COCA Spotlight Images FY22 (13)

COCA Spotlight: Chris Faupel

by Christy Rodriguez de Conte For 15 years, the Tallahassee Film Festival has delighted our eyes with movie magic from around the world. The Tallahassee Film Festival, which runs Sept. 3-4 at venues around town, was founded…

by Christy Rodriguez de Conte

For 15 years, the Tallahassee Film Festival has delighted our eyes with movie magic from around the world.

The Tallahassee Film Festival, which runs Sept. 3-4 at venues around town, was founded in 2007 with the support of the Knight Creative Communities Institute, a nonprofit that implements “sense of place” projects which expand and enhance the Tallahassee community.

Since then, the organization has developed into an international film festival that provides a space for artists to safely share their work and for Tallahassee to view groundbreaking films. They recently launched their Youth Filmmaking Bootcamp, a program designed for high school students to mold their visual and technical filmmaking skills. 

With all that in mind, I dug deep into my inner film geek, wearing my 1985 horror cult classic Re-Animator shirt as armor. I prepared to ask Chris Faupel, creative director of the Tallahassee Film Festival, the difficult questions. 

Film Q&A

Q: Comedy, drama, or horror?

A: That’s the trifecta that’s the perfect film.

Q: Spielberg or Tarantino?

A: Depends on how I’m feeling that day… Today’s a Tarantino day. 

Q: Poehler or Fey

A: Fey all the way. 

Q: Have you seen “Russian Doll”? 

A:  …. Oh yeah, yeah. “Russian Doll” is pretty amazing. 

His gushing over Natasha Lyonne’s performance redeemed him.  

Q: “Star Trek” or “Star Wars”?

A: “Star Wars” hands down.

Q: “Back to the Future” 1, 2, or 3?

A: One sets it all up … I’m a purist. The first is always the best … Although I don’t necessarily feel that way about “Alien” vs. “Aliens.”   

‘A walking festival’

Now that we have a true idea of who Chris Faupel is, we can see how his lifelong passion for film led him to obtain a bachelor’s in creative writing from Florida State University and secured him a place as the creative director and curator of the Tallahassee Film Festival.

Faupel is a state employee by day turned early evening avenger of films that fly under the radar, like their super secret Sunday showing of a film Faupel, deemed “a cult classic in the making.”

Faupel ensures that the festival delivers unique films in a fun and engaging way. To do so, he and his team of film-loving volunteers have created a walking festival that highlights talented filmmakers from around the world while still supporting local intimate venues throughout Tallahassee.

“I love the idea that it can be a walking festival for people. We have people who attend this from out of the state. They come in from all around the country, even from other countries. And you know, to be able to walk from venue to the next, to walk from one movie to the next,” Faupel said.

“We try to touch all the venues that are in the footprint that we have. So this year we are using Cap City Lounge. We actually turned one of the large conference rooms at the Residence Inn on Gaines street into a 100-seat theatre. We are doing films over at the IMAX downtown and Challenger Learning Center; the Hyatt House at Railroad Road Square as well. Every year we really switch up and use different venues.”

Click here to learn more about the Tallahassee Film Festival.
Read the rest of the article here on the Tallahassee Democrat.