Cucalorus Reflection

This was my first ever film festival and large crowds intimidate me, so unfortunately, I let my anxiety take control of me. I was so close to talking to the people that I wanted to talk to, but for some reason I just couldn't. I was also alone for all the events and I didn't recognize anyone at the screenings I went to, so that was also a bummer. Another disappointment was arriving to Jengo's Playhouse to watch our films, because that's what Facebook said to do, and finding out that they were, in fact, not playing at Jengo's Playhouse. This was the first thing I did, so it was a rough start to the weekend. I wasn't expecting the crowd to be so...old and I wasn't expecting to smell booze throughout all of the screenings. The disappointments of Cucalorus didn't stop me from having an amazing experience. I am obsessed with every film I saw, as well as the directors that spoke about their films after the screening. I watched Burning, Abigail Falls, Birds Without Feathers, and Miss Arizona. I left all four of these screenings overwhelmed with emotion and inspiration. The latter three films were all directed by women, which definitely boosted my confidence in being a filmmaker. My favorite experience was watching Abigail Falls because it was shot entirely on an iPhone, which blew my mind because of how beautiful it was. The director, Erica Dunton spoke afterwards as well as some of the cast and crew. This was my first ever Q&A with any type of filmmaker, so hearing what they had to say was just awesome. Walking into Birds Without Feathers, they handed everyone a piece of paper and a feather. I'll attach a picture of what it said because it was adorable and made me feel all warm inside. I feel like all of the filmmakers that I saw speak just knew everything about their film because they were obviously so invested in it, so I feel like if I were to present at a festival I would be able to answer any question thrown my way because of all the work I put into creating the film.