Cinequest finished on Sunday. For devoted movie enthusiasts, the film festival was a twelve-day cinematic excursion. For me, it was the traveling equivalent of two weekend getaways bridged by a long stay in Workland.

I don't know how some of the more avid film fanatics were able to do it. Most of their waking hours were spent sitting in theaters, watching movie after movie, immersing themselves in film. I like movies well enough, but I don't think I would have the stamina. A day of movies? Perhaps. Twelve days of movies? I'm thinking overdose.

As a movie experience, this year's festival was so-so. That probably had more to do with the movies I chose to see than with the movies actually offered. If I were to rank the four I saw from most to least favorite, this is how the list would look:

• An Enemy of the People
• Clear Cut
• Loop
• Frozen Land

An Enemy of the People was an adaptation of an Ibsen play of the same name. Loyalty was one of the film's major themes - loyalty to self, loyalty to family and loyalty to community. In the story, the main character tries to stay true to all three, but events within and beyond his control ultimately force him to choose one above the rest. It was a well-paced, well-acted film. It was also my finale for this year's Cinequest, which was good because it would have sucked to end on a movie I disliked.

As a side note, when I first went through the festival guide, I hadn't set out to watch movies from one particular country over another, but as it turned out, two of the four films I saw were from Norway (Enemy and Loop). What's scary is that it should have been three, but I accidentally switched the plots in my head between Frozen Land and a film called Kissed by Winter. Frozen Land, by the way, is from Finland, so I apparently had an unconscious craving for Scandinavian flicks this year.

As a volunteer experience, this year's festival was great. I took shifts both weekends, working as a greeter, an usher and a ticket agent. Of the three, selling tickets in the box office was the most fun.

The box office felt like the hub of activity. From there, I could gain a sense of the festival as a whole, which was important to me. The best times corresponded with the busiest (and most stressful) times, when movies were showing on all screens and lines of moviegoers materialized out of nowhere. If I volunteer next year (and I definitely hope to), the box office will be my first choice.