ART HOUSE CONVERGENCE CONFERENCE

A Word From Our Executive Director:

The Art House Convergence conference took place last week in Midway, Utah. The conference was launched in 2008 by the leadership of the Michigan Theater—our beloved host venue— in collaboration with the Sundance Institute. It has grown, since that time, from several dozen to many hundred attendees, and galvanized the art house theater scene into a power-wielding movement.

The conference is smartly run by AAFF board member Barbara Twist, and boasts a film festival track coordinated by the Film Festival Alliance, of which the AAFF is a proud member. The Film Festival Alliance offers opportunities to learn from other professionals in the film festival field, and the Art House Convergence provides the context in which to do so.

Over this past decade, the AAFF has grappled with the logistics of integrating online submission platforms, screening review processes, acquisition and exhibition of movies and more. As part of that effort, I attended this year, along with AAFF partner Maurice Collins, CEO of InfoReady Corporation, to attend the "Solution Show & Tell" session. Together, we have been developing a software solution to improve and make more efficient the AAFF submissions and review process. It was reassuring to be reminded that so many festivals share our technology challenges, and eye-opening to see some of the solutions.

Leslie Raymond AAFF Executive Director