Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival

The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival is considered the Grand Daddy of Documentary Film Festivals by many. This amazing event just finishing its 23^rd season this past October, has been through many changes over the years, and preparation for this years festival is already underway.
This 99% volunteer staffed event is a true community event that draws documentary film fans from all over the continent and world, and documentary film makers from around the globe enter submissions of all kinds for a chance just to show their film at this wonderful festival.
As an attendee, you can view films individually for around 5 $, with a by the day ticket or with a pass for the whole event — I recommend the festival pass if you are a serious doc fan as it gives you unlimited viewing access throughout the entire event — you can often view 8+ films a day if you are a mind to, as well the VIP passes have perks including private after parties with some of the film makers.
The HSDFF screening committee has been bringing literally hundreds upon hundreds of fine quality documentary films of various lengths to this festival for decades now. These dedicated volunteers peruse 1000’s of films every spring season and spend hundreds of hours months in advance preparing for the fall — watching the good, the bad and the ugly — searching for a handful of true gems worthy of this grand festival. Only about 2 – 3 out of every 100 films screened make the cut for this awesome festival, and screening committee members must watch and review and minimum of 250+ films individually in order to have a vote and say on the final films allowed into the festival. This process makes the quality of films viewed usually very high for festival attendees.
I have enjoyed this festival for years — attending it over 15 years ago for the first time in 1999, and have been an attendee of it a half a dozen times since then over various years. It has been a couple seasons since my last trek to this grand event and I hope to attend it again in the near future.
This is a true documentary film gem and definitely worth the trip at least once and well worth the effort to attend if you are a true documentary film fan.
A Solid 5 Star festival
192

What a rare opportunity to see New Documentaries, I saw two world premiers on the opening night. They are always looking for people to help. They are friendly and doing a great job of utilizing an old movie house and bring in a quirky new element to Hot Springs.
Oct 14 – 23 is the festivel although throughout the year they will have special screeens. Plus you feel a bit more hip and learn about some wonderful points of view of the world around us.