The Nevada City Film Festival team is an eclectic group, staff and volunteers coming from all walks of life. The men and women behind the curtain include Nevada City natives, expats and newcomers, but one thing that brings them all together (besides an appreciation for good independent cinema) is their affection for the town of Nevada City.
Nevada City Film Festival designer Rich Good now does the posters and website remotely from San Francisco (when he isn’t on the road with the Psychadelic Furs, sending his designs from the wifi-enabled tour bus), so he doesn’t get to see as much of Nevada City as he’d like. But he hasn’t forgotten the magic of the tiny town where he lived for 13 years. When coming up with this year’s extraterrestrial theme, he was inspired by the pilgrimage that film-lovers must make to get here. “It’s not like people getting on a plane and flying to New York,” he says, and the extra effort it takes to get to this little town makes it all the more magical. Good is convinced that Nevada City’s particular brand of small-town charm is what makes NCFF incredible: “You can put a film festival anywhere, you can put great organizers behind any film festival.” Good is a longtime friend of the organizers, and loves working with local powerhouse and festival director Jesse Locks. Between Locks and that Nevada City charm, NCFF has become “revered among the film community – quite an achievement for a town that’s essentially two streets.”
Longtime volunteer Jake West was born and raised in the Nevada City area, but he hasn’t become numb to small-town charm yet. When filmmakers visit from out of town, he says, “They always say, ‘Wow, it’s so cool.’” He shrugs in agreement, as if Nevada City’s coolness is too obvious to put into words. “And yeah, it’s kind of cool.” He got involved with NCFF after working with Jesse Locks on the Wild and Scenic Film Festival, and he’s still very involved with both festivals. For him, Wild and Scenic is about inspiring activism, whereas NCFF is about that Nevada City vibe: “the spirit of the people who love it here.” Volunteering last year, West was moved by the turnout for the Local Filmmakers program and how everyone in this small town came out to see their friends’ work.
For Sierra College student and NCFF intern Sara Olson, Nevada City’s small-town charm is definitely a draw (she commutes from Auburn to work in the office twice a week), but it’s the festival’s industry cachet that makes it worth the drive. Volunteering last year, Olson says she “liked the sense of community throughout the entire town; it felt like everyone was involved.” But this festival isn’t put on by a ragtag gang of townies: last year Olson was impressed by how well put-together everything was, and after joining the ranks of the puppeteers she hasn’t been disappointed. “I’ve learned some skills that I can take to any job, I’m interviewing filmmakers, I got to pick out the mascot for the film festival. This internship is, more than most, really hands on.”
That’s the real magic of the Nevada City Film Festival, and of Nevada City itself. Somehow this community manages to put on incredibly professional city-worthy events in a town that really shouldn’t be allowed to call itself a city.
Words Zoe Toffaleti, Assistant Film Festival Director