It can be daunting to organize a Spanish Film Club festival without knowing if students would even show up to the screenings. Below, we gathered a list of suggestions and ideas used by professors who have organized a festival in the past.

1) Start advertising way ahead of the event.

2) Include the films as part of one or several classes’ curricula.

3) Include Spanish Film Club as one of the extracurricular activities students need to attend each semester.

4) Partner up with other academic departments to promote the film to students whom your department may not have access to.

5) Get professors to introduce the films and lead discussions afterward. They can make sure their students attend.

6) Ask students to write a review, paper, or diary entry on the films for extra credit.

7) Involve students in the organization of the film festival. They can volunteer throughout the organization and promotion process, as well as at the event itself.

8) Organize a Q&A with the filmmaker. That always attracts an audience.

9) Screen the films on different days of the week—some weekdays and some weekends. Most people have set activities on a specific day (football practice on Thursdays, for example), so this will ensure that there are options for everybody.

10) Select films that will attract different audiences.

If you have any ideas, suggestions, or recommendations that worked for your festival and you want to share them with us and future festival organizers, please send us an email at filmclub@pragda.com.