WIFMCO Presents: Film Festival 101 with Eileen O'Brien

FILM FESTIVAL 101 with Eileen O'Brien

In 1995, my husband’s work took us to the south of France. I started working at the Cannes Film Festival that year. Previously, I worked only in television and film production and had never even been to a festival!

After my first festival, I decided to start a new path in my career and thus began my 30 years of working in and running film festivals. I went on to work at Sundance, Denver, Savannah, Annapolis, Hot Docs and Santa Fe Film Festivals.

Today, my new goal is to share my years of experience and grass roots education about festivals with interested others!

As artistic director of the Savannah Film Festival in the early 2000’s, I would take 30 film students to Cannes each year. Before we left, I would give a class to students, “Festival 101.” Now, I would like to share the information from this valuable class, with YOU through a workshop hosted by WIFMCO.

Festival 101, includes a brief global history of film festivals. A comprehensive discussion of “festival etiquette”. Helpful hints about how to navigate the festival landscape as just a guest or as an invited filmmaker. Finally, as a former programmer, I give clear and detailed information about the complicated universe of submissions and, finally, how to navigate a festival when your film has been chosen to screen!

Join me at Festival 101, a WIFMCO workshop, on June 8, 2024 from 1p-4p, to hear stories from someone “who’s been there, done that”….and to learn more about the wild, wild world of film festivals!

Eileen O’Brien is a lifelong lover of film, television, fashion and art! 

Her life has been dedicated to working for, with and around artists and the arts. She was lucky enough to have had the kind of work opportunities that give her access and the ability to support these arts and artists throughout her career. She continues her journey to this day! 

She currently works as a film festival membership consultant, festival programmer, moderator and guest speaker/interviewer and volunteer for many cultural organizations. For the last four years she has been a judge and awards presenter for the flagship annual event of One Club of Denver, The Paper Fashion Show. She is a former executive board member for the Colorado Film and Video Association and in 2019, received their premiere Brit Withey Lifetime Achievement Award for her contribution to the Colorado filmmaking community. At the opening night of the 2018 Denver Film Festival, she was honored for her years of service to the Denver Film Society, as it was announced that an endowment had been established in her name to provide annual scholarships for the DFS Young Filmmakers Workshop, a program she directed for ten years. She is a key panelist and guest interviewer for many festivals including the Denver Film Festival, Women + Film Festival and the Santa Fe Independent Film Festival. She has always been a member of Women in Film and Television (NY, L.A., GA, France) and in 1986 was one of the founders of Women in Television NYC. Eileen is currently in development on a sitcom, Cue Card Girl, based on her real-life experiences holding cue cards for Saturday Night Live and David Letterman in New York City from 1981-88.

She is a woman always looking for new challenges and opportunities.

She has had over thirty years of professional experience in directing membership programs, film festivals, as well as work in production on independent and studio films, network and cable television programs. She has also written, directed and produced marketing videos, television pilots and programs, live events, theater productions and consulted on independent film marketing and distribution. She has also directed, programmed, managed, coordinated and consulted on major film festivals including Cannes, Sundance, Savannah and Denver International. She was the Director of Membership and Volunteers for the Denver Film Society (DFS), from 2006-16, as well as director of the DFS Young Filmmakers Workshops scholarship program. During her tenure at DFS, membership grew from 1,500 to over 3,500 members and membership revenue increased 40%. The program was enhanced by her addition of many new membership categories, benefits and events that were instrumental in recruiting and retaining new and diverse audiences. Her membership directorship was an integral part of the capital campaign to raise over 3.5 million dollars in 2013 to purchase the current year-round home of the DFS - the Sie FilmCenter. The organization now has a secure future with an owned and operated permanent facility, a strong ongoing program and a budding endowment program. 

Prior to a move to Denver in 2006, she was the operations manager and the head of the documentary screening committee for the Spotlight on Documentaries category of the IFP Market and Conference (Independent Feature Project/New York.) She directed the program that included over 60 filmmakers and 200 industry professionals attending the conference. In 2004, Eileen directed the operations of the editing, marketing and publicity for the independent documentary feature “WMD-Weapons of Mass Deception”. The film screened at national and international festivals, including IFDA, Hamptons, Chicago, Austin and Denver, where in 2004 it won the first annual Denver Film Festival Albert Maysles Best Documentary Award. 

Prior to directing this marketing effort, Eileen was the line producer of the biography films produced for the 2004 Democratic National Convention. These films were executive produced by June Beallor and included interviews with Senator John Kerry and Ms. Teresa Heinz Kerry. Senator Hillary Clinton and all eight women Democratic Senators, Gen. Wesley Clark and many other esteemed Admirals and Generals who were also interviewed by Eileen’s production team for these special DNC pieces.

In April of 2002, Eileen became the Artistic Director of the Savannah Film Festival, and was responsible for overseeing the programming, total artistic direction, sponsorship and marketing for this growing regional festival. Her 2002 festival was reviewed as the most successful to date. Much of the success was attributed to Eileen’s added new dimensions to the event, including: additional and higher quality programming; new sidebars (professional panels, special workshops for students); and a special program abroad for film students during the Cannes Film Festival. For the following 2003 festival, Eileen created and introduced the new Master Panel Program Series for the owner/producer of the festival, - the Savannah College of Art and Design. 

It was designed to appeal to and educate film and art students (over 5,000) while at the same time, be open to interested general public audience members attending the festival. This Master Series included the programs: “Careers in Film and Digital Media”; “Meet the Filmmakers” and “The Art and Business of Film and Digital Media”. 

Additionally, she created Master Workshops with attending professionals and guests including Sydney Pollack, Army Archerd, George Segal, Thora Birch, Dick Cavett and Alec Baldwin. During her Directorship, the Savannah Film Festival audience grew more than twenty-five percent to over 25,000 attendees. Sponsorship climbed more than twenty percent including additional support from HBO Films with the HBO Films Producer Award and the HBO Films Best Student Film Award. The student winner of the 2002 SFF award went on to win the Gold Student Academy Award. The Savannah Film Festival continues to use these innovations and additions and is now regarded as one of the premiere student film festival programs in this country.

Prior to accepting the Director of Programming position at SCAD, Eileen developed her festival and entertainment event professionalism during a five-year residency in Cannes, France. There she worked as a filmmaker manager, operations coordinator, researcher and manager of many professional organizations attending the Cannes Film Festival. These organizations included the IFP (Independent Film Project) and AFCI (Association of Film Commissioners International) and the French Film Commission. Following the Cannes Film Festival (’95, ’96, ’97, ‘98). Eileen worked for the Sundance Film Festival (’99, ’00, ’01) in the newly formed Filmmaker Services department. She began at Sundance as festival coordinator to the documentary filmmakers in competition and advanced to the on-site manager of the Filmmaker Services department in 2001. In 1999-2000, she was hired as producer of the Denver International Film Festival. 

The foundation of Eileen’s success with festivals, filmmaking and video production, events and entertainment has been due to her strong operations, supervising, producing, managing and coordinating skills established in her years as a film and television production professional. Throughout the 1970’s and 80’s Eileen developed her career through positions that included production coordination on feature films, all levels of television production; producing, directing, stage managing, camera and cue cards for network television programming. (Selected cue card credits include: Saturday Night Live, Late Night with David Letterman, MTV Awards) (Selected production credits: Carlin at Carnegie HBO Special, Attitudes, The Dick Cavett Show, Great Performances and Dance in America for PBS, Pet Semetary 2) Toward the latter part of the 80’s she assisted with the launching of an early cable network (VISN) and subsequently became the director of operations: production and post-production, managing a permanent staff of 15 and 20 freelance producers and editors.

Eileen holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Elementary Education from the University of South Carolina. Upon graduation in 1974, after teaching core curriculum and art in an elementary “free” school for one year, she began her career in educational television at South Carolina Educational Television as a studio camerawoman, one of the first American women to enter this field at that time. She continues to take great joy in sharing her years of experience and knowledge through mentoring, lectures and seminars to professionals and students. And she continues to work with film festivals and non-profit arts organizations, supporting on-going efforts and consulting in the areas of membership, artistic direction, sponsorship, marketing, programming, and special event production. Eileen is always available to participate as a host, lecturer, panelist, interviewer, moderator or juror: all roles she has expertly fulfilled on numerous occasions.