Volunteers needed to help with three-day festival

By James Sloan, Rogue Valley Times

As fall approaches, organizers and volunteers at the Ashland Independent Film Festival continue to build out the event for what it hopes will be a triumphant return to the Rogue Valley.

With a new leader in executive director Jim Fredericks, the festival is set to involve plenty of new ideas, events and programs while still offering the classic film festival experience.

But with the revival of the three-day film event — which last took place in its full form in 2019 — the organization is working to find former supporters and new backers to bring AIFF back into the limelight.

The two biggest needs for organizers are volunteers to aid with the festival and financial support from Rogue Valley benefactors.

“In order to make the festival what Ashland and others need it to be, we need volunteers to take on some of those roles and responsibilities,” Fredericks said. “In the past, we’ve had paid staff to coordinate and do a lot of these things, and in our new reset mode we have very few people; there’s just two of us that are paid staff.”

“We need their legs, their minds, their hands and hearts, and it’s going to be critical,” Fredericks added.

Prior film festivals reached as many as 350-plus volunteers involved in one way or another, and organizers of this year’s event are hoping to reach that mark again.

Multiple volunteer coordinators are needed, from housing coordinators to seek lodging providers for the filmmakers and artists, to venue coordinators to seek traditional and unconventional spaces to screen the movies.

Other volunteers roles AIFF needs filled are sponsor coordinators and membership recruiters to continue raising funds to make the event possible.

“The biggest need is still money. We need people to volunteer their time and energy, but also need them to donate their dollars,” Fredricks said. “Every additional dollar gives us more runway and opportunities.”

It takes approximately $300,000 to put on the festival; organizers have raised around $160,000 so far.

“It’s been five years since we’ve done this, so all the people who’ve donated space, time and energy have been five years removed from this,” Fredericks said.

A new program AIFF planners have brought in is the membership program. The intent of the program, which was announced a month and a half ago, is to offer a mutually beneficial membership package that offers multiple benefits and discounts on festival events in October and throughout the year.

“It also gives discounts on tickets and advanced purchase rights, which becomes a little more critical as the festival starts rolling around,” Fredericks said. “Becoming a member is a great way to donate money to our cause, and it gives you benefits but also gives us some room to build and grow on.”

As part of AIFF’s focus to bring year-round programs to the festival, one of those is “The Gallery @ AIFF,” a section dedicated to showcasing artists’ work at the organization’s headquarters on East Main Street in downtown Ashland. Works by visual artists Beca Blake and Dave Leibowitz are currently displayed at the film festival office.

Another new program for AIFF is “Wednesdays at the Movies,” a series of film screenings and discussions at the AIFF headquarters with popcorn, wine and thought-provoking conversations.

“We got into this space with the intent of making this a community space that could be a year-round location and make the film festival more than just a single week of the year,” Fredericks said.

Fredericks and his fellow organizers intend to bring much more to Ashland’s film community, with ideas such as hosting a horror film festival titled “Slashland,” as well as having an advertising festival featuring commercials and ads that tell stories.

“I think there’s still some people on the fence right now, and I’d like to get them off that fence,” Fredericks said, adding, “The best way to do that is to run a great festival that shows great movies and provides great discussions that showcase Southern Oregon in a way that we all feel proud and good about.”

Reach reporter James Sloan at [email protected]. This story first appeared in the Rogue Valley Times.