Call for 2021 Guest Festival Director for 11th Annual AoBFF

Every year the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival invites a new Guest Festival Director to curate the films for our upcoming season. For 2021, we're excited to be casting our net wide. If you would like to be considered, read the full post below and answer these 3 questions:

• Why do you want to be the AoBFF 2021 Guest Festival Director?
• What experience do you have to bring to this position?
• What role can a film festival play in the changing media landscape?

Please email us your cover letter, CV, and any relevant links. Use the subject "2021 Guest Festival Director" 

WHO:
The Art of Brooklyn is an award-winning international film festival that brings Brooklyn's vibrant, diverse independent film and media makers together with their peers around the world. Founded by working artists in 2011, ten+ festival premieres have gotten theatrical distribution to date — and one became an HBO series. AoBFF has been awarded One of the Top Seven US Film Festivals (2014), Brooklyn Creative Group of the Year (2016), and One of the Five Notable American Film Festivals Worth Traveling For (2020). Acclaimed for being only festival in the world to produce screenings in neighborhoods across Brooklyn, including those underserved by art and cultural organizations, AoBFF pivoted during the pandemic by producing one of the most successful digital festival editions of 2020, earning a mention in Film Festival Today.

WHAT:
Every season AoBFF invites a different film professional to serve as Guest Festival Director for our upcoming season.

WHY:
AoBFF invites a new person to direct the festival every season to prevent any single point of view from dominating our curation. This is one way AoBFF builds equity and inclusion into our organizational structure.

WHERE:
Since 2016, the Guest Festival Director has been drawn from Brooklyn independent filmmaking community. Past Festival Directors include award-winning filmmakers, screenwriters and programmers Eric Trenkamp, Victoria Negri, Dave Chan, Sean Mannion and Alan McLane Alejos. For the 2021 season the call is opened up internationally.

HOW:
Our 2021 Guest Festival Director will curate the films remotely from anywhere in the world and work closely with festival staff via regular video calls during pre-production and production. For 2021 we are planning a hybrid event, with live screenings in Brooklyn (depending on pandemic conditions) and live streamed screenings and real time filmmaker talkbacks and panels using a secure digital festival platform with integrated video conferencing software. This technology allows the Guest Festival Director to play an active role with filmmakers and audiences during the festival.

FAQs: 

What do I have to commit to?
You'll watch all the films submitted to us for our 2021 season and decide which will become official selections. You'll meet regularly with AoBFF staff pre-festival. You'll make a first draft of a schedule, deciding what screens with what, and when. And during the festival you'll facilitate filmmaker talkbacks and audience Q&As.  This is a purely creative opportunity by design, so you wouldn't be responsible for any administrative tasks. We work with you on all of these areas.

Will I have any help?
Of course. Our diverse Selection Committee watches every film and provides you with their notes and recommendations, but the final decisions are yours. Our Program Manager will keep you on track with calendar benchmarks so you don't fall behind and you'll meet regularly with our Executive Director,  who'll help you design the schedule when the time comes. But you would be directly responsible for the curatorial vision of the 2021 AoBFF.

Do I have to have curatorial experience?
Not necessarily. We've had very successful Guest Festival Directors who'd never curated before, and none had been responsible for an entire festival. This is designed to offer a creative opportunity to the broadest possible group of potential curators.

Will I get paid?
The 2021 Guest Festival Director will receive a nominal stipend, but this is NOT a salaried staff position. If you are seeking a salaried staff position at a film festival this is not a good fit.

APPLY NOW