sorry i'm the worst but: late cucalorus post

First of all I suck for forgetting to post this.  This has probably been the worst semester of all time so I’ve been a little scatter-brained.  But Cucalorus was a pretty good experience for me overall.  I didn’t get to go to as many screenings/events as I would’ve liked to, but I did see all of the ones I had planned on which is good.  The animated shorts were my favorite, as there was experimental work as well as narrative that was screened.  I got to see a little bit into the world of film festivals that I wasn’t really familiar with, and although I was on a tight schedule, I did get to talk to several filmmakers while I was there, which was my big goal.  I ended up chickening out on asking a question during a panel but I’m really glad I stayed for them because putting a face to a name in the credits is the coolest part about these kinds of screenings.  The biggest thing I learned about was the process of getting your films into festivals, which I think will really help me in my programming job for Visions.  It was really cool to hear the filmmakers from the covered wagon shorts talking about submission and organization.  I also liked hearing the producer from Birthday Cake talk about balancing being a producer and being the lead actor and how that changed the roles she took on.  I was really surprised by how small some of the venues were, especially by the fact that blocks were scheduled for Thalian Black, as well as Tragedy Girls, which seemed like it should’ve been in a bigger theater.  I was also surprised by how many people I knew that I ran into at the festival.  I think if I were a filmmaker presenting at a festival I would like to have my film screened at mid-sized festivals like Cucalorus because you have a lot of people see your work, but you also have the time and resources to meet and really talk to other filmmakers.  I also now know that it would be good to go to as many events and parties as I could to network with other people in the business.