V7 Festival Research Tour

As a prime example of experiential learning, Visions Film Festival and Conference is embarking on their first ever research tour of larger film festivals and conferences. Thanks to sponsorships from each participating festival and a generous UNCW ETEAL grant, Visions students are attending Virginia Film Festival, Cucalorus Film Festival, and the SXSW Film Festival and Conference to gain insight into these large scale events. With two legs of the tour already completed, Visions students and faculty have attended the 29th Annual Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville, VA and the 22nd annual Cucalorus Film Festival in Wilmington, NC. At each of these events, students and faculty spent four days gathering valuable information from film screenings, guest-speaker panels, themed-parties, and special events. While there, students took notes on programming, art direction, marketing, Q&A moderation, party hosting, and more.

"Applied learning is really about breaking away from the typical classroom setting and getting out into the real world. VFF was exactly that, getting out into the real world and meeting people, shaking hands, and networking our event." -Isaac Dunn

"Virginia Film Festival offered close interaction with industry professionals and creative students alike. Seeing the dynamics between such a variety of people, especially when it came to Q & A sessions, was very interesting." -Kelsey Davis

"My research at Cucalorus, in comparison with Virginia Film Festival, made me aware that their are multiple ways of running an event in operations, logistics, and branding. Being able to see two completely different film festivals, in mission and scale, was a unique opportunity for experiential learning." -Mariah Smallwood

"Cucalorus was able to capture the magic and fun of filmmaking which is why I fell in love with it in the first place. As I continue my education, I will continue to attend events like this to remind myself why I love filmmaking." -Stan Hankins

"SXSW is the first large-scale film festival I have ever attended. I had such a fun and exhausting experience but it didn’t stop me from looking up other film festivals because I just want to repeat this experience over and over again." -Carly Dawson

"What I realized while attending SXSW was that I was surrounded by people who are all looking to network or collaborate. This was such a unique experience that has afforded me opportunities that I didn’t think I could have. The festival has reaffirmed my belief that freelance editing is a viable career for me right now." -Chance Saller