Paul Szmal: 7.53 here on FLX Morning on Finger Lakes News Radio and happy to welcome in Catherine Price from the Geneva Bid to talk about the Winter Arts Festival that is happening this weekend. Catherine, good morning, good to have you back.
Catherine Price: Good morning, thank you for having me. And yeah, tell us about it. This is a one-day event that's happening?
Paul Szmal: No, so this is actually turning, it's turned into a three-day event at this point. So you know, we started the Winter Arts Festival because in February, you know, with our wonderful weather, we don't have as much foot traffic. So we wanted to bring people back into Geneva to remind them that even though the weather's bad, we still have so much wonderful stuff going on downtown. So it started with the Film Festival on Friday and the Art Walk on Saturday, but now we've expanded it. So our filmmakers came into town yesterday. We had a gathering at Enora last night. We have the Film Festival itself this evening from 6 to 10, and then tomorrow from 11 to 3, and then we also have the Art Walk tomorrow from 11 to 3.
Catherine Price: Oh good, that means the weather is supposed to come in more towards the evening, so you should be good for that tomorrow.
Paul Szmal: Exactly. I mean, it's going to be cold, but it is the Northeast.
Catherine Price: Well, it's a Winter Arts Festival, so you got to have a little cold and a little snow for it.
Paul Szmal: Exactly. And so that's the other great thing too is that you can come in, so we have 15 different stops on the Art Walk, one of which is the Dove Block, but that's also where the Saturday Film Festival is going to be taking place. There are three blocks there during the day, so you can come and do a little shopping, maybe watch one of the blocks of short films. We have 49 short films that are going to be showing over the weekend.
Catherine Price: Are some of these done by local filmmakers?
Paul Szmal: Yes, we do have some local filmmakers who will be in attendance. We have RIT students who have been selected, but we also have filmmakers that have come in from LA for us, which is pretty amazing.
Catherine Price: Wow. Okay. And tell me a little bit about the Art Walk, how that works, if I was new to the concept and didn't know what an Art Walk was.
Paul Szmal: Okay. So I think one of the best things to do is check out our website. It's GenevaDowntown.com. If you go under Events, you can see a map for the Art Walk, and it tells you all the different locations. And all you have to do is stop in one of those locations and grab a map, and it shows you where all the different artists are located throughout downtown and at the Welcome Center. And then you just, you know, get a cup of coffee and walk around and pick out something special for your Valentine.
Catherine Price: Now, you said this was a three-day event.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. So it started yesterday.
Catherine Price: Ah, okay. Okay. So we're coming into, we're at the halfway point today.
Paul Szmal: Yes. And then we have the activities tomorrow.
Catherine Price: Is there any entertainment planned as part of this, or is this more just to focus on the local artisans and what they have to offer?
Paul Szmal: It's a focus on local artisans and what they have to offer. And also, you know, the film festival, so I'm going to stop for a second. I'm going to backtrack and talk a little bit about the film festival. So this is our first year that we've, we're calling it the Finger Lakes Film Festival. In the past, this is our fourth year doing the film festival. And in the past, it was the Geneva Downtown Film Festival. But it's grown to a point that we want to make sure that we're encompassing the whole area, especially because we have so many amazing artists that are coming in from all over. And we had one of the filmmakers drive in last night from Maryland. So we're really becoming an international film festival. We're really putting ourselves on the map, which is so exciting.
And just a little bit about the film festival. It's a celebration of film and the video artists who have stories to tell and the passion to tell them. We highlight diverse voices that advance the field through innovation and an unflinching commitment to the art of cinematic expression. So it's really exciting to have something like this here in Geneva and at the Smith Opera House. And that means that the film festival is going to have a variety. There might be some documentary shorts. There might be some comedic shorts and dramatic stuff all kind of rolled up into a ball.
Catherine Price: Yes, and animation. We've got a whole student block and my god, these students are so talented. It's incredible. We even have some people who are, one of the films was produced by Jamie Lee Curtis. We have another film that was produced by and written and directed by somebody who's on the Disney channel. So we have people that have attended Sundance and Slamdance and some of these other big film festivals. And you know, who else wants to go out? I shouldn't say that. I love upstate New York. I'd rather be here than Utah.
Paul Szmal: So we want to have people here for our film festival.
Catherine Price: Fair. The weather might be similar sometimes, but still I get where you're coming from.
Paul Szmal: If people want to find out more information about the Art Walk, the Winter Arts Festival, the film festival, any of the stuff that's happening today and tomorrow, where do they go, Catherine?
Catherine Price: GenevaDowntown.com and then events tab has the Art Walk and the film festival tab has the film festival. And it also has a copy of the program so you can see what blocks are showing when.
Paul Szmal: Fantastic. Well, thanks for stopping in this morning. Much appreciated.
Catherine Price: Thank you so much for having me. So looking forward to it. And again, the film festival is at the Dove Block. So the film festival tonight is at the Smith Opera House from 6 to 10. And then after party is at Linden Social. And then tomorrow the film festival will be at the Dove Block with after party at Lake Drum Brewing.
Paul Szmal: Very nice. Reception, after reception. And then the Art Walk is at 14 different locations throughout downtown.
Catherine Price: All right. With over 50 different artists.
Paul Szmal: Catherine Price from the Geneva Bid telling us about the Winter Arts Festival and film festival happening in downtown Geneva this weekend. It is 7.59 on FLX morning. We have the CBS World News Roundup and Greg Conroy has local news coming up for you in just 30 seconds.
