BREAKING NEWS about Terrence Malick's THE TREE OF LIFE. And what, exactly, is it like to select titles for a film festival crowd?

Upon seeing Anne Thompson's tweet about New York Film Festival selection committee member Todd McCarthy's incisive new post about what it's like to attack that laborious job, I was immediately reminded of my own odyssey as the Programming Director for the Dahlonega International Film Festival (now the Rome International Film Festival) back in the early 2000s. The festival's Executive Director,

Film #103: And I Will Not Leave You Until I Die

Working as a film festival programmer from 2002 to 2004 was one of the most rewarding and taxing experiences of my life. As the Programming Director of the Dahlonega International Film Festival (nicknamed the DIFF and now relocated in Rome, Georgia), I worked closely with Executive Director Barry Norman, a mass of dedicated volunteers and filmmakers, and the good people living in the North