Plumbing Museum gets Reel
Watertown’s Plumbing Museum is paying homage to the town’s namesake with its first-ever film festival.
Next week, June 27-28, the museum will screen 21 short-length films that center around the theme of water. The event is free, so everyone has the opportunity to visit the museum and enjoy some thought-provoking films.
“We want people to build more awareness about the importance of [water] culturally and physically as a resource,” Museum Program Manager Sasha Parfenova said.
Parfenova is the film festival’s director. She recruited two others, Demitra Papadinis and Paul Taft, to help her organize the festival. The three have worked together on events at the museum in the past. Last summer they staged Theater Playfest, a two-day event, which featured short comedy plays centered around the theme of plumbing. Parfenova said the event worked out well. Playfest ran for two nights, and each night the Plumbing Museum had a full house.
Post-event, Parfenova started to mull over what type of events the museum might host next. When she discussed this with Papadinis, Parfenova said Papadinis was excited about bringing a film festival to the museum. The pair started researching local film festivals and then asked Taft if he would hop on board. He agreed, and the trio started planning.
How did the trio select the films?
At first, Taft said, Parfenova thought they could put the festival together by November.
“I had no idea how much really goes into putting together an event like this,” Parfenova said.
Parfenova soon realized creating a successful festival would take some time. The trio have been planning the June event since early last fall.
One of the first things the team did, Parfenova said, was to come up with an application guide for filmmakers. They decided to limit the entries to short-length films, 30 minutes or less. The trio also decided on water as the theme for the festival.
“We are in Watertown, [FilmFest] is hosted at the Plumbing Museum, so water is the central theme of the festival.” Taft said.
This done, the team put out a call for submissions. The museum received 41 submissions. Reviewing the films was a lot of work, Parfenova said. The team watched the film submissions individually and scored them using a rubric Parfenova developed. The three then came together to make the final selection.
“It was a difficult choice actually deciding which films we would screen,” Parfenova said. “There were really good submissions.”
In the end, they chose 21 films. The films’ genres vary. There are animated films, documentaries, as well as experimental and narrative films. The shortest film, “Sea,” is one minute long and the longest, “Bass by Kayak,” is 30 minutes. The filmmakers hail from Iran, Uzbekistan, Australia, and from the more familiar neighboring city of Cambridge.
“I really feel like we have a strong lineup of films. I couldn’t be prouder of the ability to showcase these films, because I think people are going to walk through the doors and be thoroughly entertained,” Taft said.
The beginnings of a new Watertown tradition
The event is broken up into four sessions over two days. Session one and two will be held Thursday, June 27, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. and 7:45 to 8:45 p.m. Session three and four will be held at the same times respectively Friday June 28.
Taft said the team has worked hard to ensure the festival is legitimate. They want people to feel like they are a part of something, he said, whether they are an audience member, or somebody showcasing their work.
“We want more people to come back next year, because we don’t just want it to be a novelty,” he said.
Parfenova also said she foresees continuing the film festival in the future.
“I hope our festival will inspire other people to be creative and to think outside of the box,” Parfenova said.
To reserve a seat, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/o/the-plumbing-museum-14197500663
