Film Festivals: Positive Reviews & Deserved Boos: Pt. 1 - Cheyenne ZombieFest & Miami Int'l Sci-Fi Film Festival

There are so many scams in the world: fake insurance, fake computer virus protection, fake princes from Saudi Arabia who want to send you money, etc. It’s a wonder that any of us can make it through the week without getting jimmied. Well, here is one more for a very specific target audience: filmmakers. That’s right, I’m talking about the film festival scam. Just as technology has allowed more and more people to create movies, short and feature length, technology has also allowed any Tom, Dick or Harry to charge money for their film festival. They can charge as much as they desire and are held to absolutely no accountability. They will gladly accept your $25 or $55 or $85 or $105 submission fee, but who says they will ever actually watch your film? After all, many festivals are put up by a limited number of volunteers, with a limited amount of time. They have a certain number of screenings they have to fill, and it doesn’t make sense from a time efficiency stand point to watch every submission, especially if you ask certain filmmakers to submit so you can screen their films. Where does that leave Joe Filmmaker? It leaves him up Submission Creek without a paddle of hope. 

 

So, I am writing a series about my film festival submission experience. This way, you don’t have to go through the emotional and financial pains of figuring out which fests are worth their salt (or more specifically, their entry fees). Please understand, these festival reviews are not based on whether or not I was accepted to their festival, it is based merely on my interaction with them as a filmmaker inquiring about their festival and if my genre film is the right fit.  As you will see, some fests are extremely filmmaker friendly, whereas others really don’t give a sh*t about filmmakers at all.