BRATTLEBORO — Merry Elder, who has volunteered for the Women's Film Festival since the event began 21 years ago, describes the process of selecting the films for the festival as “pretty labor intensive, but joyous.”
Each year, the festival selection committee, which includes Elder and Donna Faith K-Brooks, Michelle Immler, and Meg Lyons, spearheads the process starting in April.
“We look at some of the top festivals,” Elder says. “We seek out films that have [already] won awards, so they're vetted a bit.”
The committee looks for “especially moving and powerful” films that cover fresh themes and subjects that have not been represented in the festival, Elder says, as well as for a balance of film lengths, genres, and perspectives.
“We do have to slog through some that aren't very good,” she admits.
Elder says the committee takes into account the comment cards from viewers at previous festivals and tries to balance the likability and entertainment value of the selections with films that are more difficult to watch.
“Oftentimes they're stories that need to be told,” Elder says, adding that documentaries play a key role in the festival offerings because “that's what women make.”
Though the mix is still deliberately varied in terms of themes, country of origin, and film length, this year the selection committee has sought a higher percentage of narrative films, as well as more films with a lighter tone.
Lyons adds that the process of “whittling down” a list that invariably gets too long by the fall is a democratic process, one that evokes passionate lobbying but in the end is “all in good fun,” she says.
Lyon describes the end result - the festival, which this year takes place March 9 through 18 - as “a bounty of riches.”
Lissa Weinmann, who serves on the steering committee, says that the selection of films and the festival as a whole, including the special events and panel discussions, “really raises women up.”
“You see all kinds of women at every stage of life,” she says. “And the films are great. It's such a great thing for the community.”