While I was interviewing people for our cover story on Iowa’s growing list of film festivals, Stephen King, executive director of the Des Moines Arts Festival, mentioned that the Arts Festival may spin off its Interrobang Film Festival as a separate event. 

Interrobang, part juried competition, part screening, part filmmaker workshops, has been part of the hugely popular Arts Festival since 2008. It’s held in the downtown public library’s south wing while the June arts festival goes on around it. 

Recently, King and Interrobang producer Kristian Day have been exploring the idea of making Interrobang a stand-alone event at another time of year. They’ve started looking at film festivals in other cities and are thinking about relocating the festival to the East Village.

Much like the Julien Dubuque Film Festival that is spread over several venues on downtown Dubuque’s Main Street, cafes and restaurants could become part of the scene of people getting together to talk film. Such a model would increase the economic impact.

“It’s definitely a possibility,” said Day. “We’re looking at how can we turn this festival into a party.”