May 2021
HERE WE GO AGAIN….and It’s just what you’ve been waiting for. Thanks to all who have worn their masks and stayed physically (we hope not too socially) apart, IN-PERSON BIFF is back….big time. Audiences are already giving it a hearty two thumbs up. BIFF Year ’Round is up and running with films in the excellent new Downtown Beloit Association venue at 557 East Grand Ave.
Filmmakers from Milwaukee and Chicago are attending for Q&As. We have two more screenings coming up with encores of great films from BIFF2021. See below for details on the coming Wednesday night films where we will see you at 6:30 PM.
Looking ahead to the following weeks, there will be NEW submitted films for BIFF2022 and we will start voting anew to determine the People’s Choice award winner for the seventeenth season of BIFF.
After the year we have all experienced, it is time for a PARTY on our way to next February’s BIFF. The party is called HALF-WAY TO BIFF, a BIFF Mini-Fest in August with indoor and outdoor venues. Indie films and classic films are being considered. We plan to piggy back on some of the other great downtown events happening in August and help to bring a world of energy to the city center. If you have a favorite classic film to suggest, email Greg at greg@beloitfilmfest.org.
Thanks to the Oscar®-winning filmmakers that participated in BIFF2021 (Rachel Portman and Cynthia Wade) BIFF has taken another big step toward becoming a Motion Picture Academy sanctioned film festival, which would help to attract even more outstanding films and filmmakers. The process to becoming a qualifying fest has a lot of hurdles but it would mean that films accepted to BIFF could be considered for Oscar recognition. We have made progress thanks to our friends and collaborators, Kristin Peterson and Nicholas Simon, who made important connections for BIFF. The race is on and we are on our way!
BIFF is confident that 2021 could be one of the busiest BIFF Outdoors schedules ever. BIFF is partnering with a new entertainment startup, Evendtor, to produce a series of drive-in and on-the-lawn events in the area throughout the summer and into the fall. Evendtor founder, Jalen Ponder, is a young entrepreneur who is doing great things in the area with food trucks and live entertainment. If you are interested in hosting/sponsoring a BIFF Outdoors event, call 608-466-9693 or email service@beloitfilmfest.org.
Finally, you may want to watch what is going on at Beloit FilmWorks, a spinoff of BIFF. BIFF board member Nancy Clark-Mather heads the business of guiding filmmakers, location scouts, and other creative searchers to Beloit and making Beloit a destination for filmmaking in the region. She is active in her IronTek office and you can keep track of BFW at
BeloitFilmWorks.com.
And now, emerging out of the social distance and into the light, is BIFF Executive Director Greg Gerard.
From The Empty Desk of the Executive Director
Greg Gerard — May 2021
Thank you, Ron Nief, for another stimulating and informative introduction to the Stew! It sounds like there’s an awful lot of BIFF going on in the Stateline area this spring. I don’t expect to get too windy in this issue. Just want to make a few observations and then get out of the way for some others to share their thoughts.
I have just officially begun my 3rd year as the Executive Director of BIFF. Year one was a sharp learning curve, settling into roles that I had not occupied before. Grant writing, reading and understanding budgets and spreadsheets, signing checks and contracts, etc., were not duties that I had been responsible for in my former festival roles. Thanks to the BIFF Executive Board members…Rick, Ana, Gary and Terry…I was able to get the guidance and handholding I needed to begin to get a grip on this job. I was also assisted immeasurably by Lisa Furseth and Jen Tropp at the Hendricks Family Foundation, and was fortunate to have the ear of Tara Tinder at Stateline Community Foundation and Celestino Ruffini at Visit Beloit. Everyone seemed to understand the unknowns I was, or would be, dealing with, and they were all so willing to help me get my bearings and soothe my growing pains.
I feel like I have finally begun to grow into this role. Freshman year was scary. Sophomore year…pandemic. Junior year? Well, if there’s no pandemic, climate change fiasco, civil war, or other such cataclysm, this could be the year when I actually feel like an executive director. My support team has groomed me well. So where do I go from here?
I want our festival to grow. Not by leaps and bounds. But a little at a time. We have to grow if we’re going to be able to attract the additional financial interest that it’s going to take to sustain our festival into the future. I see us adding a couple of new venues, finding sponsorship that brings a celebrity or two to town at festival time, attracting film crews that choose to shoot their next project in the streets of Beloit. I see us achieving the notoriety of being an Oscar®-qualifying festival, meaning that films that play BIFF can be considered for an Oscar nomination. I look forward to being equipped to build a traditional staff that can help to accelerate the journey toward the dreams I have in my head.
And I could go on. But I will stop there. ;-)
Suffice it to say, BIFF is already a great festival. But we can do more. BIFF can, and will, become even better than it is right now. It will take patience and wits and a willingness to continue to learn from all of the bright people who are leading the charge toward turning Beloit into a shining city on a rockin’ river.
I am proud to serve you as the leader of your festival. I will always be thankful to you for affording me the privilege to helm one of Beloit’s finest arts organizations. I will do my level best to live up to your trust.
So, as Ron mentioned at the top of the issue: Here we go again! It’s a whole new year. It’s Junior year. I’m a little smarter. And I’m going to try to make the honor roll!
New Board Member News
Lindsay Mitchell
With a number of seats open on the BIFF Board of Directors, an effort to find fresh additions to the roster has begun. The board recently made the unanimous decision to bring one of the MVPs of BIFF 2021 into the fold. Here, with a bio and a few thoughts for you to consider as you get to know our newest board acquisition, Lindsay Mitchell:
My name is Lindsay Mitchell, and I am about to be 42 years old. I have two children, Oliver, who is four, and Maggie, who is ten. I have lived in Beloit since 2019, but I have worked in Beloit since 2014, when I was hired at Comply365 to work in their accounting department. I have lived in the area (Rockford, South Beloit) since 2004.
My professional background is widely varied, and I am unencumbered by a college degree. I have worked in food service, retail, animal care and adoption, hospitality, in-flight service, healthcare, administrative work, and now finance. As a pandemic project, I have begun to teach myself software development as well, with a goal of being employable in that capacity about a year from now, so perhaps another change is coming.
The skills I can offer are equally varied. I have experience planning and hosting events. I am at ease with public speaking, in conversation with all kinds of people, and I am an excellent communicator, both verbally and in writing. I am handy with a variety of types of technology and am comfortable with change. I am hard-working, punctual, reliable, and thorough. I am happy to help wherever needed, and I am level-headed in a crisis.
Although I have only been involved with BIFF for a short time, I have found the work extremely enjoyable, and the community of people involved to be warm and welcoming. I look forward to working the aspects of this year’s festival that were very successful into future festivals to broaden the reach of BIFF, and to appeal to a younger, more technologically minded audience.
I am honored to be considered for a position on the Beloit Film Festival’s Board of Directors. We have a real opportunity here to grow BIFF and draw in fresh ideas with a global perspective. I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together.
Warm regards,
Lindsay Mitchell
Suffice it to say, BIFF is already a great festival. But we can do more. BIFF can, and will, become even better than it is right now. It will take patience and wits and a willingness to continue to learn from all of the bright people who are leading the charge toward turning Beloit into a shining city on a rockin’ river.
I am proud to serve you as the leader of your festival. I will always be thankful to you for affording me the privilege to helm one of Beloit’s finest arts organizations. I will do my level best to live up to your trust.
So, as Ron mentioned at the top of the issue: Here we go again! It’s a whole new year. It’s Junior year. I’m a little smarter. And I’m going to try to make the honor roll!
What Mathers Most
With Nancy Clark-Mather
“Bringing (film screening) Locations to Life”
This is exactly what BIFF has been graciously allowed to do at the new Downtown Beloit Association venue. Shauna El-Amin has opened up her new digs to Film Society members and it’s turning out to be the hot spot of Beloit’s Wednesday evenings. Participation can only get stronger as the nice weather arrives. Our executive director always speaks so well to the ins-and-outs of these events, but I’d like to give you a snapshot of how we managed to get the room set up for (yea!!!) our screenings.
We did it in a resourceful and cost conscious way. Shauna had already picked up a pull down projector screen at Beloit Auction and Realty and a few of us donned our work clothes and gloves, picked up some lumber and a few other necessary items (read several trips to ACE Hardware) and we got that screen hung up smack dab in the center of the wall where historical black and white pictures of Beloit are hung. I quickly learned I can still hold my own on a ladder (very very carefully). Next effort, an efficiently spaced seating arrangement for members. Let it be known here, that the fifty-some chairs we sit on hold a lot of history. They actually came from the old Beloit Inn when it was renovated into what is now the Ironworks Hotel.
And speaking of Ironworks Hotel, that’s where the coffee is brewed and generously donated. As part of pandemic rules and regulations, we’ve had to go with wrapped goodies rather than Stephanie’s (Stephanie Bailey of Fannies Baked Goods®) delicious, and always unique, creations. I’m sure we are all hoping this is only for the time being because, Stephanie’s treats can’t be beat.
Now as far as technology goes, this venue has provided us with everything we need to conduct successful director Q&As (our first one was live!!). And an unexpected perk: the room has great acoustics due to the drop ceiling. The storefront windows run all the way across the front of the building and we were pretty concerned about the light streaming in until one of our amateur event planners came up with the idea of hanging some of our many black tablecloths over the windows. This works perfectly, just like you’re sitting in a theatre. And you can always find the faithful and well-recognized BIFF flag placed on the front sidewalk, beckoning you in. The room is usually opened up and ready by 5:45 (although the coffee may not be there until 6pm) so please come early if you’d like to brainstorm or just visit. This camaraderie means more to our Board members than you’ll ever know.
Nothing can replace the professional classroom-style setting and graduated seating of the Hendricks Center for the Arts (although I have to admit I do not miss “sliding” out of the tiny pull down desk chairs or fretting that no one will be at the entrance to let me in during freezing temps which incidentally never happened) but please believe that we at BIFF have put forth our best efforts to keep you, our very important Film Society Members, comfortable, technologically satisfied and totally intrigued with the indie offerings. As a side note, someday maybe we’ll have black BIFF-embroidered seat cushions as merchandise!
In closing, know that we welcome any suggestions and we’ll certainly do our best to accommodate you. We’re looking forward to seeing you one of these Wednesdays soon!
