Interview: Jason Carney, Executive Director of the Phoenix Film Festival,

Jason Carney is the Executive Director of the Phoenix Film Festival. We were lucky enough to sit down with him and discuss the upcoming Phoenix Film Festival, April 6-13th at Harkins Scottsdale 101. This is easily one of the coolest festivals out there and after spending some time with Jason, it is easy to see why.

What can people who come out to the Phoenix Film Festival expect this year?

I think we have a really diverse mix of films with some drama, comedy, powerful docs and even an action/adventure film. Plus we’ve added our new category Unified by Film which showcases films from Latino American, African American and Native American Directors. A great thing about film is that you get to see other perspectives on life and I think this will help us capture that even more.

What are some of the big events and films of this year’s festival?

Our Opening Night Film is “The Hero” starring Sam Elliott and it comes from the same director that did “I’ll See You in My Dreams” a couple of years ago. I think it will be a good way to kick off the festival. On Saturday night we’re screening “The Lost City of Z” starring Charlie Hunnam. It will be fun to have an adventure film in the mix. We also have a couple of interesting films from Fox Searchlight that we’re at Sundance, “Step” and “Patti Cake$”. Plus our Closing Night Film is “Tommy’s Honour” which is a great fit to close things out.

In what ways does the Phoenix Film Festival promote local Arizona filmmakers?
We do a few key things within the local community to build up local filmmakers. At our Friday Night Party we host Industry Night which is Arizona’s biggest networking event of the year. We have about 20 booths representing the local film community and it’s always a huge turnout. In terms of film programming, last year we started the Arizona Features category where we program three different feature films made in Arizona. And finally is our robust Arizona Shorts category where we have two different short film programs from Arizona filmmakers. I really love have local films as part of the festival.

What opportunities are there are the Phoenix Film Festival for audiences to engage with filmmakers and stars?
Anytime we have a filmmaker or star attending with a film we have a post-film Q&A session. This gives our audiences a great opportunity to learn about the filmmaking process and ask questions they may have about the film. Typically our filmmakers are very accessible and available to discuss their films throughout the festival. Most of them are attending other films throughout the festival alongside our audiences.

If you could program a screening of any film, what would you pick to show audiences?

That’s a tough one. Do I go with the guilty pleasure film to have fun or do I go with the more award-worthy film. So I’m going to do both. On the guilty pleasure side of things, I’m going to go with “That Thing You Do”. It’s such a fun film and a perfect cast. I will watch this one every single time it’s on. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. On the other side of things, I’m going to go with “Almost Famous”, it’s both fun and prestige. But damn everyone in the film is so good and I love the idea and story. So good! It also turns out both of my choices were about music. So that’s cool.