Freethought Film Fest

Exciting things are underway in our second season. The Freethought Film Festival Foundation is at the forefront of the secular movement in introducing the general public to freethought ideals. From July 31st through August 5th, 2012, in Denver, Colorado, FFFF will host not only the second annual International Freethought Film Festival, to include indie film screenings, Q&As and parties, but a major charity event as well! There are multiple opportunities for organizations, businesses and individuals to play a supporting role in our efforts this season. What you may not know, is that FFFF is also here to lend support to secular clubs & groups who are interested in promoting reason through film in their own communities. We are continually scouting for new films that reflect our mission statement, and the list of freethought programming content to share with others keeps growing.

In October, I represented FFFF at our information table at the Texas Freethought/Atheist Alliance of America Convention, where the convention organizers added to their program a "mini film festival". They showed back to back films in one of the convention rooms that sat approximately 30 people. All nine of the films that they screened were full-length feature films. Six out of those nine films were official selections at IFFF. (We screened seven features, and the only reason that the convention did not include all seven in their program, was that one of the directors did not reply to them to grant screening permission.) That weekend, attendees approached our table asking what was being screened, because they assumed that we were the ones putting on the mini-film festival. I explained to them that we weren't affiliated with it, but before pointed to the convention information table where they could get a schedule, I introduced to them our mission. After the introduction, not only were people excited about our efforts, but at least a half dozen filmmakers came up to me later to tell me that they were inspired create a film to submit to IFFF!

Andrea Steele

International Freethought Film Festival director