August 2001 We talked to Ariella Ben-Dov,
curator and founder of the MadCat Film Festival,

Shimako Dominguez

SD: How did MC get started?

ABD: Maybe I'll tell you WHY we got started. There weren't many venues that highlighted women's work. Certainly, film festivals accepted both men's and women's work, but most were disproportionately screening films done by men. As soon as I put out my first call for entries we immediately received over 250 entries. For the first year of an unknown festival, that's incredible. I attributed it to the fact that female directors were jumping at the chance to enter a festival where the films would have a better chance of being curated. I also wanted to figure out a way to screen experimental films to audiences that wouldn't necessarily seek them out. How could I make experimental film more accessible to the general film-going audience, rather than just catering to the academic or filmmaking crowd? I wanted to challenge the second as well, but without alienating the general film audience.


SD: And MadCat isn't just a local film festival. It tours, right?

ABD: Yeah, that started two years ago. I wanted to figure out ways to get these films to a wider audience. I knew of a few other festivals that did touring programs. So, I thought universities and art houses would be perfect venues for MadCat ñ places with a built-in audience. I look for venues that sell themselves ñ museums with a regularly published events calendar; universities where the film department will advertise the festival or have professors that will even put it in their syllabi. Any way to make it somewhat easier to get an audience to see these films.


SD: Let's talk about your curatorial process. What do you look for specifically, and how do you decide what works for the festival?

ABD: What I'm trying to do with the MadCat curatorial process is to incorporate experimental films with more accessible films and then link them thematically. So, even if an audience member is having a hard time with one particular film, she will hopefully sit back and go, "All of these films have something to do with [blank]" -- blank being whatever the program theme is -- and that will get her through. It's definitely a different experience from going to a Hollywood film or even what is now considered "independent." Audience members still have to work, especially with the shorts format, because you are forced to reengage every time a new work begins. Ultimately I think it's a more rewarding experience than just sitting there and letting one film just wash over you. Our submission levels are now over 500. We went from six programs last year to eight programs this year. It's always a hard program to develop, because I program thematically and I don't know what those themes are going to be until I receive a good portion of the entries. The process of figuring out those themes is a difficult one, not only because of the number of entries, but because you have to watch a film over and over again to figure out what possible themes it could fit into. For instance, this year I'm showing a film called "Dolly," which is a film about a store that restores dolls, and I'm putting that in a program about desire because it starts with brief interviews of people who are introducing their dolls to the camera. They're just passionate about their dolls. I hope that this type of curating helps people understand the films in different ways. Films stay in the "undecided" pile for a very long time. I may love a film or not particularly like a film, but that becomes less important because a film I don't necessarily like might be the perfect bridge that ties a whole program together or, in the right context, it becomes a much better film than just on its own. Or a film I love I can't use because it just doesn't fit into any other theme with the other films. Some films are good, but they're not appropriate for MadCat ñ either because they're too straightforward, or not challenging enough. I save good films that don't make it into the festival the year they're submitted. This really surprises filmmakers, because when I reply to them and say, "I love the film. I just couldn't find the space for it," they think it's just a bullshit rejection. But it's true! It just sometimes takes three or four years for a film to fit in.


SD: What makes an experimental film good for you?

ABD: I'm always asking the question, "Why is this being told through the moving image?" as opposed to in a book or something. For me, it's about the medium. With the experimental films that I truly appreciate, it's about composition and editing; you watch the whole film because it's a fun ride. I don't like films where you watch the beginning and you know where it's going or how it's going to end. Sometimes audiences don't know where it's going; the story is not being told in a format that the general film audience is familiar with. That's one of my toughest challenges as a curator ñhow do I make it so that want to stay and understand and watch the whole program? So I give them little film sorbets ñlittle two-minute eye candy film breaks that are still in the same vein. I try to prepare audiences for more difficult films without being painful. Audiences are also surprised, both positively and negatively, that these are not "rah rah" women's films even though we're a "women's" film festival. We don't give any priority to "women's issues" or films with female protagonists. Sometimes I get a lot of shit from feminist filmies or female directors for this, but for me it's about women's stories and experiences. I hope some of what MadCat does is broaden the notion of what "women's issues" are, because I don't think they're just issues around the body or reproductive rights. I mean, those can be included, but depending on our backgrounds our nationalities, races, economic statuses ñwe have so many different issues we're dealing with in our daily lives.


SD: That's so important. No one judges films that men make by whether or not they deal with "men's issues." It just seems so evident that women's stories are just as broad and universal as men's.

ABD: Yeah, it's definitely hard to communicate that, especially with universities and the touring program. Many of them have women's studies programs and they go, "Yeah, we need a women's film festival." I have to specifically say to them, "The films aren't necessarily ABOUT women, they don't necessarily have a female protagonist, it's not going to be the kind of film festival you might think it would be."Then you have folks that go the other way, saying, "Can I come if I'm not a woman?" And I scream, "Of course you can come! They're just fucking films, just good films!"


SD: Are there any filmmakers that show up again and again in your festival?

ABD: Yeah, four or five have showed up in more than one festival. But I was talking to another filmmaker recently about folks who get curated in multiple festivals. There is certainly an "in club" among experimental film makers, and I certainly have rejected some good films from "in club" directors simply because the film didn't fit into the program or with any themes. I definitely am NOT popular with local filmmakers because I don't give priority to local filmmakers.


SD: So, MadCat's sort of an equalizer?

ABD: Yeah, because I'll never show a film just because of who made the film. I did do some retrospectives in the beginning years of the festival, but I'm shying away from those. Especially for me, the curating is my art and that's not necessarily done through retrospectives.


SD: And where do you see MadCat going from here?

ABD: Getting funded! Not having to find a part-time job for the part of the year when MadCat is dormant. For a long time I didn't hope for that because I definitely did not want to be in the position of boss. It's been daunting to me to make MadCat an "organization." But, the more I do it, the more I'm comfortable with having it be a yearlong endeavor. I mean, it's already at that point. I should be working on the tour right now. It's just a never-ending thing now, and it would be great to have the funding to pay all my filmmakers what they deserve and pay me even a living salary and get the help I need ° that would be where I would like it to go. And as for the festival itself, it's expanding from its humble beginning at the Roxie. I feel that we're doing what we have to do to sustain the momentum of the festival itself. It's great that we're in the East Bay now at the Pacific Film Archives, and at Artists Television Access, which reaches the under-21 audience (El Rio, the main showcase, is 21+ only), and with the tour expanding each year. So I feel that MadCat itself is definitely headed in the right direction and will be alive for a long time to come.