After 28 years of coordinating the Athens International Film and Video Festival, Ruth Bradley preps for retirement and explains what all goes into making the festival come together.
Films have come and gone in the 42 years of the Athens International Film and Video Festival, but one component has been a constant for 28 years — Ruth Bradley.
Bradley is the director of the Athens Center for Film and Video, which produces the festival, and has coordinated the festival for the majority of its existence. But it’s the end of an era as Bradley is retiring after this year.
“Now I’m going to relax,” Bradley said with a laugh. “I’m going to be a jolly old lady.”
The Post caught up with Bradley to talk about the making of the Athens International Film and Video Festival.
The Post: When do you start planning the festival?
Ruth Bradley: It really starts getting busy in the beginning of September. … We could start in July or August, but we don’t have anyone here. … Then it gets wacko in February. February is ‘crunch month.’ … Starting in January, I pretty much work six days a week … February and March, I’ve been working every day.
P: How many submissions do you get each year?
R: This year, we got about 1,000 submissions. That’s what it’s been about every year now for about three or four years.
P: Why do you think you get so many entries?
R: I think more and more people are making films because they have the ability of digital means and there are several online film festival submission services. We use Withoutabox. Using that means they have 192,000 filmmakers connected and then your information is on that and then (the users) are from all over the world and they can see if (a festival) is a good fit for their film. … We could get a lot more but we’re beyond the capacity to handle any more.
P: How many people do you have working for you?
R: There are about 24 or 25 people in the class (a Film Topics Seminar each semester that is a practicum where students work on the festival).
P: Are people actually able to watch every submission?
R: I watch every movie. It’s impossible for a student or a volunteer (screener) to watch all of them, so they watch how many they have time to watch. The goal is to have four to six people watch every movie.
P: What’s the story behind the dog on the festival’s poster?
R: The dog is just a brand. About 20 years ago, the designer took a picture of my neighbor’s dogs, Judy and Baggins. … (Throughout the years) there’s just varying dogs (on the posters). There’s no key theme for the festival. … It’s a brand that says we’re not typing ourselves as any one thing. As much as it’s a goofy thing, now it’s become our brand. We’re the dog festival.
P: How do you choose which films to select?
R: We try to … represent as many portions of the world as we can. With only 13 or 14 slots, we can’t (include everything). … We try to rotate a little bit. We don’t have a film in Italian this year, so maybe next year we’ll have a film from Italy.
P: How do you figure out the lineup of the films?
R: We choose the movies and then put (the titles) on three-by-five index cards, and we build it like a big jigsaw puzzle, and little themes start to arise. … (For example): here’s five films and they might all be about mothers and daughters. Those themes are not predetermined. They just kind of come up.
P: What’s your favorite part of the festival?
R: I think it’s fun when the students have worked on the festival, and they have a favorite film. A lot of filmmakers come, and (the students) … get to talk to them … (The students) saw the film, liked it, helped get it into the festival and now they can have a beer with (the filmmaker).
P: Do you have a favorite film from the festival over the years?
R: I can’t choose one child over another. That’s how I see the selections. If you’re a programmer, I don’t think it’s your job to only show what you like. … The festival belongs to the community: OU and the larger area. It’s their festival. … We take input from people … One thing we’re doing this year that will be fun and is a total community suggestion is Grabbers (a comedy from Ireland).
This year’s AIFVF is dedicated to Tyler Weymouth, an Ohio University alumnus who died in the summer of 2014 and had worked on the festival for a few years.
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