Dig Magazine

Issue date: 5/1/09 Section: Cover Story

There's a problem brewing at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Word has gotten out that a short sneak preview of the 2008 summer blockbuster "X-Files: I Want to Believe" will be shown at the festival, and a huge influx of people have begun lining up hours before the show, causing security concerns and a headache for managing director of the festival Gloria Campbell.

But Campbell acts calmly, gets on her walkie-talkie and directs extra staff to go out and squelch the anxious "X-Files" crowd and the preview goes off without a hitch.

"It's all about putting out fires," says Campbell. "It's kind of like being the host of a party at your house. You have to make sure that the egg rolls don't burn, and everyone's drinks are filled, and at the same time you want to have a good time. But the goal is to make sure everyone else is having a good time. And to clean up after yourselves so you can have brunch the next morning. And that's what it is like, except for it's 80,000 something people instead of 8 friends."

This is just one example of some of the behind the scenes action that takes place each year at the L.A. Film Festival, this year taking over Westwood Village from June 18-28 showcasing over 200 feature length films, narratives, shorts, documentaries and music videos.

The festival began in 1995 as the Los Angeles International Film Festival and was held over five days in Hollywood, Calif. and entertained about 19,000 film fans. Since then, the festival has blossomed into one of the premiere film festivals in the United States rivaling big name festivals like Sundance and drawing over 80,000 people over its 11- day course. The L.A. Film Festival has seen its share of big premieres including "The Devil Wears Prada," "Tranformers," "Hellboy 2" and many other award-winning films.

Campbell got her start with the L.A. Film Festival in 2003 after moving to Los
Angeles and having previously worked extensively at other film festivals throughout the country. She began as a freelance worker and steadily worked her way up, taking on more responsibility each year until she was hired full-time in 2007.

"The festival had gotten so big that they needed to create a permanent, year round position to focus on budgets and production and all of those kind of features of it and that is what I was hired to do," says Campbell of her current job.

As managing director, Campbell's job includes "a little bit of everything. I have

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