The Privilege of Volunteering for Big Movie Festivals
An activity for fortunate people… And I’m seemingly one of them, despite what my bank account says!
My adopted city, Toronto, hosts a bunch of international events and festivals. Ideally, I’d get paid to participate, but beggars can’t be choosers, and I’m constantly reminding myself that I’m a mere immigrant here. I should already consider myself lucky to have a valid work permit and to be able to attend these awesome events for free.
Although not exactly at zero cost, because what I have to give in exchange is my most valuable possession: time!
Last year, I volunteered for a certain super famous movie festival. During the excellent training provided, we were reminded how volunteering was a privilege. It took over 6 months for me to understand the true meaning behind this statement.
At first, I believed that the intent was to ‘feel privileged’ because many people are eager each year to participate in the festival organization, and we therefore receive more demands than volunteer positions available. You should thus feel lucky to have been picked’.
My guess was that the fact that we could watch movies for free during the festival as a perk was the underlying reason for its high demand…
