Celebrating its 15th Year, the Prescott Film Festival Goes Back to Its Roots—While Being Bigger and Better Than Ever
By Hilary Dartt
This year’s Prescott Film Festival (PFF) promises to be special. Not only does it mark the event’s fifteenth year, but it also includes nods to the festival’s history and to those who have grown and improved it throughout the years.
This year, when the festival runs July 16–20, “We’re going back to our roots,” PFF Co-Founder and Director Helen Stephenson said during a recent interview in her office at Yavapai College (YC).
That means returning to some of the festival’s original venues for screenings and honoring timeless local stories. Meanwhile, in celebration of this milestone year, there will be some special events.
From the very start, when the festival was an idea hatched at the Stephensons’ kitchen table, film-loving locals stepped up to bring it to life, nurture it, and share it with the community.
Helen’s husband Don and their friends Ron and Debbie Hammer, Shawn Van Hecke and Jared Haxton are the other Co-Founders. Ron, an actor as well as a PFF board member, passed away last year, and Helen said this year’s festival is dedicated to him (in fact, the event poster, designed by the Hammers’ daughter Beth, contains two images in his honor; a man kayaking and a scene from the film “The Flyboys”).
In 2009, Helen and Don ran the original PFF, which consisted of a series of monthly film screenings. They were hooked and began preparing for the next festival. As the 2010 festival began to take shape, mentors and volunteers emerged, Helen said, and people in the film community were more than willing to answer questions and share advice, expertise, time, and other resources.
One friend had office space in a building downtown, and let the festival organizers use it to sell and print tickets.
“People kept coming in and buying tickets and we were astounded,” Helen said. “We had no idea anybody would come at all.”
They printed tickets on pieces of cardboard and used a paper cutter to cut them. When they’d sell a ticket upstairs, they’d holler down to those in the room with the printer.
“We couldn’t afford to print the program guides,” she said. As money came in, Don would run over to the printer and buy as many as they could afford, sometimes five at a time.
“The festival didn’t have a home,” Helen said. “We just went from place to place.”
They showed films at what was then the Prescott Fine Arts Association, Prescott College, Hendrix Auditorium, the Elks Theatre, and the Frontier Village Cinema 10. And, she said, “The first festival we could only afford one screening at the [YC] Performing Arts Center.”
“It was crazy the first year,” Helen said.
But it was a success: after the inaugural festival, even more volunteers came forward to help, applying their business skills—and many of them still volunteer today.
“Without Don’s help and support, we simply wouldn’t have a festival,” she said. “All the volunteers in the community built on that by coming forward and supporting the fest from the very beginning. Volunteerism across this region is amazing—our people share time and, just as importantly, treasure. It’s why we create and maintain so many nonprofits in this amazing city.”
In one word, Helen says enthusiasm is behind the festival’s success. Not only are the board members and volunteers enthusiastic about the festival, but they’re also enthusiastic about independent films.
“We had our first board meeting the day after the festival. We couldn’t wait to talk about last year’s festival. ‘Okay, what can we do better?’ When you have that enthusiasm at the very head of the festival, it just filters down,” she said. “You want leadership that’s excited about something and is going to move it forward. That’s what the board is. An excellent example of ‘servant leadership.’”
Also, “Independent films are different from a cut-and-paste studio film,” she said. “With an independent film, the filmmaker has to be passionate about the project to take it from an idea to being on the screen.”
“It takes a long time, it takes money, and it takes determination,” she added. “It’s a passion project for them and that shows.”
The PFF’s mission statement is, “To provide the community with cultural events that entertain, inspire, and inform while supporting independent and critically acclaimed films and filmmakers from around the world.”
At the film festival, then, Helen said, guests benefit from a panel of reviewers and experts carefully curating a diverse list of films, and “You see things you’re never going to see in a regular theater.”
As for what she likes most about the festival, Helen said it’s the way people gather together and talk after each film. “It’s that conversation. People have this communal experience together and they’re talking about it.”
Because the PFF has evolved into such a good thing, Helen and Don want to ensure it continues well into the future. In 2018 and 2019, they worked to raise money to buy a Digital Cinema Package (DCP) projector for the college. DCP is the digital equivalent of a 33mm movie print and a worldwide technical standard for storing and delivering film and sound files. This is the only way many of today’s distributors will distribute films, so the PFF having one means organizers can acquire films from the bigger distributors. “We needed that to keep the film festival going,” Helen said.
And in 2021, the Stephensons donated the PFF event to YC’s Foundation and Film and Media Arts program.
Some may consider that a legacy in and of itself, but for the Stephensons, the idea of leaving a legacy is even bigger. Helen remembered her mom, Frances Haxton, telling her, “The only reason you are on this planet is to help others.”
She and Don embody that, quietly doing so much for others. In part, Don has shared his software programming knowledge and helped individuals find jobs. The Stephensons have also supported independent filmmakers through the festival and the college (Helen loves helping students in the Film & Media Arts program), and local film groups. Next up: they plan to continue supporting independent film year-round through their new nonprofit, the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers.
She said, “So, what would we like our legacy to be? ‘Don and Helen were helpers. Volunteers. They contributed to the positive side of Prescott and the people who live here.’”
For a full schedule and list of films, visit http://www.prescottfilmfestival.com.
2025 Prescott Film Festival
The 2025 Prescott Film Festival takes place July 16 – 20, and in honor of its 15-year milestone, will include some special elements.
First, though the majority of screenings and workshops will take place on the YC Prescott Campus and PAC, others will take place at some of the festival’s earliest venues, including the Elks Theatre, Hendrix Auditorium, and Hazeltine Theatre (formerly the Prescott Fine Arts Association).
The PFF will feature a special screening of Tom Mix’s 1922 silent film, Sky High, with live accompaniment from the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.
Because the gemstone representing the fifteenth anniversary is ruby, the PFF will feature an interactive sing-along screening of The Wizard of Oz, with Nanette Hofer and Ginney Bilbray leading.
Helen Stephenson, PFF Co-Founder and Director, hopes everyone will invite all attendees to wear red shoes to all the festival events, as she will attempt to do also.
The PFF will give out awards: Jury awards for best documentary feature, best documentary short, feature, best narrative feature, and best narrative short; Director’s Choice awards, and Audience Choice Awards.
After parties will be held onstage on opening and closing nights and are included in tickets to those films, with snacks catered by Barry Barbe.
For all the details and to purchase tickets, visit http://www.prescottfilmfestival.com.