Pretend I am the director of EIFF.

For the past year, I have been programming this 12-day long film festival, and now it’s over! Am I relieved? Am I sad? Am I going to plan a long vacation to a place where no one can find me to ask my opinion on their film? Do I even have time to recover mentally, emotionally, and physically before starting to plan EIFF 2019? Not really. Before the festival started a couple weeks ago, I visited a class to talk with Dartmouth film students who are studying abroad in Edinburgh. I was asked when I typically start planning for next year’s film festival. I told them that I had actually already began thinking about and planning some logistics for EIFF 2019. How crazy is that? Before this years festival began, I was already preparing for the next one. Life of a film festival director.

Pretend I am the director of EIFF at the closing night screening of Swimming with Men.

I’m invited onto the main stage for the last time at EIFF 2018, an event I’ve spent the last year of my life directing.  I look up at the sold out theater and gasp. Wow. We did it, and it went smoothly! Well, as far as the festival goers could tell, it went smoothly. That’s my job: to ensure that the attendees happily glide through the festival without detecting any behind-the-scenes issues that are inevitably going to happen. With help, I carefully chose Swimming with Men as the closing night premiere. I assumed a lot of the audience would sit down for the festival finale not knowing what to expect from this film. Immediately, I knew I chose the right film to finish off the festival. The audience was laughing within the first few minutes of the film, and they wouldn’t stop. The film was hilarious, and every witty comment or clumsy swim routine was met with a roaring response from the audience. When the credits started rolling, the audience clapped for so long that I didn’t know if they would ever stop. There’s no better feeling than watching a sea of people exit a theater smiling and discussing their favorite moments of the film. Directing a festival takes patience, passion, and persistence, and I can’t wait to make EIFF 2019 come to life over the next year.