With over 12,000 submissions from 32 countries (8,000 shorts alone!), programming the biggest independent festival in the world is no small task. At the helm of that enterprise is John Cooper who oversees hundreds of screenings in dozens of venues in a small town, which swells with 40,000 movie fans aided by more than 1,300 volunteers. Those logistics can be staggering especially when you factor in the unexpected (like the cyber attack which shut down ticketing operations in the midst of the opening weekend this year). And it calls for grace under pressure, which Cooper somehow is able to provide. The HFPA’s Scott Orlin caught up with him and asked him how it all works.