Guest blogger Bart Weiss is Director of the Dallas Video Festival and president of Video Association of Dallas.

We are going to have an exhibit of the posters of our 21 years the day before the festival (new dates: Nov. 7-9)

I really love our posters, all of them. There are many parts of doing a festival that I love, and near the top is the day I see poster designs. Let me explain. I believe in the power of media to effect us. That’s why I make films, teach, and do the festival. So I understand the power of the image. But when it comes to design work, like selecting a font, well, let’s just say I am challenged.

When I talk to a designer about what the festival is, what we do and why, and then see what they come up with, I get so excited. To see ideas I have visualized, and then see them communicated visually, is just a real buzz. This year’s design is not just great, it is inspiring. When we went to Sullivan Perkins to see what the designer came up with, they showed us 10 great designs. They were all thought-provoking, smart, beautiful and inspiring. But we had to choose just one.

I took them all around with me showing them off like baby pictures. Two in particular moved me, and it took a long time to select. I found out that one designer, Chuck Johnson, did them both. I publicly want to than you, Chuck, and Mark Perkins for making it happen. And all designers who use imagination to tell us stories that works like this just cannot.

Bart