Crested Butte Film Festival’s ActNow
An organization that would be useful to someone seeking to use film for activism would be the Crested Butte Film Festival, which takes place in Colorado on the 26th through the 29th of September, 2019. Over the course of four days, more than 100 films (including short, narrative, outdoor adventure, documentary, and children’s films) are screened and at times accompanied by filmmaker’s talks and group discussions. I believe CBFF would be helpful to those looking to use film as activism due to its ActNow program and the festival’s encouragement of dialogue with both filmmakers and other audience-members.
The ActNow section of the website provides past examples of the festival’s involvement with the issues depicted within the screened films. These appear as signing petitions and opportunities to volunteer or make donations. It also contains links to further resources and websites to learn about these issues, such as the links for SAFE (Support Scrubs Addressing the Firearms Epidemic) following the screening of Lessons From A School Shooting and the Coal Creek Watershed Coalition following Blue Heart.
The overarching goal of CBFF is, in the words of the Festival Director Jennifer Brody, that “through the transformative power of cinema, Crested Butte Film Festival fosters artistic creativity and inspires connection, cultural awareness and social action.”
Key Words: Activism, Awareness, Connection, Film Festivals, Outdoors
Resources
Act Now. http://cbfilmfest.org/act-now-films/
Caillouette, Britton. Blue Heart. 2018.
Coal Creek Watershed Coalition. www.coalcreek.org/ Web.
Crested Butte FF. http://cbfilmfest.org
Snyder, Kim A. Notes From Dublane: Lessons From A School Shooting. 2018.
Support Scrubs Addressing the Firearms Epidemic. https://www.standsafe.org/ Web.