SpIFF 2015: Help make the festival better

Above: Co-director Nicholas Hudak films a scene for the documentary "Where God Likes to Be." 

When you're part of an ongoing event that attempts to attract, not to mention engage, the public, it's seldom easy to figure out how you're doing. Say, you're a restaurant that nobody goes to: Is it because the food sucks, the service sucks, the decor sucks or any combination of the above (including all of them).

The easiest solution: Just ask those who do seem to appreciate what you have to offer.

This year's Spokane International Film Festival was one of the most successful on record. Oh, we may have offered better lineups (as one of the festival programmers, I'll accept part of the blame). But the strange thing is, overall reactions to the 2015 films — based on the scores that viewers gave to individual screenings — were the highest in history.

More telling, it was difficult to attend any of the Magic Lantern showings because with the theater's two smallish houses — 100 and 33 seats, respectively — most of the programs sold out. Even the shows at the 204-seat AMC River Park Square house were packed.

So, yes, SpIFF 2015 did pretty well. But the board of directors — on which I serve — want the event to get even better. That's why festival director Pete Porter is offering all who attended a chance to comment on their experience. Porter is looking not only for what fest-goers liked but what they didn't like — and what they'd like to see in 2016.

You can access the SpIFF survey by clicking here.

Remember, this is your festival, too. So do your part to make sure Porter and the rest of us can make it even better.