Wisconsin Film Festival 2009 already a hit with volunteers

Barely two months remain before the opening of the eleventh

Festival volunteers have a broad array of responsibilities over the course of its four-day run. Every year, roughly 200 of them keep the entire operation running by selling tickets, operating theaters, introducing films and filmmakers, collecting ballots, and answering questions, all with an eye towards keeping the screenings smooth and on schedule. In exchange, each receives a t-shirt and four ticket vouchers. It's plenty of work, and there is a pair of mandatory training sessions, but the opportunities for volunteers are myriad, hence the high level of interest.

The response has been so strong, in fact, that Hamel says anybody interested in volunteering this year should get on board soon. The festival will probably stop accepting requests from new volunteers after 250 or so people have signed up, with this number allowing for the attrition of people whose plans change and can no longer help out at the festival. All that interested volunteers need do is to complete a sign-up form sharing their interest with the festival.

Anybody who has volunteered in the past is free to come back, though. "We always want to make sure that people who have participated in the past can keep going," says Hamel, though at this point there has been no shortage of festival veterans returning for another round. "I would say easily half of the people who have signed up so far have volunteered in the past, steadily since 2002, 2003, and 2004," she continues. "It's really nice to see the ongoing commitments these volunteers are making."

Hamel was a Wisconsin Film Festival volunteer herself for five years, before stepping into the role of director for the 2006 edition. "This is my team, and I only see some of these people at the festival itself," she says, describing the volunteer experience as "satisfying and really, really fun."

The complete selection of films will be announced online and in a program in Isthmus four weeks from today on Thursday, March 5. Tickets will subsequently go on sale, both online and at the festival box office in Memorial Union, on Saturday, March 7. The festival follows less than a month later, running from Thursday, April 2 through Sunday, April 5.