The 1,300-member Film Fest family - Record Eagle

BY SARAH ELMS selms@record-eagle.com | Posted: Friday, July 31, 2015 4:30 pm

TCFF WATER MANAGER

Traverse City Film Festival water manager Jessica Abfalter unloads water from a truck at the festival warehouse, which will be distributed to festival venues as needed. Abfalter said Lars Hockstad Auditorium ran out of the 120 jugs it began the festival with, and will be getting a delivery to make it through the weekend.

TRAVERSE CITY — People from all over the country flock to the Traverse City Film Festival for the movies, but Jessica Abfalter blocks out her schedule to dive into the behind-the-scenes hustle and bustle.

"Everybody thinks of the festival and they think of the Open Space and the front of the house, but I like the nuts and bolts of it," she said.

Abfalter is one of 1,300 volunteers who sell tickets, scoop popcorn and keep the six-day festival running smoothly. She runs on little sleep for more than a week, but it's worth it to her.

"My first year I worked probably 8 in the morning to 2 in the morning every day of the festival," she said. "The public knows it starts on a Tuesday, but for me it starts on the Friday before, not including all the phone calls and emails that happen all summer before the festival."

Abfalter has been the festival's water manager since 2010. Her job is to make sure all volunteers, patrons and filmmakers stay hydrated while keeping plastic out of landfills.

She's led the shift from serving bottled water to offering filtered water in biodegradable cups at the festival. Today, plastic water bottles are tough to come by at any theater or event.

"It is one of the most personally fulfilling things I do," she said. "There are hard moments. There are times where I feel like I utterly hit the wall, but it's personal growth."

Volunteering is a family affair for Kirk, Karmon, Abbey and Molly Hull. The Traverse City family runs the festival's newest venue, The Buzz, from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. all week long.

"We have a lot of fun doing it," Kirk Hull said. "Interacting with all the patrons, It's just fun to be part of the community and meet people from all over the world."

Abfalter said the neat thing about an event the size of the Film Festival is there are volunteer opportunities that fit every interest and schedule.

There are families like the Hulls who stay in one venue and people like Abfalter who float from place to place, and the festival wouldn't be possible without them.

"It's not just a whole bunch of people who love movies, it's a bunch of people who love Traverse City and this area so much that they want outsiders to have the best experience possible so they come back and they bring their friends," Abfalter said. "It's this family of people who love northern Michigan."