Phoenix Film Festival is just a couple of weeks away, which means audiences will have another chance to see a fantastic slate of independent and studio feature-length and short films, along with other fun events and activities. The A-List was given the opportunity to interview Jason Carney, the CEO / Executive Director of Phoenix Film Festival, to talk all about what the festival will look like this year and what we can expect in the future. We’d like to thank Jason for taking the time to have this conversation with us, as well as thank Allied Global Marketing for getting us this interview opportunity. Information and tickets for the festival can be found here: www.phoenixfilmfestival.com

Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Larisa May: How would you say Phoenix Film Fest has changed since the early parts of the festival? What are your biggest aspirations for this to morph into?

Jason Carney: I think it's just we continue the growth and continue to build the relationships to get us better films and just grow the audience and try different side projects as part of the festival, just to draw in new audiences. It's a big thing for us to just continue to build a wider audience…with our community spotlight programming and just recently this year, adding films from Deaf filmmakers, music videos and that builds on, in the past, having films from Native American, Asian American, Latinx, African American, LGBTQ filmmakers, continuing to further build our programming because we want everybody to feel comfortable and included. We want it to be inclusive, not exclusive. Some festivals primarily focus on an older audience and that's great, and we do have a great core of older audience members. But we also want younger filmmakers to come out to the event, and people from other communities that wouldn't have thought that a film festival was for them. And we try to program that way, where we have some crazy films and we do have some films that are just nice, cool, calm, good day at the movies kind of films.

Spencer West: I know you just mentioned younger filmmakers, and obviously, as college students, I think we set a certain amount of importance towards getting our work out there, especially very early on in our careers. Why do you find it so important to have these younger filmmakers have the ability to put their work forward and show it on the big screen for a wide audience to see?

Carney: I've always maintained, especially for the college shorts, that the creativity level of college students is just at a different level. The quality is always great. But the thing is, college students haven't developed bad habits; they haven't gotten into taking the easy route. And I mean this in the best possible way, they don't know any better. I mean, you're not going to play it safe creatively. And I think, sometimes, as filmmakers get older, they start to play it safe creatively or they just lose that wonderment, or that ability to get outside the box, because at some point, some people just move on from indie filmmaking… Independent level is the smaller films that are just made by people who are just like, hey, let's make a movie. And I think that sometimes you see some programs where college students… just don't get to make movies, and the programs are a little less aggressive. And it's a shame that some college programs aren't as aggressive in getting students to make movies and get them out in the world.

Gib Manrique: Honestly, one of my favorite parts we've gone to the Phoenix film festival – I think two or three times at this point – and probably my favorite part is always seeing all the short films, mainly the independent films, the college ones like all that that we were just talking about. I was wondering if there are any themes or anything that you can remember from any of these films that have stood out to you over the years, or are representative of what you're doing, even you can't remember the name, just like anything that you can maybe think of that has stood out to you?

Carney: We've had films that have been two minutes long that have made an impression, versus a movie that might be like an hour and a half. And we go from these different trends we might have a bunch of zombie movies or, obviously, we had COVID movies..And so you just kind of see these trends that come and go in films, and some people do it better than others. You know, it's all about telling a good story. At the end of the day, you've got to have a good concept. And with shorts, you've got to bring them in right away. There's no long development. You know, you might be shooting to get this done in 10 minutes or 12 minutes, and so you've got to get your audience. Don't hold on to fall in love with shots, let's just get your movie done. Everything you should be doing is advancing that story, being able to cut stuff and move on with your life, because a shorter, tighter film is always better and gives you a better chance to get into festivals. Your movie can be so much better if you spend your focus from that 90-minute feature on a 10-minute short, because that's what you're going to focus on. You're not trying to extend it.

May: Are there any major films or any films that you're really excited for audiences to see?

Carney: We've got a great lineup, a great mix of kind of higher profile films and independent films. And it's always great to look at those centerpiece films, those big films every night. Those are always what people are going to pay attention to. You know, our opening night movie is “Power Ballad,” which is directed by John Carney, who directed “Once” and “Begin Again.” It has Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas, and it's just charming as hell. And our closer is a movie called “I Swear,” which picked up some BAFTA wins. It’s about the man who had Tourette's Syndrome, and it's a really good, like, powerful, dramatic, funny story and nice film.

In the middle, we have a really cool film called The Christophers with Ian McKellen, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. We have this really cool movie called “Normal” that has Bob Odenkirk in it. It's like “Nobody” meets “Fargo.” We're taking a chance and having something that's a little bit more action, something you don't see at a lot of festivals, but Magnolia Films is releasing that, which is like a suspense thriller. A movie called “Tuner” about this piano tuner who gets in with the wrong people because they figure out he can safe crack, a great fit for a Saturday night. But once again, we're going like, suspense kind of actiony kind of thing going on. And we've got another movie, like Bonnie and Clyde thing going on, “Carolina Caroline,” which is another one of our centerpiece films. We've got a cool movie with Al Pacino called “Billy Knight”, (and one) with Willem Dafoe called “Late Fame.”

We have the documentary that premiered at Sundance called “American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez,” and got great interviews and great people from like Lou Diamond Phillips…and just a great, really, like, great people that are, that are have an opportunity to pay tribute to this guy in this documentary. We also have this movie called “I Want Your Sex,” like, awkward, funny, steamy, and Daveed Diggs is in it too. It's funny, and a film that probably won't play well to an older audience, but you know, seeing different films and things like that is what we do, and that's why we have a documentary, “American Pachuco,” going at the same time as “I Want Your Sex.”

We've got a really fun documentary called “The Big Cheese.” It's about cheesemongers who are like sommeliers of cheese, and there's a competition, and it's the American team going to France to compete, and they're like the underdogs. And we have the filmmakers, I think all but one of the films is represented at this point, so that'll be really cool to have filmmakers in town. First weekend is like a lot of world cinema, some short films, and our community spotlight films, and then just everything else beyond that, or sci-fi and all that stuff. So plenty to see, fantastic. I'm very excited for that whole lineup.

West: You know, the festival has grown, obviously, a lot in the last few decades, and you've been working very, very hard on it for a while now. What vision do you have for the festival in the next few years? Where would you like to see it go?

Carney: You know, I think it's just as much about the festival as it is the things we do year-round. I want us to continue to grow and be a stop for more films throughout the year. We're seeing like a shift for independent films, where it's harder for them to get deals, so they're just having to go to Amazon, and the on-demand route, and those deals are often terrible for them. What we're starting to see is some filmmakers will do some festivals, do a little festival circuit, and then, like, tour. I think there's an opportunity for us. I want us to be one of those stops. And I think we had about four or five screenings last year for filmmakers who were touring across the country with their films. And I think not only were they maybe films that we had played in the past, but new films. And so that's kind of the big part of like independent distribution, and independent filmmakers kind of staking their claim and trying to make some money backand so they tour. They do a split with whoever's hosting them in terms of box office. And it's great for our audiences, because it gives them exposure to films, and it helps the filmmakers get the films out there and spread the good word.

Just continuing to grow our year-round programs and make the Phoenix Film Festival just tight, and make it exceptional…We always want to grow this event, and it's doing new things like not being afraid to show “Normal” in a big spot where normally you've got to play it a little bit more mainstream. But you know, we want to go outside of that. And we don't want to pigeonhole our audience. We want new, fresh stuff, and that's because I don't want to be stagnant. Programming keeps you from becoming stagnant.

We have the fabulous “Film Trivia Olympics,” which is hosted by drag queen Barbara Seville as part of one of our events. And then we have “Laughs and Reels,” where we have some stand-up comedy mixed in with clips and short films over the course of 90 minutes. We have this new event called Meet Your Movie Buddy, where it's gonna be speed dating for a movie. Just kind of help people build the sense of community we always have a focus on. Everybody's on the same team, wanting to watch the next badass movie. Nobody wants to watch a crappy movie, nobody's there to hate on a movie. Everybody's just there for a good time, so continuing to do that through those opportunities, we're connecting strangers who love movies. That's why you should come to the festival, because it's all new, fresh, cool stuff.