How to launch a film festival on a shoe string budget

In October, we launched the inaugural Morehouse College Human Rights Film Festival on a shoe string budget. And, despite some trepidations it worked! Now, we’re planning next year’s festival on the heels of some great lessons:

1. Be on brand. If this had been the Morehouse College Film Festival for Animated Shorts, it would not have worked. Instead, by focusing on films shining a light on human rights issues we leveraged our legacy as an institution built on the values of social justice and equality to launch the inaugural Morehouse College Human Rights Festival. We didn’t ask ourselves if launching a festival celebrating film makers who open discussions about human rights was something we should do. We asked if it was an expression of who we are. 
2. Appoint an unrelenting executive director who can be the festival’s evangelist. The first year of anything is about finding the believers who will invest their time, money, and sweat to make your event come to life. Having someone who is just a strong operator isn’t enough. You need someone who can find the believers quickly and convert the non-believers soon after. They say you can’t coach talent but having Kara Walker leading our festival made up for the many constraints we dealt with by having next to no budget. She was awesome and I look forward to what she has in store for 2020.
3. Have great partners. With only a few months to pull off the Human Rights Film Festival, we would’ve failed miserably if not for the support and guidance of our partners at the Atlanta Film Society, Choose ATL as well as the leaders from our Cinema, Television and Emerging Media Studies Program.
4. Monetize everything you can. Sometimes with new events there is a reluctance to merchandise parts of the event. Because we were resolute that this event belongs within Morehouse’s list of signature events, we went into it with an entrepreneurial attitude to test and learn for the inaugural event. Mobile payments here we come.

If you can’t do #2 to #4 focus #1 and #2.

The inaugural Morehouse Human Rights Film Festival by the numbers:

130: Total number of film submissions

8: Number of countries around the world who submitted films

34: Films screened

8: Panel and post discussions

3: Workshops

2: Master classes

3: Marquee events

625: Guests

1.25 million: Media and social media impressions 

1 (and only): Spike Lee

(Inside scoop: I met Spike Lee (Morehouse class of 1979) about an hour before I had to go on stage and give the opening remarks -- which included talking about Spike Lee. Someone captured it on a phone and I posted it here: