Couchfest Films, “an annual cozy shorts film fest hosted in people’s houses all over the world all on one day”, is back this Saturday, Dec 6th. And, since it got its start right here in Wallingford, it’s no surprise that there are Wallingford homes participating.
Co-founder Ryan Davis shot us this note:
Everyone’s favorite community building event disguised as a film festival is back, welcoming strangers into private homes and alternative locations to watch movies.Couch Fest is like a pub crawl, but for movie watching. Attendees can go from house to house, all over the city, watching programs of short films, all for one ticket price ($10).Wallingford has always been special to the fest; it’s the location of the very first Couch Fest, when founder/director Craig Downing and I lived there in 2007. Now the festival has gone global, with over 35 host cities, but Wallingford is still participating!
Webster is one of the Wallingford hosts this year. We asked her to tell us a bit about what it’s like to have strangers troop through your house to watch movies in your living room (and what the weirdest experience has been):
My best or most rewarding experience I would say was in my first year as a volunteer. But also continues to be true every year. As a newly transplanted citizen of Seattle I didn’t know anyone. So being welcomed into strangers homes and sharing our love of short films was great. I have made lasting friendships from that year and continue to make new friends every year.You say weirdest experience, I say awkwardly awesome experience. It’s all been great. But what the public would call weird….filming someone’s back having a square shaved into it so that we could project an image on it like a screen. If you want to know what I’m talking about, head over to our Facebook page and check out this years Couchfest promo video. It’s wild!
To buy tickets, check locations and read about the films, visit the Couchfest Films web site.