Erica Beinhacker Interns for Boston Jewish Film Festival
CIMS Graduating senior, Erica Beinhacker, recounts her work at the Boston Jewish Film Festival, which took place this past November. 
This past fall I had the opportunity to work for the Boston Jewish Film Festival, an annual film festival that screens contemporary films from around the world. I joined the company a few months before the festival, which occurs in November. This allowed me to see the process of how a film festival runs almost in its entirety, which was an amazing experience! As the Development and Festival Intern, my responsibilities included everything from pre-screening films to writing Q & A questions during the festival, communicating with local businesses to promote screenings, to assisting directors and actors during the festival itself. The festival itself was super fun. I got to interact with filmmakers and the other staff members at BJFF, making great connections along the way. My past internship experiences have all been over the summer, which meant I didn’t have to juggle my coursework and work at the same time, however, as this took place over the fall, I had to hunker down on my time management skills which I now see as a valuable asset as I enter the workforce after graduating this May. I found the internship listing over the summer on BU Handshake, and the BJFF staff was excited to have a local student work for them. If anyone’s trying to get into the film/entertainment industry, networking is the key to success, but also make the best use of the resources available at BU (like Handshake) while you can!