Monterey Independent Film-Makers Festival, d1968-1972.

The Monterey Independent Film-makers Festival originated in 1968, the brainchild of Peninsula painters Gerald Wasserman, Eugene Newmann, and James Gore. They and a few friends had made 8mm and 16mm films out of self-motivated curiosity with the medium or as college film students. Through the assistance of Monterey Public Librarian Ethel Solliday, Wasserman arranged for the use of the library's Community Room to present a small festival of local films and, by invitation, of films from students and other filmmakers in the Monterey, San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles areas. Three local film society and commercial exhibitors served as judges and non-cash, trophy awards were made. Encouraged by the initial response of filmmakers and audience and by then growing interest in independent and student films in the 1960s, the Committee decided to expand to a national festival in 1969. The Festival allied with Monterey Peninsula College, which provided screening and theater facilities in the late summer, between semesters. One thousand dollars was offered in prizes, 122 films were submitted, and paid attendance for most programs sold out. The Festival also started enlisting professional filmmakers and critics as judges, along with local cartoonist and former Walt Disney animator, Eldon Dedini, who served as a judge in 1969 and remained on the committee for the ensuing festivals. Attendance, prize money, and film entries (169) increased in 1970. The Festival gained international attention, with submissions and inquiries from England, Australia, and India. For a committee of volunteers with a low-paid coordinator, the demands on time were growing substantially. In 1971, attendance fell off, despite more than 250 entries, $2000 in prize money, and the use of a commercial movie theater in Carmel. The Festival lost money. In 1972, back in the non-profit accommodations of M.P.C., attendance continued to decline and there was a decrease in film entries; prize money also had to be reduced. In light of this situation and because the amount of work involved in putting on the Festival had not diminished, the organizing committee, now minus several members from the original group, decided to disband the Festival.

In four years as a nationally recognized event, the Monterey Independent Film-Makers Festival had experienced accelerated growth, community concerns about the content of some films (especially those depicting sexual conduct), an intense demand in a three-month time period each year on a group of interested but varyingly available volunteer committee members, and a decline in public support that was later reflected in other film festivals of this kind.

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