The Huntsville Item, Huntsville, TX

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July 28, 2010

Summer Film Festival a success

By Matthew Jackson Staff Reporter

HUNTSVILLE — The 2010 Huntsville Main Street Summer Film Festival held July 23-24 at the Old Town Theatre was the most successful yet, Main Street Coordinator Kim McAuliffe said Tuesday.

According to McAuliffe, total attendance for the festival was 318 for four films, a large increase from the total attendance of 116 last year.

The dinner and a movie package offered for both evening films saw a total attendance of 54, also a large increase from 2009.

In her first year as Main Street Coordinator for the film festival, McAuliffe and intern Lauren Castator opted to try new promotional methods for the event, setting up an online survey to allow residents to vote on the films to be screened and appointing a committee of six local community figures to help select the films.

“I think having a committee of people who were interested in the festival from the beginning was a big help,” McAuliffe said. “We also really tried to advertise this and get it out there more so than in the past.”

The four films selected for this year’s festival after nominations by the festival committee and a public vote were “The Princess and the Frog,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” and a 50th anniversary screening of “Psycho.”

McAuliffe said feedback from the festival since its finale has been positive.

“I think that overall people enjoyed themselves,” McAuliffe said. “I’ve heard a lot of good things, and it was fun to do for us.”

McAuliffe also thanked the festival’s sponsors and volunteers, and gave a special thanks to Castator for her work in organizing the event.

“I really appreciate all the hard work that Lauren put in to make this happen,” she said. “She was really fun and enthusiastic to work with and she had lots of good ideas to make this festival fun.”

Proceeds from the festival will go to Main Street’s Signage and Façade Grant Program, which provides improvement funds for downtown businesses to encourage economic development in the downtown area.

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