JH Film Fest no more

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

By Ben Cannon

JACKSON HOLE, WYO -- The Jackson Hole Film Institute is out of business.

JHFI founder and president Eben Dorros told the organization’s board in an email today that the institute, which produces the Jackson Hole Film Festival, would shut its doors immediately.

“The organization was in financial difficulties,” Dorros wrote, “and needed to raise money quickly to move forward. Unfortunately, this did not occur and the state of our economy did not help our situation.”

A new partnership with the United Nations during the most recent Jackson Hole Film Festival, in June, failed to generate either the interest or, more importantly, the private funding needed to bail the institute out of deep financial trouble.

The film fest, which nurtured a humanitarian focus by hosting panelists and films to spotlight some of the world's long-unresolved plights and inequities, celebrated its fifth anniversary this year.

PERMALINK:
JH Film Fest no more | Planet JH News Article: General News

Reader Comments
Goodnight, sweet Bridget Moynihan. I won't forget you. Hometown Hipster
Since when is Jackson not immune to money troubles? And will this please destroy our housing market? We could use a good depression around here. GO MCCAIN/PALIN! DEPRESSION '08!!! You hoo
What happened to the link that said Dorros just bought a $1.7 million home in Chicago? Is the Planet in the business of censoring reader comments? Bill
Yes, yes they are, where have you been. q
It's important that the power of information stays in the hands of the haves. i
Here it is: http://chicago.blockshopper.com/news/203461-film-festival-founder-spends-1.675m-on-lill Joe Strummer
Joe Strummer and Bill, how narrow-minded and pig- headed can you be? Not only are you comments ignorant and malicious, they are just plain rude. You are knocking a gentleman who brought tourism, exposure, and money to the town you live in and you both take it upon yourselves to attempt to demean and embarrass him through posted comments on the internet. What business is it of yours anyhow? You are both cowards and pathetic, you don't have the guts or foresight to do even a quarter of what Mr. Dorros did for this community. You give the people and the community of Jackson a bad name. J
Cool link, I don't think it's embarrassing or demeaning at all. Here Eben is relying on the charity of others, while purchasing upscale properties in Chicago. ;
oh please. if any of you know how nonprofits really work you'd understand that buying this house has nothing to do with his work with the film fest. When you can afford to buy a nice house like this, you certainly aren't relying on a nonprofit, who's probably losing money, to fund your house. ahem ... unlike some other people who shall remain nameless who run nonprofits in jackson hole. we know who you are
relying on the charity of others? actually that's why it went out of business - there wasn't enough funding from other people! Like, J said, clearly he's not relying on money from a non profit to fund his house. more like HIS charity and money was running the festival for so long and apparently they couldn't attract the additional donors they needed. Since when is it a bad thing for someone to use their money to try and give back to the community in which they live? If all of the people in Jackson did that, we'd have a lot more super cool organizations in this town and maybe the festival would still be in existence! Let's just all be sad together that the festival is no longer...it's really too bad. I hope other non profits in jackson aren't affected in the future too. PJ
The irony is that he could have put some of that million dollars into the festival, high end luxury homes aren't a necessity. o
This is really sad news. The film festival was one of my favorite summer events in Jackson. It's a shame it ran out of money but you can't blame the founder for not funding it - even if he could financially. If had loads of cash I'd certainly spend it on a nice house before spending it on a film festival that costs tons of money. I'm just glad I could enjoy it while it lasted. THANKS film festival people! doglady
I'm with You Hoo: let's hope the housing crisis hits Jackson. Then most of us could actually afford to buy around here! jj
Afford? you'll be able to own any house you want, as long as you can defend it. '
J, what makes me narrow-minded and pig-headed? Is it the fact that I pointed out that someone (ostensibly with the Planet) removed a reader comment that provided a link with some information about Dorros's new home? I didn't say it was right or wrong – I dont think it's relevant to the film fest or even an indictment of Mr. D – I just observed that someone had removed it and questioned whether the Planet is in the business of censorship. A tacky bit of information though it may be, if someone posted it here (on a public news forum, in the United States of America) does it not have the right to remain? And if you're in the business of calling people names, J, then you my friend are a poopy pants. Bill
maybe if mr. dorros had put more time into the festival, rather than focusing on his other business ventures, it would have done better. p.s. "we know who you are," maybe YOU don't know how nonprofits work, because though the corporations can't turn a profit, they can make a lot of money for individuals. just bummed
Ok, with the censorship thing. We took down the first link because it seemed like a bit of invasion of privacy since it listed his home residence and picture of it. But if you noticed, we left the second posting of the link after consideration. That is the second comment ever disabled (the other was a similar in that it listed some personal information about someone) on this website. We do not monitor or approve comments. MG
Jeez, it's the internet, and if something is online it's available to anyone in the world. Why would you be concerned about a person's privacy if they clearly are not. *
Because this is a private blog. MG
just bummed - maybe YOU don't know how a BUSINESS, non profit or otherwise, generally works. At some point they need to atleast start covering their costs, or it just doesn't make good business sense. you cannot fault him for not wanting to continue throwing personal money into an operation that doesn't cover costs. i doubt this non profit was making money for any individual, and i would bet that Mr. Dorros was not even giving himself a paycheck. i think we should thank him for giving 5 years of his life and personal finances to creating something great in this community that unfortunately was not supported enough by others to continue. just as bummed
just bummed - maybe YOU don't know how a BUSINESS, non profit or otherwise, generally works. At some point they need to atleast start covering their costs, or it just doesn't make good business sense. you cannot fault him for not wanting to continue throwing personal money into an operation that doesn't cover costs. i doubt this non profit was making money for any individual, and i would bet that Mr. Dorros was not even giving himself a paycheck. i think we should thank him for giving 5 years of his life and personal finances to creating something great in this community that unfortunately was not supported enough by others to continue. just as bummed
Shame on those of you who expect Eben to continue to foot the bill for a 6th consecutive year. Shame on those of you who didn't support the festival and just expected it to be given to you. Shame on the JH Daily for opting for a Rainbow gathering front page spread the day after the Sec. Gen. of the UN visits Jackson. The lack financial of support from the community has been apparent from the very start. And, even after having their most successful festival to date, no one should be surprised that it folded. We now know that the priorities of the community lie more with "what can you do for my dog" than what you can do for the world. Dan
Just Bummed: It's too bad you didn't offer to help out with the film festival while it was still around - these kind of things take an army and apparently you are so passionate about the demise that you probably would have jumped at the chance to help out! You have a lot of 'spirit' Just Bummed - I'd try putting it to good use rather than trying to assume what you do not know to be true. I'd bet Eben would sit down with you and go over the film fest budget any day of the week...then you could look him in the face and apologize for your false accusations. AND apparently you want to live in a town in which people do NOT invest in all sorts of businesses and try and make the town a better place to live with lots of diverse offerings. That's a great idea. Let's turn people away who want to bring business to Jackson and then we'll all be out of jobs and Jackson will turn into a ghost town. I guess at least all of the houses will be affordable then because they'll be up for grabs! I for one welcome all people who want to bring more business and commerce to this town. I love living in Jackson and truly hope things don't start drying up around here even more. And, Yay for Dan. Seriously. The SECRETARY GENERAL was here in Jackson in awe of the change and impact the festival was trying to make in the world and no one gave a rat’s ass. If you can’t get people’s attention after that and you can’t get other people to back your cause and put their money where their mouth is, then I’d get the hell out of town too. The rainbow gathering or the Secretary General....hmmmm....tough choice, I know. Thanks for the memories
Film Festivals, when they start out, do not make any money. You need money to pay good people to work for festivals to make it grow, just like any other business.....its as simple as that. It takes years and years of hard work from many individuals (often times volunteers)to get sponsorship deals and independently wealthy individuals committed to seeing the festival grow and prosper. Eben, Todd and all the people who made the JH Film Festival what is was last June, with the Secretary General of the UN interested enough to make an appearance, are the heroes. They brought us 5 years of an amazing cultural experience that JH was very sorely lacking. The horrible state of the present economy has taken a lot of people's wealth away, enough so that these people just could not support the festival financially as they had done in the past. All successful Film Festivals that are thriving today have HUGE sponsorship deals and BIG money behind them. Sundance has Robert Redford, Tribecca has Robert DeNiro, Telluride has Ralph Lauren AND Tom Cruise..........the list goes on and on. My question here is WHERE WAS HARRISON FORD when we needed him? He never contributed a dime to the JH film festival nor would he return phone calls asking for a little help. The loss of the film festival, especially after the amazing one that was put on this past June is simply a travesty and something that JH will sorely miss for years to come. N
@MG This isn't a private blog. *
Strange how worked up people get. *

News

JH Film Fest no more

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Reader Comments