This post was written by Alyssa Gentile, Sophie Dack, and Amanda Gilliland in Mr. Ryan’s AP Language and Composition class. We are very grateful to have interviewed Mr. Jeff Schmidt about his experience volunteering for the Salem Film Fest. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
MHS: Did you grow up in the area?
Jeff Schmidt: I actually grew up in Ohio. But I have lived in Massachusetts for 27 years now; 19 in Salem. My wife and I have made Salem our home. We have a daughter and love living on the North Shore.
MHS: You have experience in the film industry. Could you tell us more about everything that you have done?
JS: I have had the opportunity to work on a number of documentary-style projects during my career. At the beginning of my career, I worked for ESPN Regional and produced and directed a documentary about NASCAR driver Rusty Wallace. I also worked locally on a project called the MILLION CALORIE MARCH, where I was the editor and the associate producer of the film. It followed a recovering food addict as he walked up the East Coast from Florida to Boston. More recently I was one of the producers of THE HOUSE WE LIVED IN, which played at a number of festivals this past year, and another film called, THERE FROM HERE which is launching this year.
MHS: What got you first interested in the Film Fest?
JS: My background in video production and documentary projects have [drawn] me to become involved with the Festival. I found out about the Festival after the first year, and I followed up to see how I could get involved in an event that was taking place in my community. Fortunately, I was offered the opportunity to participate, and it’s been quite the journey since.
MHS: What is your role at the Film Fest, and what does it involve?
JS: As the Program Director of Salem Film Fest, I am the lead in researching films and [ultimately bringing them] to the Festival. I oversee multiple Selection Committees that view films from September through early February. I’m in constant communication with filmmakers; it’s practically a full-time job on top of my regular day job. A lot of our volunteers spend a lot of their free time putting together the Festival each year and maintaining the level of significance and quality of the Festival we put on each year.
MHS: How and where do you find the films?
JS: We’re different from most festivals in that we are invite-only, so that means that we do not receive as many submissions as other festivals do. [Instead], we research, go to festivals, and talk to alums, sales agents, and distributors to find films we think will appeal to our audience. Then, our selection committees (which we have for our features, shorts, and student competitions) spend a great deal of time watching films and discussing them within our group.
MHS: Salem Film Fest must have changed in myriad ways over the years. Can you track its trajectory, in broad strokes?
JS: From the beginning of the Festival, the focus was on celebrating filmmakers and bringing them to the North Shore to present their works and speak to our audiences. Over the years, we have certainly grown in scope and size. We’re fortunate that the filmmaking community has respected our work, and we have developed a reputation in the U.S. and internationally. We’re also very fortunate that the local business community has embraced the Festival as much as it has.
MHS: What do you enjoy most about volunteering?
JS: What I enjoy most is once the Festival begins, and you finally meet filmmakers you’ve been communicating with for months. You watch filmmaker and audience interactions during screenings, and that’s why we do this every year, to see that interaction. Hopefully we provide an opportunity for people to learn more about the world around them.
MHS: What are some challenges you have faced?
JS: The biggest challenge is that it occupies a lot of time. To work on a festival of this size requires many hours on a daily basis. It certainly is a passion project for all of the volunteers who work so hard each year to present Salem Film Fest to the world.
MHS: Do you have an all-time favorite Film Fest film?
JS: One of my memorable experiences with Salem Film Fest was when I found a documentary about cats in Turkey that was just beginning applying to festivals. We ultimately hosted the North American premiere of the film, KEDI, which [eventually] was one of the highest-grossing documentary films in the United States in the next year. We flew out the filmmaker Ceyda Torun, and she later shared that after attending our festival, she knew she had made a film that would have massive appeal.
MHS: What do you think attendees should know about the Fest?
JS: It’s really an opportunity to learn more about the world around you, and certainly [attending] the in-person portion of the Festival is a great opportunity. But we’re also going to be streaming from March 27 to April 2, so if you weren’t able to catch films at the in-person festival, there’s still an opportunity to watch them online. For more information, people can visit SalemFilmFest.com.
