Cucalorus Response

My Cucalorus Experience

Screenings Attended:

1. Wilmington On Fire

2. Jwala Finger Shorts

3. Sweaty Betty

4. Devil's Tongue Shorts

5. The Frontier

I truly enjoyed my time at the Cucalorus 21 Film Festival. This was my first time, not only for Cucalorus but also really for film festivals in general. Although I have volunteered at Visions, I have never fully experienced a festival until this one. This really is a great opportunity for filmmakers and film fans, and I wish I was able to purchase a larger pass but I settled for the small pass. Cucalorus seemed like a place where everyone there had something in common, the love for films and what they contribute. To start things off about what I liked and found interesting at the festival, was that they decided to implement a conference (entrepreneurship) this year. Most of these blocks were during the first few days when I was stuck in class. This idea and addition seems be step in new and “branching out” direction for the festival. Also I like the special programs that included audio and visual experiences. We have talked about doing something like this and feel like we could build off that concept. 

            Throughout the festival, although I was not able to attend as much as I wanted, I was able to follow everything on their social media. Obviously they have multiple people behind their social media team, as they have constant posts on Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram. I watched their pages to see how often they posted and also the content of their posts. As most organizations, they included many pictures and some videos for most of their posts. They used their social media to promote upcoming highlight events, capture memories with images of the experiences, and also showcase their sponsors and promoters. During the festival, I became aware that Cucalorus, along with the three social media networks already mentioned, also used pinterest. Now when I visited their page last, it seemed that they hadn’t updated it since last year’s event. I am not to accustom to this social network and how it is used, so I will have to look into this one. An interesting fact: while going through Cucalorus’ Instagram page I saw people commenting on posts, suggesting that Cucalorus get a snapchat. So that shows that this network is starting to widen out to more and more festivals, just like ours.

            Other marketing aspects I noticed during the festival were just their takeover of Downtown Wilmington. The festival had signs, lights, everything throughout the streets persuading people to check out the festival. This was an amazing experience for me, I have even asked Terry Linehan to help me look into an internship with Cucalorus. I was able to have a great time enjoying movies, and also learn so much about how festivals run and promote themselves.