DEADLINE: How would you describe your goals for the festival?
And also to do more to give us a bigger national profile.
Both of those things are equally important and necessary, kind of vital to our continued success.
Hot Springs, Arkansas, with the Arlington Hotel in the far backgroundMatthew Carey
Were from here and Ive never even been.
Melissa kindly noted, Yall are handsome.
The town and the people exude that friendly vibe].
Ken Jacobson, executive director of the Hot Springs Documentary Film FestivalHSDFF/Aaron Brewer
And you bring the filmmakers and industry into that mix and its just a really magical place.
I love the ideas that drive that festival.
I would also add Big Sky into that mix with their Doc Shop.
Those are both definitely direct reference points for me.
DEADLINE: One of Camdens assets as a festival is the beautiful location on coastal Maine.
KJ:Its one of the things that attracted me to this position.
Were in a national park, the Hot Springs National Park.
All the natural beauty and really the majesty of the national park system is right here.
Its kind of baked into our festival.
And you have these glorious mountains here on either side.
KJ:Thats right.
A lot of people associate Clinton with Hope [Ark.].
That was sort of the campaign slogan, The man from Hope.
But he moved here when he was really young, so his formative youth was in Hot Springs.
He went to elementary, middle, and high school here.
Its a goal of mine to bring him to the festival.
Its like, Hey, Bill and Hill and Chelsea, come on down to the festival.
And thats another goal is to have them involved next year.
DEADLINE: What do you see as the importance of film festivals to the documentary field specifically?
To me, that triad is kind of sacred, almost.
Its like a bond, a relationship of partners.
They all need each other, I would say, equally.
And the festival is kind of the place that makes that happen.
People can watch documentaries at home.
They have tons of choices.
Why come to a documentary film festival?
But number two, were bringing the filmmakers, were bringing the subjects of the film.
The kind of only place that could have happened was a documentary film festival.
It just is a natural fit for us to host that.
How did you land her as honorary chair?
Its directed by Craig Renaud, who was born in Little Rock, still has strong ties here.
Thankfully, she could.
And its just incredibly generous of her to come out here for us.
