advantage of YouTube and MySpace video..but just like Rockandroller said, you gotta have some technological skills to do so..not to mention time, you know? When your staff is limited to a staff of one and a half..and when there's so much else to be done, it's easier said than done. But no, I do agree....

I agree, and in the case of festivals, it is helpful to get the film and filmmaker info out as soon as possible. But we're working on that. Funny thing: everything with non-profits is intertwined. You can't do proper marketing and PR without proper staff and you can't have staff without proper funding. Yet you can't get funded if you don't have the support (generally). The ultimate conundrum!

Did you notice the cigarettes doubling as smokestacks? Also, it does, in a way, make me feel better to hear that even though some folks are from out of town, they would have attended the festival had they been here. There have GOT to be more like-minded indie lovers here, too (not just those who go because it's cool, you know?). We just need to find them :)

I don't have actual numbers but I estimate lower than past years. There were some pretty sloooowww times. One thing that I think made a difference is the time of year - not that that can help now. May is a difficult time because so many people have spring fever and want to get outdoors vs. staying inside..plus I think there are a lot of fundraisers going on (outdoors, even) during this time, too. This year was the 21st festival in 14 years since they started out doing several festivals each year, in 1994.

thanks for asking about the poster, it is pretty cool, huh? One of the Independent Pictures' Board Members. Thanks for posting it the thread, too (I could only figure out how to post the link, but that's another story!) Anywho, we have some available if anyone's interested (sorry, that's the salesgirl in me :) ). The posters were a kind of after thought because as people started seeing the postcards and thought it looked cool, a few people started suggesting that we get posters made. But alas, we had no moolah in the budget for posters so literally the week before the festival, as I was talking to someone at my other, other job, about it, she mentioned that she'd ask some folks that she works with at HER other, other job (and the posters were born, thanks to the nice people at R.E. May)..but I didn't get to pick them up until the Monday of the festival :( . SO....yeah, I think we're gonna use them to promote call for film submissions for next year, if we have any left. To answer JPop's question about promotion: Press releases were sent to all major and non-major newspapers, including some of those small-ish ones in the Akron area. We sent an initial one announcing the festival in general, a "day by day" one, an Ohio day one and one regarding the benefit screening and fundraiser on May 9. Press releases also went out to CoolCleveland but as far as I know, it wasn't covered or there may have been a blurb. I tried to contact PluggedinCleveland but got no response - although I did post it on the events page as well as volunteering page. In my humble opinion I think the newspapers didn't cover it well. I posted it on every event board I could think of. Emails were sent out en masse. We collaborated with Fashion Week, the LGBT Center, the Domestic Violence Center, United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Cleveland and other presenting partners, so email blasts went out via those lists as well. We even advertised in Balanced Living magazine in a collaboration with them, for one of the films. We do ask the filmmakers to help promote since there's small staff (thanks rockandroller!) but I honestly don't think all do (some local filmmakers didn't attend, either..which means neither did their respective entourages). I know that traditionally a person needs to see a promotion something like 7 or 8 times before they decide to support it but in the end, I truly think it's word of mouth that makes something stick. I even thought about asking someone with a high-traffic blog to blog about it in exchange for a festival pass (would that have worked, anyone? :) ). I even created a MySpace page for it, which has been interesting. Eventually I can post videos there and pics, too..but just hadn't had the time to maintain it beforehand.

no..not an advertisement, truly meant as a question or poll of interests and what draws people to indies and what keeps them coming back. and, not only what keeps them coming back, but what keeps them coming back in droves. the OIFF offers films by emerging filmmakers so it's a different market than most other festivals. how do we get people to see the value of those films?

so I'm curious... What kinds of indies are you attracted to? What keeps you going back (to a theatre or festival)? How do we get people interested in and to see the value in supporting emerging indie filmmakers? Have you ever heard of Independent Pictures and the Ohio Independent Film Festival? If you have, did you go this year? If you didn't go, how come?

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Honda of America aiding conservation effort Thursday, May 1, 2008 By CHRIS ALEXIS, ThisWeek Staff Writer Honda of America is doing its part to help preserve the natural resources around its Marysville plant. Honda is co-sponsoring the 800-acre Big Darby Headwaters Nature Preserve. The site is located mostly in Logan County in Middleburg and is designed to restore the natural stream flow of the Big Darby in an effort to preserve aquatic wildlife. MORE: http://www.thisweeknews.com/live/content/marysville/stories/2008/05/01/honda.html