‘A Huge Success!’ Year One of the Annual Anti-Communist Film Festival

The First Annual Anti-Communist Film Festival was a huge success. It’s an idea I came up with over a year ago, and the idea became a reality when the Victims of Communism Museum became the official sponsor. It was held October 1-4. We screened Pilecki’s Report, The Killing Fields, Night Crossing, Red Dawn, The Lives of Others, and Hail, Caesar! 

We’re already working on next year’s festival, but before moving ahead let me make couple observations. The first is, people on the right need to get better at supporting artists, creatives, and the storytelling that comes with them. I launched the idea for the festival over a year ago with nothing. I traveled to theaters around the mid-Atlantic talking to owners, I cold-called Hollywood about licensing, I wrote over 100 articles and blog posts to bring attention to the idea. The left supports these kinds of efforts to advance their ideas and capture the imaginations of the public, which is why they win so often. We can do the same.

In 1975, a band called The Sex Pistols appeared with a new spirit and energy and forever changed rock ‘n roll. I believe these kinds of projects can inject a similar energy into the conservative movement. Keep the flame alive.

Now for the experience of the film festival itself. Let me first say that the staff and interns at the Victims of Communism Foundation did a fantastic job pulling everything together. They put everything into this, including purchasing a small popcorn popper (a very nice touch that was hugely popular with the audience). They worked out any glitches with the films and were polite and welcoming to the guests.