End of Maryland Film Festival 2013

So, I am tired.  Like capital T, Tired.  But it's a good tired.  I volunteered each of the last 5 days of the festival, saw 6 new documentaries, saw a few recognizable faces, and enjoyed the (mostly) good weather. Overall, I really enjoyed my experience this year. I thought I may had overdone it with the amount of volunteering I did.  But now that I am on the other side and can relax, I am really glad that I did.

Even though I am tired, I am (almost) not thinking about the amount of emails I may have to catch up on tomorrow.  It was almost like being on vacation.  The film festival is like this temporary community which pops up, does good work, and then fades away until the next year.

I plan to post my thoughts/reviews in the upcoming days.  I have been thinking that I need to choose set dates to post each week.  Having a set deadline may compel me to post more often.  I also may post interesting thoughts and links, rather than just full reviews.

The films I saw this festival were:
Hit & Stay
I am Divine
Leviathan
Aatsinki
Downloaded
16 Acres

I enjoyed them all.  Two were Baltimore/Maryland based.  Two were experiential films (new for me).  Two were of larger, overarching subjects.  I thought it was a nice range.  There were also several I wish I had a chance to see: By and By and 12 O'Clock Boys.

For now, here is my festival in a nutshell:

• Oddly, did not see John Waters this year.  He was in the screening of Leviathan I went to, but I did not see him.
• Painted my nails with 2 different fun patterns.  First, tuxedo shirts for opening night.  Then, red with a camera and gold film for the rest of the weekend.  I will post pictures if I can.
• Saw 6 films on 3 days (Thursday, Saturday, Sunday).  Worked Opening Night on Wednesday and just worked Friday.  Saturday was EXTREMELY long, worked 9:30-1:30, saw films from 2:30-9:30.
• Did see:  Bobcat Goldthwait (3x), Mink Stole, and Alex Winter
• The festival's tagline was "Film for Everyone."  I feel that this really is the case.  I volunteered numerous times because I took some time off from work.  However, there is such flexibility with scheduling that you could help out even if you worked full-time, part-time, or irregular hours.  For each 4 hour shift I worked, I received a voucher to see one film (or $5 credit on merchandise).  They also provided us with a crew t-shirt, food, and drinks.  They really take care of volunteers.  I also took the free Charm City Circulator to volunteer.  So even someone with a limited budget could help out and still enjoy the festival.  It really is "Film for Everyone."