09.10.13 | Olga Campos
This week’s Austin Film Festival Guest Blog comes from a long-time friend of the Festival, Olga Campos. Olga is one of the most honored television news anchors ever to grace the Texas airwaves. After stepping down from the anchor desk, Olga became Community Relations Director for businessman and philanthropist Milton Verret. She has worked on various fundraising projects with Mr. Verret for Dell Children’s Medical Center; The Texas Hall of Fame Awards and American YouthWorks. The Austin Business Journal recently named Olga a 2013 Profiles in Power winner. She currently serves on the the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, the Developing Committee of the Austin Film Society, the Luncheon Committee of Austin Gives and our very own Austin Film Festival Board. When Olga gets a few hours of free time she enjoys seeing films with her husband Kevin Benz, of 25 years. This week she’s guest blogging for AFF about why she doesn’t mind waiting in AFF’s film lines year after year…
It’s estimated that on average a person spends anywhere from 45 to 62 minutes every day waiting. We wait for the traffic light to change, for the washing machine cycle to end, the coffee to percolate, the voice mail message to finish and we wait for the dreaded tv commercials to be over – if we forgot to set our DVR’s.
But there is one “wait” that I look forward to every year. It’s the wait in line for entry to an Austin Film Festival screening. My husband, Kevin Benz, and I are film fans who know the best way to see great films is to purchase AFF badges.
The best in documentaries, shorts, narratives and feature films are screened at the Paramount and other easily accessible theaters around town.
Waiting in line has become an entertaining preview of what’s to come once the lights dim. Kevin and I look forward to meeting people from all over the world who travel to Austin for the AFF. We share celebrity sightings (James Franco and Billy Bob Thornton are so handsome in person!). We offer impromptu reviews of films (everybody has a valued opinion) and we compare notes about the Q&A’s that follow films (my favorite was Sydney Pollock after a screening of TOOTSIE several years ago).
We joke about how lines always look soooooooo long no matter how early we arrive for a screening, but we have never not managed to snag a great seat!
And we are happy to wait in line to get into the fabulous parties (Film & Food, Hair of the Dog, etc). Lifelong friendships with creative types have been forged at AFF parties.
Take it from this humble film fan, this year AFF’s 20th anniversary (October 24-31) will be well worth the wait in line. I can’t think of a better way to spend 45 to 62 minutes of my day!
– Olga Campos
Join us at for the 20th Anniversary Austin Film Festival and get your film pass here. Want to upgrade to the Badge line for priority access? Get your Badge here.