RiverRun Executive Director Rob Davis to step down

RiverRun International Film Festival Executive Director Rob Davis will close out his tenure at the end of this year.  When he arrived at RiverRun in 2016 he was tasked with several mandates: up the number of year-round screenings, broaden the festival’s geographic reach, and expand and diversify its funding base. He achieved all of those — increasing box office revenue and the number of film submissions to record levels, and spreading those screenings to communities across the Piedmont and High Country for the first time.

Davis looked back on his 8 years at the helm with WFDD's David Ford.

Interview Highlights

On what he's learned and appreciates from his time in Winston-Salem:

"I think it's been a personal journey on a number of levels. Certainly the connection with the RiverRun team, because it has been a team effort in achieving the success that we have achieved over the years. But also it's been very personal for me in terms of the audience connection in this region. I've worked with film in several other places, but I will tell you the audience enthusiasm, the audience love of film here in this particular part of the country, is just incredibly rewarding, because it's not something you see everywhere. And even our filmmakers comment on that. You know, one of the most common compliments we receive at the end of the festival from visiting filmmakers from all over the world — besides commenting on the wonderful hospitality in Winston-Salem — they always comment on the enthusiastic audiences at their screens and the questions that the audiences ask." 

On the current state of independent films:

"You know, one of the things I am most proud of is that with the RiverRun team, we were very adaptive and creative in managing the organization through the pandemic. There was an op-ed not too long ago in one of the film trade publications about the independent film audience. And from the audience perspective it noted that a number of attendees who prior to the pandemic, had never really streamed — they either felt intimidated by it or they didn't want to take the time to learn, or whatever — that they, once the pandemic hit, if they wanted entertainment, they had to go down that path. And so we have lost a segment of the audience who learned how convenient it is to stream and how easy it is to watch at home. And the challenge is to replace that audience that has left us and to reinforce the idea of movie-going as a communal experience. In terms of the product coming down the line for people to watch, I think independent film is as strong today as it has ever been. We may look back and say that these years were truly a golden era of independent filmmaking."

On the magic of experiencing film in a movie theater:

"In my opinion, it's easier to experience the emotional impact of a film, first of all, on a larger screen, and second of all, with a group of fellow cinephiles. You know, sometimes maybe there's a scene where I might find it a little funny at home, but if I'm watching it with other people, I realize the impact of that scene. You know that it's not just maybe I find it a little funny, but a lot of people find it a lot funny. And the same goes also in terms of the other spectrum of emotions, what people find moving — when you see your fellow cinemagoers, particularly moved by film, when you hear sometimes the sniffles in the theater or whatever. I think just experiencing it as a group broadens your perception of what you're seeing. And then, of course, at River Run, the value we typically add to the screening is the discussion afterwards, and I think that is just incredible when you can go to a screening that has that attached to it."

On his legacy:

"I probably am most proud of just the way that the team and I led the organization through the pandemic, and that we are still a viable arts organization despite some very challenging years there. And I would just say I'm very proud of the broad range of films that we have been able to show over the years. I'm also very proud of our educational program, Films with Class, and the work done there to bring film to the new generation. And also, you know, the fact that our college documentary film competition when I got here was limited and only marketed within North Carolina, but in the last few years, since the pandemic, we've opened it up to the Southeast. We've had students from James Madison University, the Savannah College of Art and Design, Tulane University, so that program is getting recognized beyond our state boundaries."