Frustration between Little Rock Film Festival organizers and the Central Arkansas Library System resulted in the library canceling its agreement with the festival and evicting its organizers from its rent-free library office space a day before organizers announced the festival's end.
About a month before that, festival organizers were still discussing forthcoming events with library officials, including next year's festival.
Communications from the Central Arkansas Library System regarding the festival that were obtained by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette through a Freedom of Information Act request show that the library was considering renegotiating the terms of its agreement with the festival at the end of July.
Instead, the library opted Sept. 29 to terminate the relationship altogether.
That decision followed the resignation of the festival's director, emails concerning unpaid bills, conflicts over office space and an abrupt cancellation of a screening that the festival was supposed to host with the Arkansas Times.
The Times' arts blog, Rock Candy, first reported the cancellation of the agreement.
The library had provided free office space to the festival's organizers and volunteers since early 2014, as well as use of two venues during the festival: The Ron Robinson Theater and the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies.
"I've learned a lot over the past several months," former part-time festival Director Gabe Gentry wrote to library officials on May 10 -- the day before this year's festival began.
"One of the biggest things is that the Little Rock Film Festival would not be possible without the ongoing support of the Library. The new offices have proven to be a great fit for our growing operational staff and interns. I haven't had a chance to say thanks yet, but we are truly grateful for the space and support."
But library Executive Director Bobby Roberts said the festival needed a full-time executive director to better communicate with the library.
"From our point of view, it has to function in a procedural manner that we can work with," Roberts said of the festival. He said festival organizers never had regular schedules and often had to schedule meetings via email and long distance.
Festival co-founder Brent Renaud -- a full-time traveling filmmaker who works with his brother and festival co-founder Craig Renaud -- said the library's decision did not factor into their choice to end the Little Rock Film Festival.
The Renaud brothers have traveled as filmmakers to the Middle East and Haiti in recent years, working for HBO, Vice, Al-Jazeera America and The New York Times.
On Sept. 30, Brent Renaud cited their busy schedules and the lack of funds for a full-time executive director for the festival as their reasons for discontinuing the event.
Renaud reiterated in an Oct. 2 email to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that the festival was always a volunteer effort.
"We all have full time jobs and careers and have never had an interest in being ngo professionals," he wrote, referring to non-governmental organizations. "We also believe that this is what has made the LRFF special, a festival with heart."
"If people want to criticize us for not being institutional enough that is fine, but it's not what we are or ever aspired to be," he continued.
"I am so proud of the LRFF staff members who for nine years made huge sacrifices in their personal and professional lives to give something amazing to the city, never asking for anything in return. Anyone who enjoyed the LRFF over the last decade owes them a big thank you."
The Renauds added that the festival is "financially responsible and sound, and has no debt." He added that all bills to the library have been paid.
Both Roberts and the Renauds agree that the ultimate reason the festival couldn't continue was the lack of an executive director.
"We need a film festival in Little Rock, but to run it without a full-time manager and some cash is very difficult to do, and I think that's the root of why it failed," Roberts said.
THE FESTIVAL
The cancellation of the growing, 9-year-old festival was abrupt to many of members of Arkansas' film community.
Several local filmmakers, including those who had volunteered with the festival, said they had no idea the festival might not return for a 10th year.
Filmmakers and patrons described the Little Rock Film Festival as vital for the area's film community and a more interactive experience than what many other festivals provide. The festival awarded more than $10,000 in cash prizes for films, and area filmmakers have attributed much of their success to their participation in the festival.
According to its website, the festival was rated three times by MovieMaker magazine as one of the top 25 festivals "worth the entry fee."
Since the announcement the festival would end, the Renaud brothers have said it is "on hiatus" and that groups have reached out to them with interest in seeing how they can bring it back.
The festival also faces issues with the Internal Revenue Service over its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, which the IRS revoked earlier this year. The GuideStar Nonprofit Directory indicated the reason was a failure to turn in required Form 990 financial reports three years in a row.
The Renauds have said they were unaware of the revocation, but said they had problems with the IRS regarding an incorrect address the agency had sent mail to.
According to the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau, the 2015 festival contributed nearly $1 million in sales taxes to the city and was attended by about 4,800 people.
Gretchen Hall, president and CEO of bureau, which was one of the "premier sponsors" of the event, said she had been given no previous indication that the festival might end.
TIMELINE
Emails show that the relationship between Central Arkansas Library System employees and Little Rock Film Festival organizers had been troubled for some time.
"From the moment the LRFF moved into the Arcade building, it was clear that Bobby's staff resented that arrangement, for reasons never communicated to us directly," the Renauds said in statement to the Democrat-Gazette.
As early as June 2014, Craig Renaud had emailed Roberts, upset about library employees' comments about the festival. One comment Renaud cited was that someone told him to move out of his office and into a storage closet.
Tensions revived in April, when a library employee complained that exchanges with festival organizers about the workspace had created a negative environment and drove her to work from coffee shops and from home.
On April 7, library spokesman Susan Hill Gele wrote in an email to Roberts that the workplace "chaos" had forced Ron Robinson Theater Manager Trey Woodruff to work out of his backpack from the box-office space.
Shortly afterward on Aug. 12, Craig Renaud asked library officials about dates for next year's film festival, which Woodruff later confirmed.
Then on Aug. 19, Arkansas Times Editor Lindsey Millar canceled the Aug. 20 showing of the documentary Hand on a Hardbody, which it had planned to hold at the Ron Robinson Theater in conjunction with the Little Rock Film Festival. Roberts said the library lost money on the event and billed the Times and the festival for those losses.
On Aug. 20, Gele informed the library staff that Gentry had stepped down from his part-time position as director of the film festival.
"He told Trey they don't have money to paid their bills right now," she wrote. "Trey will respond to Craig that he cannot book any event times until their bills are paid in full. All future LRFF dates will be released to be rebooked until the account is paid.
"The AR Times/LRFF series is now being programmed completely by the AR Times. Trey will let Lindsey Millar know that any use of the space by the Times has to conform to regular rental agreement specifications and they cannot use the space under the LRFF agreement until LRFF pays their bills."
On Sept. 29, Roberts emailed Craig Renaud that the library was canceling its memorandum of understanding with the Little Rock Film Festival and evicting its organizers from their free office space.
Two days later, Renaud wrote back: "Ok Bobby. We had decided to close down the festival anyway so that's fine. We will be sure to get moved out in ninety day deadline."
Twenty-five minutes later, Roberts wrote back, saying the library still supported "the concept of the festival."
"I think all the miscommunication from the past just piled up and the last bit of confusion with the Times screening brought it to a head. We all share some blame for the poor communications, but, in the end, I could not see how the Library was benefiting from the relationship. That is why I chose to end it," Roberts said.
Brent Renaud wrote in an email to the newspaper that the disagreements were "mostly just a clash of cultures."
"When I spoke with him on the phone yesterday he said he just got tired of hearing his staff complain about the Little Rock Film Festival all the time," Renaud said.
Metro on 10/12/2015