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One festival that kept being mentioned to us as a filmmaker favorite was Cordillera International Film Festival. With our festival calendar being jam-packed, our dates just never aligned... Until this year. We finally got to attend and I now understand why it is firmly a filmmaker's favorite festival to head to.
First up is the location; a small but bustling casino town where there's an eager audience. Secondly the team – Founder and Executive Director, Emily Skyle-Golden, is a pure joy to be around. As an active filmmaker herself she knows what filmmakers want and need, that familiarity shows and is evident throughout the festival. Those informed fingerprints include: a filmmaker lounge opposite the venue that provided snacks, drinks, and three buffet meals a day (a savior to the time-and-money-poor filmmaker); red carpet photos to grab those stunning shots to promote yourself and your work (and heck, a new headshot!); a shuttle service to and from the hotel to the venue; and an important element of lodging.
Once you are there you are treated with respect and like absolute royalty.
Some may say you turn up a stranger, and leave like you're close family. We saw some touching moments of connection at this festival, and have the social media posts to prove it.
The festival also organised a kick-off event with a screening of The Princess Bride, with not only live scoring from the Reno Philharmonic, but star Cary Elwes himself turning up to do meet-and-greets and a fireside chat. The location of Grand Sierra Resort lent itself to the packed audience who, in turn, shouted out those memorable lines, with encouragement from the conductor to boo every time Prince Humperdinck appeared on screen. It was a great way to start proceedings for the rest of the week.
With strong programming headed up by festival stalwart (and also lovely chap) Paul Sloop, the catalogue of films showed off an international flavor and championed homegrown talent. Even more notably was the recognition for Nevada based filmmakers – several awards given out came with monetary prizes, which is always a bonus for any filmmaker. There was special mention to the Best Female Focus Film, and Best Indigenous & LGBTQIA+ Film awards as well.
You know you're in a good place when the applause for every winner was triumphant, with not a hint of jealousy at all. Everyone was just loving being there and cheering each other on.
Industry wise, they had panels that ranged from festival programming (of which we were panelists on), finding your path and voice in filmmaking, with local press and podcasts interviewing attendees. Also taking place was the CIFFNV PITCHFEST! which offered up a lot of prizes from headline sponsors as well as the Grand Jury.
One thing that we missed out on as we had to head to another festival was the (unofficial) final day: Film(N)NV DAY - the Film Northern Nevada Initiative VIP Experience. A day trip arranged for Official Selected filmmaker (first-come-first served) for a day spent on the water (kayaking) and in the mountains, a train ride was also included.
I fully understand why this festival is never far from filmmaker's lips. It has the vibrancy of an A-List festival, including the glam and audience, but lacking the exclusivity and stuffiness. There is no doubt why it features on MovieMaker Magazine's Top 25 Coolest Film Festivals several times. I will always say, any festival that can give a filmmaker one less thing to worry about, such as food or transport around a festival, sets the bar for a good experience. Add in the kindness of the team, the strong program, and the collective spirit and you have something great on your hands; you have Cordillera International Film Festival. They've opened for their next edition so I encourage you to include it in your festival submissions!
