The Somewhat North of Boston Film Festival is Coming!
Posted by Leah on
11/8/2015 10:07:22 AM
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It seems like the longer I continue to write movie reviews, the more I learn. For example, I’ve learned that while Hollywood may claim a certain time of year is “award’s season”, it’s really a yearlong thing at this point. Another major thing that I’ve learned is that, while there may be only a select few film festivals (nationally or internationally) that get most of the press, there are hundreds more that don’t. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t worth checking out though!
One such festival is the Somewhat North of Boston (or SNOB) Film Festival. I’ve spent the past four years covering the New Hampshire Film Festival exclusively, and until last year had never heard of the SNOB Film Festival. I don’t remember exactly how I came across their website, but by the time I did the festival had wrapped for the year. I made a mental note then to be sure and find out more before this year’s festival. And so the year came and went with SNOB Fest fast approaching. I guess, instead of a mental note, I should’ve written myself an actual note, because I came fairly close to forgetting all about SNOB Fest and missing it this year as well.
My saving grace, in the case of SNOB Fest, is the people who made and entered the short film A Bad Luck Guy in a Bad Luck Town. (You can check out the trailer to the film here.) They reached out to me on Twitter and asked if I’d be at SNOB Fest this year. After a short back and forth, during which I drew a complete blank, it dawned on me…this is the one I’ve been meaning to check out (It was really one of those slap yourself in the forehead type moments)! I knew then that this was the year I’d finally make it to SNOB Fest.
But I still had many questions that the internet wasn’t answering for me. Questions such as: How many years has the festival been going on? What makes SNOB Fest different from other film festivals? How did it all start? And so on. So, as I began my usual routine of pouring over film descriptions and deciding what to see, I reached out to the festival’s organizers to figure out what SNOB Fest is really about.
I had the pleasure of speaking to Jay Doherty, the Executive Director of The Somewhat North of Boston Film Festival, who was happy to fill me in on the festival’s history, plans for the future and overall what makes this film festival stand out from others in the area.
When I asked him how long the festival has been going on he said, “This is our 15th annual Somewhat North of Boston Film Festival, but it’s been around a bit longer than that. The original committee started it by showing independent films at New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord. Over the years the festival started to grow and at one point it was held at several venues around Concord, as New Hampshire Film Festival does in Portsmouth. It was quickly scaled back though, when the committee realized that yes, more people attended, but less people saw each individual film and the audience intimacy had been lost.”
In 2009 the original committee for SNOB Fest decided that there would be no festival that year, or possibly any other year. This broke many hearts, including Doherty’s, because people in the area who loved independent film and the festival were left on their own. When the decision was made to get a fresh festival committee together Doherty jumped at the chance. Meanwhile, some members of the original festival committee had purchased Red River Theatres in Concord, to continue bringing independent film to Concord, just on a slightly smaller scale. The operators of Red River Theatres and SNOB Fest decided that it was in their best interests to work together, which is why all of the films shown during the festival are at Red River Theatres.
According to Doherty, SNOB Fest is a film festival for the people. “The festival started as a way to bring a little more culture to New Hampshire, but we’ve worked hard to be sure not to make it about Hollywood. The Somewhat North of Boston Film Festival is about the people who make independent films and the people who watch them, that’s why all of the awards we give out for the films are People’s Choice.”
That’s also why SNOB Fest’s organizers are looking for a new name. Doherty told me that the name started as a bit of a joke, because there wasn’t any culture in New Hampshire, but that as the festival has progressed, “The joke has all but been lost” he said. “Now we have the Capitol Center for Performing Arts, Red River Theatres, The Music Hall and many other venues that are bringing more culture to New Hampshire. At this point the name (SNOB Fest) is out dated.”
When I asked Doherty how he sees the festival growing without losing the intimate feel he said, “It’s a difficult thing to make sure the festival grows from year to year without losing touch of what it’s all about. We don’t want to spread people too thin and have too many venues. Our focus for the future is to add more of the arts that people don’t necessarily think of as art, such as comedy, music, food and craft beer. New Hampshire is becoming well known for its food and beer and such, and we’d really like to add more of a focus on that.”
Based on what I’ve seen so far, that won’t be a problem. According to the festival schedule there will be craft beer tasting each evening at 5 pm, followed by live music at the end of each day. One film, Be a Man, will feature live comedy beforehand by Ray Harrington, the comedian who made the documentary.
I’m very excited to finally get the chance to check out SNOB Fest, and encourage you all to as well. The Somewhat North of Boston Film Festival will run from Thursday, November 12 through Sunday, November 15. More information about the festival, including the schedule and tickets, can be found here. If you’d like to try your hand at giving them a new name, click here. I’ll be sure to bring you coverage as the festival goes on on Twitter and will bring you my complete wrap up afterwards right here. See you at SNOB Fest!