Support RIFF!

Volunteer

RIFF is an all-volunteer, not-for-profit organization. That’s right, we produce our annual festival and community programs with no paid staff! We appreciate our many community volunteers and recognize their contributions are critical to our success. Like any ambitious endeavor, the behind-the-scenes work involved is considerable–but largely invisible to our audience members, who may not realize how many people help out or how many different things they volunteer their time to do.

Volunteers can tailor their involvement to match their interests, skills and availability. To learn more about each of our volunteer roles listed below, send an inquiry and select “Volunteering” in our contact form.

Festival Volunteer: during the festival, perform assigned duties such as handing out programs, collecting donations, ushering, and selling t-shirts.

Host Home: during the festival, provide sleeping accommodations and breakfast for one or more attending filmmakers. Preference given to hosts who are located near the George Eastman Museum and who can provide filmmaker transportation to the first scheduled event each day of the festival if needed.

Best of the Fest Committee: help arrange for and conduct community programs presenting selections from our Best of the Fest collection.

Communications Committee: contribute to our marketing, public relations,  and promotional efforts with both filmmakers and the general public

Filmmaker Hospitality Committee: help plan and coordinate filmmakers’  homestays, meals, transportation, hospitality bags, and activities during the festival

Fundraising Committee: help with our fundraising efforts by selling ads in our program book, recruiting sponsors, or researching and writing grant proposals.

Social Media Specialist: help us stay in the public eye and reach new audience members through the effective use of social media

Screening Committee: regularly attend preliminary screenings  (generally conducted on Zoom one or two evenings a week from September through February), participate in discussions and votes, write critique letters to filmmakers based on committee input. Note: A background in film is not required to be a screener—training and support are provided to new committee members

Board Member: RIFF has a nomination and election process for new board members. Nominees generally either have a prior history of volunteer involvement with the organization or offer a needed specialized skill