During my final Q&A of the fest, a patron raised her hand and said how she'd seen five doc features at the festival, and most of them made her angrily motivated. She thanked the filmmakers currently on stage for their work, and then she turned to me and thanked me for my curation of these docs, which the full theater applauded.
I'm proud of how I as a curator have grown individually, and within a team (the biggest shoutout to one of the people I text the most for eight months a year, my programming partner in crime, the man who knelt on the ground to take the first photo, @iamhrothgar ), and this year really felt like proof of that. Moderated 20+ Q&As in 8 days. More filmmakers on the ground than we'd ever had in my five years here; higher ticket sales, too.
I have so much love for this staff (particularly my long-time coworkers in the last photo), this festival, this town. The nights that ended at 3am screaming into a void in a car and the ones that ended DoorDashing Taco Bell to Fair Witness. It's been one of the biggest honors of my career to be adopted into this community @riverrunfilm .
@aidcmelb !! Never have I felt more like a belle of the ball than last week. An honor to have met so many thoughtful filmmakers and industry peers I may never have met otherwise. And your team! Tash, Alice, Natalie, Nicole, Virginia, Tahlia, Robbie, and so many more, thank you for the warmest welcome, and really, the opportunity to truly prove to myself that I do add value as a speaker and curator in the doc industry. 3 pitch panels, 2 other panels, 1 roundtable, more pitch meetings than I can count, and a sneaky getaway to see some art, it was a wonderful whirlwind of a conference. To many more (I hope!).
Feeling especially grateful, considering the hellscape that is the world right now, that my birthday month was spent with the freedom to escape the cold (although not the rain) and spend lots of time with lots of friends, most of whom aren't pictured because I'm a terrible documenter. First couple days were in warm Park City post-Sundance, then escaped to Oahu for a long weekend, escaped to LA for a week, celebrated my 30th at home post-blizzard, and spent the last days of the month flying to Australia, where I am now!
As per usual, I hardly have any photos on my phone from Sundance... Can't believe nine years of my working at this fest have already gone by! This was the fest back in 2019 that helped me realize that this was the work I wanted to be doing full time. Spent many long winters in Utah working here, and my nostalgic self still sorta can't believe this was the last one in Park City. Onto the next!
Because I’m a personal data nerd…: 400+ features watched. I don’t track shorts as closely, but also watched hundreds of those. 45 books read. 35 theater shows attended, as well as 8 concerts + 1 music festival. Only left the country once this year to visit Dad in SMA, but that number’s already growing in 2026. Visited 11 states this year, some of them more than once, 3 of them new to me. And the craziest number of all, working at 10 different film festivals/adjacent orgs (shout out to the Spirit Awards).
Tremendously grateful that in a world as horrible and chaotic as this one has been this past year, I am getting to lead the life that I do. There are so many wonderful people and memories (and food and cocktails) that are behind those numbers, as well as the smaller, quieter, in-between moments that are just as important.
I honestly really love reading these year-end wrap posts and seeing all of the different approaches to them; the more the merrier. I won’t be sorry for being nostalgic and appreciating y'all's sentimentality, too!
As I’m about to enter virtual 1:1s facilitation, @camdeniff #7 is almost officially in the books for me… wild. While on site, I spent a lot of time drafting a wrap post about a lot of shit I’ve gone through behind the scenes here over the years, and wondering why I’ve stayed silent publicly while calling in other orgs I’ve worked for in the interim. I’m still reflecting on all of that; I probably will be for a bit. I’m leaving that topic here for now.
Festivals are a team sport. That’s part of the reason why I love this work so much. I learn so much from the filmmakers I’m in workshops with, the Artist Programs and production team members I spend all spring and summer on calls with, the industry mentors who spend their week with us, and the attendees who spend their weekend with us.
But I won’t lie that finally getting the chance to be a real face of Artist Programs after six years, making remarks at our flagship pitch event, finally moderating a Q&A at the fest for one of our AP alum projects, essentially the opportunities to demonstrate publicly that I add curatorial value to this organization also, felt long overdue. The feedback I received agreed.
All of that being said, there’s really nothing like spending evenings playing ping pong at Cuzzy’s, dancing my heart out until 3am, or screaming along to friends’ karaoke performances at After Dark, after spending all day in workshops or 1:1 meetings. The amount of physical and mental exhaustion I recover from after this festival every year is unparalleled, but so is the deep, deep love I have for my friends, colleagues, and filmmakers here, too.
Halfway into September... August was partially about producing one festival and prepping for another imminent one, but it was also about visiting best friends in LA, celebrating a childhood friend's wedding in SD, and taking a cute group trip to Vermont. Plus let's throw the Lady Gaga show I specifically came back to NYC for between VT trips because I liked my outfit 😏
A couple weeks ago, I ventured to Middlebury, VT for @middfilmfest , my first festival as Operations Director. In classic running around on site fashion, I essentially documented nothing...
But more importantly, I was truly enamored by how much the community really rallies around this fest. From an incredible variety of local businesses who provided goodies for the swag bags, to the dozens of community members who opened up their homes to our filmmakers for the week, to the volunteers who jumped in to be part of the transition to a digital ticketing system, it was such an honor to be a part of this community, even if only temporarily.
The collaborative spirit that drives the work at this org is ideal; this is what regional festivals should be all about. Independent film forever.
Long story short, I have always been wildly self-conscious about my stomach, for reasons personal and societal, and while I have grown to love the rest of my body, the worries about that part still stick.
I discovered her two years ago and knew I wanted her to become part of me. A version of a woman I hadn't really seen celebrated in art since Botticelli, her ease in her body is something I aspire to, and is a permanent reminder of what's possible for me.
Big thank you to @inktherapy__ , who inked the work of @out.ofthe (via @lesliesteph ,) onto me so beautifully.
Thought I would squeeze in a festival in between festivals (Only hung out at this one, I promise). Nothin' like jumping off a surprise redeye and getting to squeeze these folks! (The good photos are credited to the brilliant @mettieostrowski )
Very few things I love more than a blurry candid... But one thing is the @siffnews Downtown. Despite the late nights, the packed days, the travel back home being a total mess, and the fact that my brain feels like goo and I have two more onsites in a row, going out of my way to come to Seattle to run this theater again was worth it. The best VM teammates, volunteers, tech folks, floor staff, and the programmers even listened to my Q&A timing cues 100% of the time. Not without its downsides this year, but I love this venue a lot a lot a lot.
