Larry Martin11 said:...from my own personal experience, I’ve come to the conclusion that being a cinephile who volunteers at a film festival is easily one of the most bizarre things you can do—because you’re either working or you're socializing, and in the end, you actually see fewer movies than if you had just planned your schedule and bought a ticket 🙂 and thought you’d somehow manage to catch everything 🙂
...honestly, last year at the Sundance Film Festival, I wanted to go for some not quite cinematic 😳 reasons, but it didn't work out in the end...
Exactly. The best strategy is to watch very few movies—maybe five—and besides, Sundance is the kind of festival that insists on its specific lineup. That's their whole identity: the films have to be "demanding for the audience." Whatever that means, which usually just means they're bad. Or they're ultra-depressing and boring, so half the seats are empty by rule. These aren't independent art films; they're just bad films. (At least they were this year when I was there.)
And those "screening rooms" aren't exactly great spaces for watching movies...
Volunteers can't even sit down until everyone who intends to show up has filled the seats. And frankly, volunteers usually don't care about the films anyway.😬
It's bizarre for sure. On top of having to "work," you watch two good movies and three nonsensical ones... and that's about it, if you exclude the alcohol and the crowd.
And of course, there are heaps of socialites and posers everywhere.
There, I've finally shared my impressions, though it isn't all that terrible. For a small-time thing—not bad at all. 😁